As a follow-up to my last post, we were told by the on-call oncologist RN that not all vaccines are created equal, so to speak. If you’ve had ANY live vaccine recently, you cannot be around Teresa*. If you get the shingles or chicken pox vaccine, both live, and (later) develop blisters as a side effect, you cannot be around Teresa until they heal and go away. If you visited and then develop blisters, please let us know right away.
If you have the LIVE flu vaccine, you cannot be around Teresa (I believe this is the nasal spray). If you have the injection, it should be acellular, and therefore safe. But please note that it takes 14 days before you will start building up antibodies, so even if you get the injection, please wait 2 weeks before you come to visit her.
The nurse also told us the pneumonia vaccine should be safe.
I’m currently waiting to hear if it is safe for us to get the DTaP booster. It’s recommended to get this one every 10 years. I’ve only had 1 booster as an adult and it was more than 10 years ago. I *hate* needles, but when my niece was born, a doctor had told me that it’s possible for a healthy person to carry pertussis (whooping cough) without being sick, but still have the ability to pass it on — generally to a child who isn’t old enough to be vaccinated or to the elderly. And, of course, anyone with a compromised immune system is also at risk.
So, I got the vaccine so that I wouldn’t be a risk to her. Her safety was worth a little discomfort on my end, and Teresa’s is too. I know I’m overdue for that one, so I sent a message to Dr. Musgrave’s office via the Wellmont app, and am waiting to hear back on that.
If I don’t hear back (some doctors / offices do a lot with the apps, others, not so much), I will ask when we return for her next cycle. I will also find out if there’s any other vaccines which should be avoided, or ones which are recommended to have to protect Teresa. I will let you know what we learn.
*We will verify for sure how long after a live vaccine you need to wait before you can visit.