Caregiver Tips: Part 4 - Treatment

Although I wrote the following with cancer treatment in mind, many of these tips can apply to any kind of medical treatment.

  • Realize that a cancer diagnosis and treatment changes everything about life as you once knew it. A cancer patient can become easily frustrated over things that never bothered him/her previously. Emotions can easily surface, as the patient is having to deal with a life-threatening illness, side effects of treatment, side effects of the cancer itself, changes in work status and routine, changes in physical appearance, financial stress, loss of social activities, loss of physical capabilities, etc.

Caregiver Tips: Part 3 - Organizing

To ease the stress of caregiving, it helps to have a system to organize the information you need. Develop a system that works for you. Here’s what I organized to have access at my fingertips and to keep my sanity:

A big 3-ring binder that I carried to medical visits included:

  • Doctors’ and nurses’ contact information (I put their business cards in a plastic binder with slots made for 20 cards per page.)

Caregiver Tips: Part 2 - Emergency Room Trips 

Emergency room trips are almost inevitable if a patient is being treated for a long-term medical condition. Here are some tips from our personal experiences:

  • Keep your automobile filled with enough gas to get to medical appointments or to the hospital in an emergency. Keep it maintained with regular oil changes and tire rotations.

  • Keep luggage prepacked with basics for frequent trips to the ER. Assume the patient will be admitted for at least two to three days—or longer.

  • Keep a checklist of things to take to the emergency room.

Caregiver Tips: Part 1 - For the New Caregiver

A huge responsibility as caregiver has just landed in your lap. Your loved one's life rests in your hands. Below are some tips to help you manage this new role.

  • Make sure doctors/hospitals are in your insurance plan and treatments are covered. Cancer treatments are very expensive and can continue for a long time, depending on the type of cancer. You don’t want to pay out-of-network charges.

  • Take a list of questions to every appointment. Write down the answers or ask if you may record the appointment. Ask the doctor to explain things in terms you understand. If you don’t know what questions to ask in the beginning, search the internet for “Questions to ask about ________ cancer” or the medical condition you are dealing with.

Basic Resources

A year into our cancer journey, Chris and I were asked to be on a guest panel of cancer survivors and caregivers at Relay for Life in Denison, Texas. I shared some of the resources I found most helpful at that point:

Cancer support groups. Talking with cancer survivors can give you the encouragement you need to fight this devastating disease.

Footprints in the Sand

I chose the cover for His Love Carries Me because of the following:

Before our first appointment at MD Anderson, my oldest brother gave Chris and me a special coin to carry in our pockets representing the story “Footprints in the Sand.” This wasn’t a good-luck charm. It was simply a tangible reminder that during the tough times we’d be facing, it might seem like God has abandoned us. During those times, though, His love would be carrying us.

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Questions

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Welcome to my blog! This is a place where I will provide caregiver tips, resources for cancer information and financial help, and suggestions to assist those who are going through a devastating medical diagnosis. I might include excerpts from our books and some “outtakes” that didn’t make it into my book. You may suggest in the “Comments” section other topics you’d like me to cover in this blog related to caregiving or cancer.