Good topic, Gary. I followed all these precautions and *still* ended up in the hospital with a fever, probably from cellulitis, at the end of my treatment. For months after I didn't go out much of anywhere because of fear of picking up somehting. I'm still very conscientious about washing my hands all the time and trying not to touch door handles when I can avoid it.

10 months after treatments, I have a very low end of normal WBC right now. My MO says this is normal for post-chemo and I have enough white blood cells that if I ran into an infection, my body would have enough to fight it off until it made more white blood cells but I still think caution is best.

Another important precaution to be aware of, especially this time of year, is that if you are a gardener you simply can NOT go out and pull out weeds and dig in the dirt no matter how much you want to if you are having treatment or the firts couple of months after treatment. Small scratches and bugbites that normally wouldn't faze you at all can become serious infections when your immune system is really compromised. I am really looking forward to being well enough to garden this year!