Shielding chat continues - thread 2

[AuntieSocia1]

Shiny new thread for anyone shielding.

You can vent/moan/cry/chat/lurk whatever you need.

[OneNightTimeMenaceStrikesBack]

thanks for the new thread

Im not sure ill be taken off the list. im on multiples of the medications that asthma uk lists and you only have ot have been on one of them to have been ont he shielding list previously, so im not sure ill be off the list :(

[Anewuser]

Thank you @AuntieSocia1

Your thread has been keeping me going.

[NervousInYorkshire]

Thanks @AuntieSocia1 - I look forward to mostly lurking and having the odd moan. It's been so so nice to have space with other shielders, I don't know anyone else IRL in the shielding group.


May the Government Box Discontent continue! (Nobody checked if I needed one this week )

[outnumberedwoman]

@OneNightTimeMenaceStrikesBack have you a link about the medications for asthma? I am worried about being taken off the list. I am on seretide, salbutamol and montelukast. Also frequent steroids and antibiotics as and when required. I was only put on shielded list after bad asthma attack hospitalised me in april and hospital consultant said i should chase up a letter from GP. He was annoyed i hadnt got one. Worried because they obviously didnt deem me severe enough in the first place to be on the list so maybe they will take me off the list now. I am not in great health anyway but i am terrified of covid. One bad chest infection over christmas left me needing 3 antibiotics and 3 weeks of steroids.

[OneNightTimeMenaceStrikesBack]

this is the page for the asthma uk guidelines for who should be shielding :
www.asthma.org.uk/advice/triggers/coronavirus-covid-19/shielding-advice-high-risk/

[OneNightTimeMenaceStrikesBack]

should add, im on fostair, montelukast and take frequent steroids, ive had five doses of steroids in the last five months

[TheHobbitMum]

I don't think I found the first chat but happy to be here (or not, depending on how we look at it ).

It's great to have somewhere to moan about shielding, I've not enjoyed it one bit!

[Methtones]

I got caught up in a bunch of rubbish personal life stuff (splitting up with someone through a window is not fun).

So that guardian article implies it's not the criteria that has changed but individuals doctors and consultants have reviewed their circumstances. Isn't this a good thing? Everything was blanket before, i trust my consultants to make an informed decision. Am I misunderstanding?

[SweetMarmalade]

I think it’s a good thing only if it’s been discussed in detail as to why, otherwise to just receive a text pretty poor judgment!

[SweetMarmalade]

And not considering what effect a text like that would have mentally on someone who hadn’t left their house in months!

[Methtones]

@SweetMarmalade

I think it’s a good thing only if it’s been discussed in detail as to why, otherwise to just receive a text pretty poor judgment!

Oh absolutely, like everything else shielding it has been handled abominably!

What I mean is, if I got one I'd call my consultant and talk through it with them, then I'd trust their judgement. (Im in Scotland so not sure if that's happening up here yet).

I assumed the article meant those conditions were off the list from the way it is written, but it seems like people are finally being looked at as individuals which we have wanted all along (albeit a blanket text is appauling).

[planningaheadtoday]

Hi everyone, do any of you have children about to return to school? What precautions are you taking?

I'm pretty terrified. We have a small single bathroom and no room to isolate within the house.

[OneNightTimeMenaceStrikesBack]

I think its probably about time they looked at individual people and whether they should be shielding but its terrifying that it might just be a text telling them so. I personally know someone who had cancer 15 years ago and went into full remission and has never had any treatment since but yet they got the shielding text and theyve always maintained they shouldnt have.

[OneNightTimeMenaceStrikesBack]

sorry shielding letter not text. sorry was typing in a hurry

[AuntieSocia1]

@planningaheadtoday my dc is due to start school. I really have no idea what will happen. It's my understanding that young children with shielding family are being told not to attend? For older dc I'm guessing we are supposed to shield from them which in most circumstances would be difficult.

It's the thing that's taking up a lot of my thoughts but from the sounds of things, school is going to look very different for children which should be safer for us but also makes me so sad that the new school experience will be so very different

[Methtones]

OneNightTimeMenaceStrikesBack

I know someone in a similar position. They phoned their consultant who agreed they could ignore it.

I've had cancer but it's a red herring for why I'm shielding - but it does niggle that someone has seen stem cell transplants on my medical records and put me on the list!

But yes, a text isnt the way to go about it.

[Splitsunrise]

Do people have a link to that guardian article please?

[Judiwench]

www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/27/phone-texts-notify-cancer-transplant-and-asthma-patients-they-are-off-shielding-list

[Egghead68]

Thanks for the new thread @AuntieSocia1. Checking in.

[Splitsunrise]

@Judiwench thanks!

[planningaheadtoday]

@@AuntieSocia1 mine are all older I think. My youngest is first year GCSEs the next is final year GSSE and next is A levels.

My problem is one of them doesn't see the point and it's all a bother. They won't be distancing at school or hand washing. The amount of fuss I get when asking for shoes off and bags outside is unbelievable. Even during a pandemic! lol

I think keeping them compliant, getting them to strip and shower after coming home whilst trying to isolate will be impossible.

I'm just looking on right move for studio flats to rent nearby......

[outnumberedwoman]

@OneNightTimeMenaceStrikesBack thanks very much for the link. From reading that I do meet the shielding criteria. I am frequently taking steroids for it and on the mentioned medications. Although I note that advice is for England so I am wondering if the rest of the country will use the same criteria. I certainly hope so. It is just yet more uncertainty around shielding - the list of uncertainties is nearly as long as santas list!

@planningaheadtoday ai have 2 kids. Age 6 and 4. Dc1 is in primary 2 (im in NI). DC2 is in playschool and due to start primary 1 in September. We had already decided as a family if the schools opened before end of June we werent sending them. As it is it looks like schools wont be opening here before September and even then there is much uncertainty regarding how it will be done. A letter from my sons primary school today said that they had no idea how things were going to be done or how they could safely open.

We live in a small 2 bed flat with one kitchen and one bathroom. No way for me to shield from them in such a tiny space and at their young ages. DC2 also has additional needs which adds another branch of thought. At the minute we are playing the wait and see game to see what happens if shielding is extended. Ultimately if I have to shield there is no way for me to stay safe and them go to school. A decision will have to be made. I dont want them missing out on an education but equally I dont want to leave them without a mother. Sorry that hasnt been much help probably!

[SuncreamInTheWinter]

I feel physically sick at the thought of being removed from the list. Terrified for what it means for work. I'm working from home in one job and furloughed from another. Wondering if I won't be allowed to be furloughed without an official shielding advice letter anymore.

I was added and told by gp surgery I should be shielding. I've adapted, got new routines and am doing fairly well (as much as can be) I'm much more worried about being told to go out again too soon.

I would.happily stay shielded for 2 months "too long" than be forced to give that up too soon.

I'm disgusted at some attitudes I've seen about people being lazy etc at home. I'm working with more clients now from home than I was in my setting. And am doing voluntary work from home too.

I'm trying to work out if they have downgraded it or if they are removing people who they believe were added in error at the beginning.

Either way to do it so shittily with no proper explanation and support is awful. I've had phone calls asking who I want contacted if I become seriously unwell and go off in an ambulance. (That was exact wording)

I feel really fucking angry tonight that no thought has gone into what an absolute mindfuck that all is. I've been quietly shielding quite happily until now. Now I'm a livid sweary witch!

[outnumberedwoman]

@SuncreamInTheWinter (love the name by the way!) I am like you. Have been just plodding along but this last little while i can feel the anger building. I am fed of being forgotten. Fed up of being told im lucky (lucky that i have serious health issues )


Perhaps we could start a sweary witch coven?? Better than being known as the shielded!

[ElizabethMainwaring]

Hello everyone. I'm a long time lurker. My husband is shielding. He is immune suppressed and has COPD.
I'm a teacher. The unions and my MAT have said that pupils and staff who live with someone who is 'extremely clinically vulnerable' are not expected to attend.
I presume that I will be working from home to provide work for and support students who are also working from home. Which I am delighted about.
I don't have children, but if I did, they certainly wouldn't be going into school.