Hi everyone,
With the cold weather here and seasonal bugs starting to circulate, infection risk is understandably front of mind for many people here. As such, we wanted to share a few useful resources from our brill Blood Cancer UK Health Information team. Click on the red text below to follow the links:
(Free) Infection Alert Card (a pocket-sized paper booklet) - You can order this for free, and it explains infection risk and can be shown to healthcare staff if you ever need urgent care.
Spotting infection symptoms & when to act - Clear signs to look for, and when to call your team or treat it as urgent.
What to say in A&E - Exactly what to tell staff so they understand blood cancer-related infection risk straightaway.
Lowering infection risk day-to-day - Practical, manageable ways to reduce risk at home and when out and about.
Explaining risk to friends and family - Helpful advice for setting boundaries, as well as a link and a video you can share with friends and family to help them understand.
And finally, some short videos on infection & neutropenia.
Winter can ask a lot of those of us affected by blood cancer; practical decisions, emotional juggling, and often explaining the everyday realities of living with blood cancer. Hopefully this round-up offers something useful to lessen that mental load just a little bit.
Take care and look after yourselves,
Ceri
P.S. This post is the first in our new Updates and News from Blood Cancer UK category. The idea is to share useful, official information without getting in the way of the peer support that makes this forum what it is, and we’d welcome any feedback as we find the right balance.
