It’s hard to get cancer. The pandemic period is even scarier.

of Coronavirus Pandemics cause anxiety and confusion in Martin and thousands of other people in the newly diagnosed or fighting Baltimore area. They are concerned about safety and health when navigating the medical system consumed by covid-19, a disease caused by the new virus.

There have been changes in the way we treat cancer. They cannot take their family or friends to surgery or treatment. While infectious killer disease is still widespread, doctors weigh cancer risk against disrupting the patient’s immune system, and even some chemotherapy and bone marrow transplants have been postponed.

Patricia Brown, who has had multiple myeloma for about nine years, has switched to an oral medication that can be taken at home instead of an IV medication that requires hospital visits. The new treatment includes three types of medication.

Strong drug combinations can be accompanied by tedious instructions that resist the doctors from taking some patients home. Brown (72) chose to skip the visit to the hospital.

She lives alone in an independent living facility. And the staff made her feel safe there, but the precautionary measures came at the expense of the social calendar and made her lonely. She finds peace in her virtual support group and God for other cancer patients.

“If you relax and worry every day, that won’t work,” Brown said. “On top of that, God has a final legend — it’s up to him.”

Others said the pandemic had already exacerbated the dreaded situation and felt they were more isolated and afraid.

Former sports producer of WBAL-TV with Hodgkin lymphoma and immunodeficiency, Chris Dakile, is even more worried about his condition.

“I thought I was going to die many times during this time,” said 41-year-old Dachille in Parkville, Maryland.

Kevin J. Karen, director of the University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenbaum Comprehensive Cancer Center, said medical staff are working to reduce patient stress and fear, but using video monitors and phones. There are many.

The center has few patients in the clinic for many years and reserves space for patients who are actively treated or in urgent need. Nurses meet these patients at the door, screen for symptoms of covid-19, and attend treatment directly.

“Cancer patients are, in many ways, very fragile, and this stress is something we try to be very careful about,” Karen said.

Karen said doctors, nurses and social workers are trying to meet every need.

“We try to make sure everyone is as secure as possible,” he said. “There is no doubt that this is a real challenge for patients and staff.”

Zineb Hassan McZomi, a dermatologist and associate professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, says he has come to contact the patient himself rather than through staff when delivering news about treatment schedules.

“If you don’t have surgery right away, it can be very emotional, tiring, and traumatic. It could be disastrous,” Mahzmi said. “The challenge is that you have to tell people that you have skin cancer and don’t take it right away.”

Delayed treatment of skin cancer can have a significant impact on patients and the health care system, according to researchers at the Business and Medical School at Johns Hopkins University. According to a recent paper, 31 states have canceled elective procedures and other patients have avoided fear care. Treatment then becomes much more complex and expensive, and the patient’s condition may be lengthened.

Studies have shown that fear has widespread effects on patients, alters their treatment, and even prevents them from being cared for. Screening designed to detect breast, colon, and other types of cancer is also plunging, said J. Leonard Lichtenfeld, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society.

Nearly 90% of cancer patients the group investigated in May said the coronavirus had somehow impacted their health care, lacking access to doctors, imaging, surgical procedures, and physiotherapy. Has reported a delay in support services. Nearly half of those surveyed also report a significant increase in mental health and financial burden.

Lichtenfeld said patient safety has improved since the beginning of the pandemic, and people can be more reassured in their care.

“When this started, it was a kind of ad hoc, flying by our trouser seat,” he said. “Currently, there are national organizations that are making evidence-based recommendations and frameworks on what to do in specific cases. They do everything they can to treat and protect their patients.”

How many doctors are still available, such as when chemotherapy can be resumed when a cancer patient infected with a coronavirus needs to be stopped for viral treatment, and when it is safe to return to work? He is working on the answer, director of the Sydney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center in Hopkins.

But for cancer patients who don’t have the virus, and those who evade regular screening, the office now has procedures in place to keep everyone safe, he said.

If people continue to delay treatment, there may be a large backlog now that hospitals are beginning to take selective steps after state-mandated shutdowns to maintain space for covid-19 patients. He said.

The cancer “had taken leave” with the surge of coronaviruses, he said.

Cancer patients can still avoid a doctor’s office for most visits. About three-quarters of the promise at Hopkins is now through telemedicine. Nelson quotes the work of a nurse setting up a curb clinic where patients can take blood and receive injections of non-IV chemotherapy to help ease the fear of those who have to go for treatment. did.

“The patient was afraid and canceled the appointment,” said Mikaela Olsen, a clinical nursing specialist and chief of operations at the COVID-19 Command Center at Hopkins Cancer Center. “We needed to figure out how to adapt to the situation and protect them from coronaviruses while providing them with the care they needed.”

Some patients have to be hospitalized and some comfort from the nurses, but some changes are unavoidable. For patients like Douglas Swinger, a patient with Hopkins’ multiple myeloma, that means several hours of chemotherapy treatment without his wife.

“It’s not fun, but I’m a big boy,” said 60-year-old Winger. “It’s just something you have to deal with.”

Mr Winger said he lives in the neighborhood and is grateful to have received specialized medical care. He knows that others are not so lucky. Many out-of-state patients cannot come to the hospital for specialty care, and few are able to get potentially life-saving drugs through trials that limit them ..

Regarding Martin, she underwent surgery in February and recently completed radiation therapy at Franklin Square Hospital, driving her tiredness and painful side effects such as burning skin.

She continues to work as a letter carrier when more people rely on delivery. She knows that the mail can include medicines, Medicare cards, or family gifts. She is also prone to a bunch of three children, a niece and her fiance, and in recent years a stranger.

She volunteered for the American Cancer Society and in 2013 she founded a small nonprofit organization called Voices in Pink. You need to see a doctor, a meal gift card, a caregiver class, and often caution.

“I had ups and downs, but more ups and downs,” Martin said. Being able to help others is a blessing that “especially for me right now”.