[2020-11-16] COVID silver lining
Pyjama Days 2 and 3 are always the hardest. By yesterday afternoon, the effects of Friday's chemotherapy were becoming more prominent: nausea, sleepiness and numbness in my hands. Thankfully, these are all temporary. So, today I napped—both in the morning and in the afternoon.
I reflected on the silver lining of being in the midst of a second wave of COVID while undergoing chemotherapy. Fortunately, COVID does not appear to have slowed my cancer treatments. Indeed, on the plus side, it is reducing my exposure to pathogens that my immunocompromised body might struggle to ward off.
Because of COVID, no one comes into my house. Excursions by family members to public places outside the house are limited and focused, mainly to buy food. My children are working from home, not taking public transit and not seeing friends, which means they are much less likely to bring a cold or flu back to me. All the things we've learned to do to guard against the novel coronavirus—washing our hands, wearing a mask, physically distancing from others—are exactly the kinds of things we would want to be doing to protect me in my weakened state.
With my neutrophils (a type of white blood cell) so low that I was at risk of having my chemotherapy delayed, I could easily get sick from something other than cancer. So, in my typical glass-half-full perspective, I'm seeing a silver lining in the COVID outbreak.
When we emerge from the pandemic—as we will one day—we will take with us knowledge about how to protect ourselves and, most importantly, the vulnerable. That's a good thing.
