Childcare during cancer treatment

[Earlgrey19]

My husband will be having chemo & surgery soon, and he wants to shield during it at a friend’s house, as in Sept our DS will be at school and DD at nursery. I’ll be on my own with them for about 4 months. Which will be mostly fine, but I could do with some occasional emergency or backup care. I can ask friends, but it’s a longish period and I’d like to have some other paid childcare around but not sure what. Au pair would be practical but not great for them coming into a family with this going on, maybe? Any thoughts?

Sorry to hear about dh

Not sure if au do short term. Usually a year

Prob better to have a mother help who can do some
Cleaning and childcare

Really sorry to hear about your husband's diagnosis. It is really difficult and COVID only makes things harder. Has your husband spoken to his medical team about whether he needs to shield for the whole 4 months of treatment? There is evidence emerging that being on chemo doesn't necessarily make people more likely to become unwell with COVID. Also, he will only have a low immune system at certain points during chemo. Most hospital trusts will ask patients to shield for 2 weeks prior to surgery but that is shielding in their own home. It just seems really hard for all of you for him to be away for 4 months when there is no medical evidence that he needs to. Especially at a time when you would like to be together as a family to get through this.