r/pediatriccancer • u/destinyautumn • Mar 24 '26
Daycare During Treatment?
My 2.5 year old just finished her first 3-day hospital stay for chemo (1 day carboplatin, 3 days etoposide), and we’ll check labs Thursday morning to see where her counts are. Her team said there may be a small window where daycare is okay before counts drop, but I’m feeling really torn.
Did you send your child to daycare during treatment?
Would love to hear what others did and what precautions you took. Thank you! 💛
2
u/rst012345 Mar 24 '26
Do you need her in daycare? Does she love daycare?
We rarely left further than ten minute walk from the hospital. You do what you have to, you do what is best for your child and their mental health, and you find a way to work through the guilt you feel afterwards, because no matter what choice is made you will feel it.
2
u/waffle_s Mar 24 '26 edited Mar 25 '26
My son had radiation in the morning, went to daycare for lunch and nap time, and played a bit after nap. He really wanted to see his friends. His little sister was also in daycare so he would have been exposed to germs through her either way. I think the routine was good for him.
2
u/Horror-Complete Mar 30 '26 edited Mar 30 '26
My daughter during her first chemo treatment (vincristine, dactinomycin-a, cyclophosphamide) went to daycare for a little bit and then we pulled her out as we entered into flu season. She was 16 months at the time.
The first few cycles are better before the cumulative effects take hold and my husband and I later reflected on how it was possible she ever remained in school bc the last few cycles were sooo hard. I think the carboplatin is going to be what causes the dips in counts and I would suspect at a later point, your daughter will be hitting nadir of very low ANC.
My guidance is to take it each cycle at a time. However, if she has a central line, my personal bias is to pull them out of school to prevent fevers from viral illnesses and being admitted with broad spectrum antibiotics. Your daughter is at the age where socialization helps but is not as critical. Of course if you need childcare, that’s a different situation.
My daughter was in remission for 9 months and had a local reoccurance. We have elected for a more tolerable chemo and this one can be done orally (via g tube) so we don’t need a port. That combined with her having great lab results have led us to continue having her in school. She just turned 3 and really enjoys school. She’s had 2 full cycles of the new chemo (irinotecan and temozolomide) and each time has caught something viral at school. Luckily she has fought those off easily but I know if she were on carboplatin, it would be a different story. On the first round, she spiked a low grade fever and I was so thankful she didn’t have a port bc that would have warranted an ER visit with antibiotics.
We push the recovery weeks hard and do our best to support her bone marrow and gut to hopefully keep her in school til surgery.
Good luck 🩷
1
u/Fun-Extent-8867 Apr 25 '26
We push the recovery weeks hard and do our best to support her bone marrow and gut
What does this mean? My 3 year old grandson is going to be receiving his first treatment for neuroblastoma in his bones and are trying to learn a lot in a short time. My DIL is looking for things to help him recover and deal with the yuck of chemo. I don't know what his meds are, but I was curious what you meant.
1
u/bigbadmadd Mar 27 '26
My son was diagnosed at 2, he is 3 now & we are still in treatment. I will not be sending him to daycare bc his counts are all over the place. Last month, his ANC was 950 on Monday, by the next Tuesday, we were in the ER bc he had a 102 fever & a swollen eye with an ANC of 20. He is so sensitive to chemo & I truly never know what his counts will be 😭😭 I am so scared of him getting an infection! He got a blood staph infection right after diagnosis & it was SCARY! I never want to go through that again. If anything were to happen, I truly just want to know that I did everything that I could to protect him.❤️🩹
1
u/data_wombat Mar 29 '26
Our child was in kindergarten 4 days/week when undergoing treatment and rarely missed school days. They had a feeding tube and it wasn't a problem. Even if they were tired, they loves playing with friends and being in class. It's also nice to do something "normal" during such a crazy time. It is also very good for you to get a break from caretaking. Do whats right for your family.
1
u/Born-Butterfly-9611 24d ago
My daughter is also two, and has a very similar regiment. She’s about to start round four of BEP chemo, which contains everything you listed and then some. Due to the port in her chest, I would never think about putting her in daycare. In fact, we live in a bubble. Her immune system is shot, as is everyone who receives chemo, but also the risk for heart infections are greater because of the port. I will keep her in a bubble at all cost. We’ve done just that and she’s been doing so well with treatment. She’s had virtually no setbacks and is responding well.
4
u/VaBookworm Mar 24 '26
My daughter was younger so she had a central line. I'm assuming your child has a port? We were strictly told they didn't want my daughter in daycare because there was a risk a kid could grab it and rip it out. Even if she could have gone, I would likely have opted to keep her home because daycares are cesspools of germs and with the obliterated immune system it wasn't worth the risk at such a young age.