Are you getting cancer treatments during COVID-19?

Does one of our Volunteer/Mentors know if these cancellations are in order to keep us safe, isolated at home, or are they to free up Medical Personnel? I've had my re-staging CT (due between March and May) approved by insurance but wondered if they would schedule it. I don't understand palstead's Brain MRI being cancelled. That would seem quite important. I know how these scans can cause much anxiety and no one wants to put them off any longer than we have to.

It is very distressing to have appointments postponed, especially without a reschedule date. At Mayo Clinic followup appointments are being either postponed or shifted to a tele-consult if no imaging is necessary.

@mom23boys to answer your question about why. You're right, it is to keep people safe and isolated at home, and to reduce the number of people in wait rooms and lobby areas to support social distancing for patients and staff. New dates will be scheduled as soon as possible. I encourage anyone who is experiencing high levels of anxiety to post a message to their team on the patient portal.
- Patient Online Services https://onlineservices.mayoclinic.org/content/staticpatient/showpage/patientonline

Your cancer care team can review your case and explain why the delay was chosen as the option for the moment. Please let them know if you need to speak with a social worker or therapist.

My stepmom went for an MRI for her brain tumor at Mayo Florida today and she was not provided with a mask. Here is my current thinking. Masks should be on the people who are coughing and sneezing, have undiagnosed fever, or test positive. There doesn't appear to be strong evidence that wearing a mask keeps you from getting the virus, unless you are providing care to a positive patient, which I am not. I wonder though, for an immunocompromised patient at the hospital, it probably couldn’t hurt to wear a mask, but not just any mask, it has to be N95 which should probably be reserved for treating providers. Hopefully Mayo will keep patients at a safe distance from one another, and screen and isolate any patients who might be infected. Hand washing and distancing are still more important than anything else we can do. I will try to make sure my family members don’t touch things at the hospital and don’t touch our faces. I'm also wondering if gloves are a good idea, even if only to remind us not to touch our faces and eyes.

Teleconsult would be very welcome in my family. Why risk going in to the point of care if information could be relayed through telemedicine technology. I can understand if providers don't want to delivery bad news over the audio/visual interaction. OTOH, it is also distressful to have to go in to a public place right now.

@devehf, you're quite right that N95 masks being reserved for health care providers. In some treatment areas, regular masks may be available if you ask at check-in.

– COVID-19: When should you wear a face mask? https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/covid-19-when-should-you-wear-a-face-mask/

To be effective, the mask must be put on and taken off correctly. @zeiracorp shared videos of how in this discussion:
– Donning and Removal of PPE https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/donning-and-removal-of-ppe/

Dave and @seaspray, please let us know how things are working at Mayo Florida when you go for your appointments. It will be helpful for others to prepare, even if things are changing daily.

It is very distressing to have appointments postponed, especially without a reschedule date. At Mayo Clinic followup appointments are being either postponed or shifted to a tele-consult if no imaging is necessary.

@mom23boys to answer your question about why. You're right, it is to keep people safe and isolated at home, and to reduce the number of people in wait rooms and lobby areas to support social distancing for patients and staff. New dates will be scheduled as soon as possible. I encourage anyone who is experiencing high levels of anxiety to post a message to their team on the patient portal.
- Patient Online Services https://onlineservices.mayoclinic.org/content/staticpatient/showpage/patientonline

Your cancer care team can review your case and explain why the delay was chosen as the option for the moment. Please let them know if you need to speak with a social worker or therapist.

So suddenly we've been kicked to the curb after being told with aggressive stage 4 prostate cancer, Gleason 10, I needed to have surgery immediately... And I'm supposed to not be anxious, meditate, and keep active and ignore the pain I'm experiencing. All this while in my state there are less than 300 cases, only 29 even hospitalized, 4 deaths (2 with previous chronic issues, 2 elderly) and abortions deemed essential. A little bitter... Yup

Unfortunately many things have not been taught in history. I am 84 and was 6 years old when WWII started. I vividly remember many things at that time. I remember being quarantined when I had scarlet fever in 1941. My unmarried aunt took care of me in an upstairs bedroom since my sister was only a few months old and my mother could not be with me. My father owned a threshing machine and since it was July with the oats were ready to harvest, he and grandfather had a "threshing ring" where they moved from farm to farm harvesting neighbors grain. Dinner was always served by the wife where they were working and they brought the meal outside to my dad and grandfather, instead of letting them eat in the house with the rest of the men. A sign would be put on your door QUANTEENED SCARLET FEVER and warning people to not enter and also red measles and a few other diseases that I can't remember.

Until 1953 when the vaccine was developed and a few years later, polio was very rampant in the summer time, so we didn't go anywhere. Several of the people living near us and a cousin of mine had this and were in "iron lungs" to help their breathing (probably a forerunner of the ventilators now. People who did recover were often paralyzed, or had other ongoing health problems the rest of their lives.

We are resilient and will get through this. Just be patient (a lacking attribute now) and we will get through this. Stay home and help each other when you can.

So suddenly we've been kicked to the curb after being told with aggressive stage 4 prostate cancer, Gleason 10, I needed to have surgery immediately... And I'm supposed to not be anxious, meditate, and keep active and ignore the pain I'm experiencing. All this while in my state there are less than 300 cases, only 29 even hospitalized, 4 deaths (2 with previous chronic issues, 2 elderly) and abortions deemed essential. A little bitter... Yup