#homewardbound #abraxane #treatmenttuesday pic.twitter.com/6CSFbYm8MT

— Katherine OBrien (@ihatebreastcanc) June 23, 2020

Despite everything else in the news cycle, COVID-19 is still kicking our @sses. Here in Los Angeles, we’re getting pummeled. The thing about COVID is that most limit their understand to the virus and those that have the virus. But the effects of COIVD-19, especially in the medical world, are so much broader than that. People are suffering or dying from other diseases and illnesses and their treatments are being affected. One lady, Katherine O’Brien from Chicago, has chronicled her scary cancer battle during the pandemic.

Three Tuesdays each month, Katherine O’Brien straps on her face mask and travels about half-an-hour by Metra rail to Northwestern University’s Lurie Cancer Center.

What were once packed train cars rolling into Chicago are now eerily empty, as those usually commuting to towering skyscrapers weather the pandemic from home. But for O’Brien, the excursion is mandatory. She’s one of millions of Americans battling cancer — and she depends on chemotherapy to treat the breast cancer that has spread to her bones and liver.

“I was nervous at first about having to go downtown for my treatment,” said O’Brien, who lives in a suburb, La Grange, and worries about contracting the coronavirus. “Family and friends have offered to drive me, but I want to minimize everyone’s exposure.”

While her treatment hasn’t changed since the novel coronavirus spread across the United States, the 54-year-old is at high risk of severe complications should she become infected. Those risks haven’t declined significantly for her despite the Illinois governor’s loosening of COVID-related restrictions.

She’s not alone in fearing the deadly combination of COVID-19 and cancer. One study, which reviewed records of more than 1,000 adult cancer patients who had tested positive for COVID-19, found that 13 percent had died. That’s compared with the overall U.S. mortality rate of 5.9 percent, according to Johns Hopkins.

Beyond the concern of cancer patients catching the virus — with their already depleted immune systems — many doctors worry about people delaying their scans and checkups and missing time-sensitive diagnoses. A KFF poll found that nearly half of Americans had skipped or postponed medical care because of the outbreak. Cancer patients seeking care face an array of obstacles as states reopen, such as heavily restricted in-hospital appointments and new clinical trials on hold. (KHN is an editorially independent program of KFF, the Kaiser Family Foundation.)

“Cancer doesn’t care that there’s a coronavirus pandemic taking place,” said Dr. Robert Figlin, chair in hematology-oncology at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles. “We don’t want people who have abnormalities to delay having them evaluated.”

[From People]

The article lists several other side-effects of COVID’s affects on treatments. Megan-Claire Chase, who is currently in remission from stage 2A breast cancer, was laid off during quarantine and she lost her health benefits. Now she doesn’t know how she will pay for the mammograms and MRIs she needs. Linnea Olsen, who has stage 4 lung cancer, has relied on trials to keep her alive and those trials are drying up because they are not viable as COVID rages on. Cancer patients are immune compromised, making them far more susceptible to any disease, but especially to COVID-19. If they stay home to avoid getting infected, they die from lack of treatment. If they leave for treatment, they a huge risk. It’s terrifying.

There is another side to all of this too, one that I feel has just as much affect on someone battling for their life: the human connection. Precautionary measures to prevent the spread of COVID has led to unpopulated exam and patient rooms, with everything sterilized and void of any personal touch. So patients are made to sit behind plastic, speaking to faceless (masked) people, receiving frightening and devasting news, unable to hold anyone’s hand because they are forced to go through the entire procedure alone. Maybe an iPad or phone might be allowed for a FaceTime with a loved one, but that’s a much different experience.

If this sounds personal, it’s because it is. Please, I know it sucks, but if you are able to adhere to all the quarantine precautions, please do, including staying home if possible. If you can’t, please – please – wash your hands, wear a mask and stay six feet apart.

The #COVID19 pandemic will likely cause at least 10,000 excess deaths from breast cancer and colorectal cancer over the next 10 years in the U.S., @NCIDirector Ned Sharpless (@theNCI) said in a virtual joint meeting of the BSA and the NCAB June 15. https://t.co/KAkTFMDQ10 pic.twitter.com/wUnLanXhAe

— The Cancer Letter (@TheCancerLetter) June 22, 2020

#treatmenttuesday #abraxane #chicago pic.twitter.com/5Rzv46sINO

— Katherine OBrien (@ihatebreastcanc) June 23, 2020

En route to #TreatmentTuesday @LurieCancer pic.twitter.com/Evz87O1OjF

— Katherine OBrien (@ihatebreastcanc) June 16, 2020

Photo credit: Twitter