So, I asked my oncologist about a third shot, after watching a lymphoma research foundation webinar on the issue. That doctor was saying things I’ve heard before about lymphoma history indicating an “imperfect” immune system. Like, I think they don’t know enough to say for certain we are immunocompromised, but just that they know there is something weird happening there. So, I asked my doctor if he would recommend it.
A week late he writes back that it would be “fine” to get one. Not yes you should. But fine. Implying fine either way. And ugh… I feel like that’s not enough should anyone ask me for documentation.
I think they probably won't ask (depending on where you are and where you go, I guess). My mom (in NC; not immunocompromised) was at Walgreens the other day and asked at the pharmacy when boosters would be available/when she should get one based on when she got vaccinated and her age. She was expecting them to tell her a time in September or October, but they said "you can get it today." (She didn't get it because she's not high risk and knew that it's only approved for high risk right now).
So, I asked my oncologist about a third shot, after watching a lymphoma research foundation webinar on the issue. That doctor was saying things I’ve heard before about lymphoma history indicating an “imperfect” immune system. Like, I think they don’t know enough to say for certain we are immunocompromised, but just that they know there is something weird happening there. So, I asked my doctor if he would recommend it.
A week late he writes back that it would be “fine” to get one. Not yes you should. But fine. Implying fine either way. And ugh… I feel like that’s not enough should anyone ask me for documentation.
My mom got her 3rd dose yesterday, I think at Walgreens (in TX though). She brought a letter from her doctor but they did not ask for it. She just had to fill something out at Walgreens about her health. She wasn't sure she'd qualify other than because of the fact that her doctor said it was recommended, so I'm not sure exactly what Walgreens asked that allowed her to qualify.
All that to say, it's probably worth trying. The worst that will happen is they will send you home without one, but I have a feeling they won't hassle you.
ETA: my mom is a 15 year cancer survivor with a couple of autoimmune diseases, so not what is generally considered "immunocompromised" but her immune system does kind of suck so her doctor said she should get a booster anyway
So, I asked my oncologist about a third shot, after watching a lymphoma research foundation webinar on the issue. That doctor was saying things I’ve heard before about lymphoma history indicating an “imperfect” immune system. Like, I think they don’t know enough to say for certain we are immunocompromised, but just that they know there is something weird happening there. So, I asked my doctor if he would recommend it.
A week late he writes back that it would be “fine” to get one. Not yes you should. But fine. Implying fine either way. And ugh… I feel like that’s not enough should anyone ask me for documentation.
I qualified for a third shot because of an immunosuppressive drug I have to take. At the pharmacy, they asked, "Are you immunocompromised?" That was the end of the screening. I just had to say yes.
I just looked up my zip code's vaccination rate for adults on our state's COVID dashboard: it's 99%. I found that pretty hard to believe, but after further checking saw there was a wide variety of vaccination rates across zips, so I'm provisionally excited about this. And it would explain why there were zero cases yesterday in my county (out of 300K people) even though tourism in Portland is at an all time high right now.
So I think travel and everything would be fine if people would just forking get vaccinated.
ETA correction: I later realized it was zero because the state doesn’t report every day. The county is averaging 12 cases a day per 100K.
The son and DIL want us to go to a lake house with them this weekend--in fucking Arkansas. I would love to see them and the new grand baby, but it makes me so uneasy to go to Covid land. They say we'll cook in and won't have any other contact with people, but, ugh. DH and I went to get COVID tested this morning to make sure we're okay to be around the baby. Tell me we it's going to be okay.
So, I asked my oncologist about a third shot, after watching a lymphoma research foundation webinar on the issue. That doctor was saying things I’ve heard before about lymphoma history indicating an “imperfect” immune system. Like, I think they don’t know enough to say for certain we are immunocompromised, but just that they know there is something weird happening there. So, I asked my doctor if he would recommend it.
A week late he writes back that it would be “fine” to get one. Not yes you should. But fine. Implying fine either way. And ugh… I feel like that’s not enough should anyone ask me for documentation.
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In Mass they cannot ask for documentation. DS is on a medication that made him eligible for the booster and we just had to attest that he met the criteria for the high risk booster and that we had spoken with his doctor who recommended it.
Post by underwaterrhymes on Sept 1, 2021 16:58:51 GMT -5
rubytue - my sister is a part of a study for people with blood cancers studying the effect of the vaccine on antibodies. She was STRONGLY encouraged to get her third shot, which she has.
Her antibodies are super low, even with the vaccination.
rubytue - my sister is a part of a study for people with blood cancers studying the effect of the vaccine on antibodies. She was STRONGLY encouraged to get her third shot, which she has.
Her antibodies are super low, even with the vaccination.
Right?! Which is why his “it’s fine to get it” just shocks me. I know lots of other people whose doctors are say yes, get it. Now. But my doc is just “fine.” Damn I miss my old doctor. About doctoring things. I’ve talked to him today, but not about medical stuff, cause I’m friend zoned. 😂
But, I do have it scheduled.
FWIW, the lymphoma research foundation webinar guy said the antibody tests are just for research, and should not be relied on to assess protection. I did a study awhile back and was so exited to see antibodies. But, month ago.
So this is an interesting analysis. There appears to be some evidence that Covid, in many places, is having two-month surges of case counts, followed by case counts falling. No one really knows why. Is that the point at which it infects most of the people that it can in a "population cluster"? Is it more determined by the rise/fall in people changing their habits as they get scared of the surge?
It's not a hard & fast rule -- Brazil seems to be an exception, a couple of countries like Singapore seem to have gotten vaccine rates high enough that their latest surge only lasted like two weeks rather than two months, and Britain only saw a brief drop in its latest surge before numbers started going up again. They also said that it seems like reopening fully and dropping mitigation efforts beyond the vaccine, can spark enough outbreaks that you curtail the case-count drop part of the cycle.
I am intrigued to think that there may be a timeframe to these cycles and what the reason(s) might be. That we may start to either be able to see a little bit of predictability, and/or that there could be measurable goals/progress along the lines of shortening a surge or lengthening the time between them (a two-week surge seems way better than a two-month one). On a personal level, I will be interested to see if this plays out the same way the last couple of surges did, because I have work travel coming up in the next month and when I booked it, I had hoped we might be in a lull by the time it actually happened. We'll see, I guess.
I buy it. In Minnesota, before Delta, our 3 previous waves each lasted about 6 weeks before they peaked. How high they peaked varied but every one peaked between 5-6 weeks. We had very different mitigation measures in place for each of the waves too.
A little good news about vaccines and long COVID: a British study says they cut the risk of long COVID in half if you are infected (and of course also reduce the risk of infection).
AND monoclonal antibodies. He can take all the fucking seats. I'm so fucking sick of him.
He's the type of person to have a mild case, and he'll get to say, "see the dewormer works! No need for a vaccine!"
I saw a tweet that said it's like getting bit by a snake and saying "I drank blue Kool-Aid, took some vitamin D, stood on my head, received snake anti-venom, rubbed some essential oils on it, and ate some pixie stix and now I'm totally fine!"
Post by ellipses84 on Sept 2, 2021 11:45:47 GMT -5
I’ve seen a couple posts from healthcare workers on fb showing that hospital staff has quit due to vaccine mandates (in blue states that have their fair share of conservative areas or crunchy anti-vaxxers). One listed the job descriptions and nearly half of them were Respiratory Therapists. It’s just mind boggling. They are on the front lines. Is there an element where they feel they are invincible or they will know how to handle it?
I’ve seen a couple posts from healthcare workers on fb showing that hospital staff has quit due to vaccine mandates (in blue states that have their fair share of conservative areas or crunchy anti-vaxxers). One listed the job descriptions and nearly half of them were Respiratory Therapists. It’s just mind boggling. They are on the front lines. Is there an element where they feel they are invincible or they will know how to handle it?
People are also quitting right now due to exhaustion, not just due to vaccine mandates. Also, I wonder if people are extrapolating the job listings to estimate who has quit. But it would make sense to be hiring more toward roles needed a lot for COVID rather than an exact replacement of those who have quit. Anyway, I would not jump to the conclusion that RTs are more likely to be vaccine hesitant...
I’ve seen a couple posts from healthcare workers on fb showing that hospital staff has quit due to vaccine mandates (in blue states that have their fair share of conservative areas or crunchy anti-vaxxers). One listed the job descriptions and nearly half of them were Respiratory Therapists. It’s just mind boggling. They are on the front lines. Is there an element where they feel they are invincible or they will know how to handle it?
People are also quitting right now due to exhaustion, not just due to vaccine mandates. Also, I wonder if people are extrapolating the job listings to estimate who has quit. But it would make sense to be hiring more toward roles needed a lot for COVID rather than an exact replacement of those who have quit. Anyway, I would not jump to the conclusion that RTs are more likely to be vaccine hesitant...
Yeah, when Delta started to explode, I put in my resignation. I'm old and I can't take the stress anymore. As an RN, at most I will have 4 vent patients.RTs may have 10-15 ventilator patients (depending on staffing) and running between that many really sick patients is a grind.
Post by ellipses84 on Sept 2, 2021 13:59:26 GMT -5
dirtyred and sillygoosegirl Burnout makes more sense to me. If I was overloaded and had a couple coworkers quit and knew my workload would increase, I’d want to to quit too. It’s being used as propaganda against vaccine mandates though.
Post by bugandbibs on Sept 2, 2021 18:14:55 GMT -5
My county hit a new peak high in cases. I’m so exhausted that I had to step back from my outside contract and focus just on my regular nursing job. Nurses friends are leaving jobs in droves, some to take travel jobs so they can then take some unpaid time off after their contract expires. I’ll admit, knowing I could work for 2 months and make my annual salary has some appeal.
share.memebox.com/x/uKhKaZmemebox referal code for 20% off! DD1 "J" born 3/2003 DD2 "G" born 4/2011 DS is here! "H" born 2/2014 m/c#3 1-13-13 @ 9 weeks m/c#2 11-11-12 @ 5w2d I am an extended breastfeeding, cloth diapering, baby wearing, pro marriage equality, birth control lovin', Catholic mama.
Post by bookqueen15 on Sept 2, 2021 20:46:04 GMT -5
My DH caught COVID as it made it's way through our house unfortunately and he also has MS, so is immune suppressed. He is vaccinated. He tested positive on Monday and seems to be doing worse tonight. He plans to talk to his doctor tomorrow and will try to get the antibody infusion. We have a pulse oximeter and he is at 94%. As I am not at all a medical professional, I am really not sure if that's cause for concern yet or not? It's a cheap one I bought on Amazon so not sure how accurate it may be.
My DH caught COVID as it made it's way through our house unfortunately and he also has MS, so is immune suppressed. He is vaccinated. He tested positive on Monday and seems to be doing worse tonight. He plans to talk to his doctor tomorrow and will try to get the antibody infusion. We have a pulse oximeter and he is at 94%. As I am not at all a medical professional, I am really not sure if that's cause for concern yet or not? It's a cheap one I bought on Amazon so not sure how accurate it may be.
I'm so sorry, you must be so stressed. I'm no doctor but I think 94 while awake isn't great but not too concerning. You can also use your smartphone as an oximeter to see how they compare. I hope he starts feeling better asap.
Bad Dingo Thank you, I will see about the smartphone option to compare.
I agree with baddingo. H says the infusion needs to be given sooner rather than later, people get too sick for it and end up needing to be admitted. Not tying to alarm you, just he should check with his doctor tomorrow. ((Hugs))
Thank you! I thought he had contacted his doctor today and didn't realize he hadn't until after 5 pm. I will definitely make sure he checks with his doctor tomorrow. I guess there is a state run infusion site in our city but he's resistant to going to to it, he would prefer to go through his doctor/hospital system.
Post by penguingrrl on Sept 3, 2021 5:39:57 GMT -5
bookqueen15 sending tons of vibes! Definitely call his doctor today. My H has an MS-like autoimmune disease and his neurologist said that if anyone in our house tests positive they will start him on those treatments immediately because the earlier the better and in some cases they can be used prophylacticly (he can’t be vaccinated yet due to his treatment regimen). Hope he feels a lot better soon!
Post by basilosaurus on Sept 3, 2021 7:41:18 GMT -5
Texas is such an inspiration. Their vigilante justice mode has made it to Arizona. A student, parent, community member, and local business owner protested when a student was asked to quarantine after close contact with a positive person. They threatened to zip tie and citizens arrest the principal. Police had to get involved. FFS.
I agree with baddingo. H says the infusion needs to be given sooner rather than later, people get too sick for it and end up needing to be admitted. Not tying to alarm you, just he should check with his doctor tomorrow. ((Hugs))
Thank you! I thought he had contacted his doctor today and didn't realize he hadn't until after 5 pm. I will definitely make sure he checks with his doctor tomorrow. I guess there is a state run infusion site in our city but he's resistant to going to to it, he would prefer to go through his doctor/hospital system.
I hope all goes well today when he talks to his doctor and that he is able to get the treatment he needs.
Re. your earlier post about his O2 reading of 94, I am not a doctor but from my own doctors it sounds like 95 and above is normal but 94 isn't unusual, especially for people living at higher altitudes (mine is commonly 94 even when I'm healthy at an annual checkup). So, in and of itself not cause for panic, but obviously combined with the COVID positive part should be checked out.
Post by bookqueen15 on Sept 3, 2021 9:34:25 GMT -5
Thanks everyone! He was able to speak with his doctor this morning and has an appointment for the infusion now at the location affiliated with the hospital system. He seems to be doing better today so hopefully will continue to improve.
aurora Thanks, that's good to know! We are in Florida so not at a high altitude.