Hi Demberton,
Yes, a little bit but it's a lot less bubble-like than I think most of us imagine! My neutrophils dropped to 0.23 today so I'm definitely neutropenic now. I'm in a side room with my own bathroom on a small haematology ward and nurses, doctors and visitors glove up and put on aprons when they come in but I was talking with one of my doctors how this is a little more of a psychological thing. An attempt to influence people's behaviour I think more than a practical barrier - just a reminder to have good hygiene and especially for visitors to remind them not to touch and hug their patients!
The room has neutral pressure but the door opens on to the corridor and the catering staff stick their heads in and ask if you want a cup of tea, there's an occasional child visitor to other patients' rooms (though it's discouraged as children are obviously germy little things lol) and I'd currently be allowed out to walk on the ward down to the visitors room if I wanted.
They offer you masks for that but everyone says those paper masks only last for 3 minutes so they're really for show more than anything!
Yesterday my neutrophils were 0.78 and they let me walk outside down through the hospital to the front door to stand on the steps in the sun which was lovely. It was my rest day and being a Sunday really quiet in the hospital so I was really up for it. The on call doctor on the ward said he didn't recommend it but wouldn't disallow it but as my other conversations with the regular weekday doctors were that it's not actually a problem and as haematologists they know they have chemo patients living in the community with neutrophils of zero at some points of their protocol I was happy.
I think those discussions have been really helpful because I've had doctor friends expect me to be in a bubble and shocked that I'm not and apparently some patients get anxious when some staff members don't glove up and put an apron on to come into their room to bring them tea so it's reassuring to know it's not a problem.
If you need a scan of any kind they just send you down through the hospital to the regular scanning departments too so that can freak you out a bit if you feel like you're needing to be kept apart. Still I was happy to go for a chest x-ray on Saturday when it was super quiet and be in and out. When they proposed it on Friday I was alarmed because of the likely wait. If the porter had left me next to an antibiotic reistant tb patient or something I'd have wanted to scarper! But on Saturday I walked and wheeled my own iv pole - after some persuading that I was capable of this and told them that I had 28 minutes left on my battery and so they'd better get me done asap so they did.
Anyway I have my own stem cells back today and though my counts will drop from now with neutrophils going down to anywhere from 0.12 to dead zero apparently and perhaps even flatlining for a bit, in about 12 days they may be thinking about letting me go home as long as the counts are rising even if my neutrophils are super low and in some countries they would put you in a transplant flat or send you home now (if you live super close like I do) and treat you as outpatient to monitor and give any blood products required! Obviously I like the sound of that but I don't think I can convince them! Instead I will try to be a patient patient
