How To Be A Great Cancer Caregiver
How To Be A Great Cancer Caregiver
What Is A Caregiver?
We define a caregiver as the person who most often helps the person with cancer and is not paid to do so. Professional care providers are paid to give care. They tend to have more limited roles and are not discussed in detail here.
Caregivers may be partners, family members, or close friends. Most often, they’re not trained for the caregiver job. Many times, they’re the lifeline of the person with cancer.
Caregivers have many roles. These roles change as the patient’s needs change during and after cancer treatment. Today a lot of cancer care is done in outpatient treatment centers and doctors’ offices. This means that sicker people are being cared for at home.
As a caregiver, you have a huge influence – both positive and negative – on how the cancer patient deals with their illness. Your encouragement can help the patient stick with a demanding treatment plan and take other steps to get well, like eating healthy meals or getting enough rest.
Expressing Love
Caring for a loved one with cancer is one of the greatest expressions of love. Putting aside the business of life to care for one less fortunate can be incredibly rewarding and there are few things we do in our day-to-day lives that are as important. At the same time, being responsible for the care of a family member or friend can be exhausting, and if adequate attention isn't given to self-care, can lead to compassion fatigue and burnout. Doing too much without the support of others can also create feelings of resentment that linger long after the crisis is over. What can caregivers do to care for themselves while they care for others?
Caregivers Are A Part Of The Health Care Team
Unless you’re a trained healthcare professional, you probably never imagined that you’d wind up becoming a cancer caregiver. When someone you know and love finds out that they have cancer, you don’t have time to stop and think about how you’re going to deal with it. Once the reality of a cancer diagnosis sinks in, you may not stop to think about what to do next. The caregiver is part of a cancer care team made up of the patient, other family and friends, and the medical staff. As part of the team, you’ll help coordinate the patient’s care. Caregivers often have to keep track of prescriptions, know which tests are to be done and make sure all involved doctors know what’s going on. They often find themselves preventing mix-ups and keeping track of paperwork.
Overcoming Challenges
Being a cancer caregiver is a huge responsibility, but you won’t have time to look for information to help you figure out what the role involves. As a cancer caregiver, you’ll learn about the things you need to do and what to expect as the person for whom you are caring goes through treatment. Most of all, you should never hesitate to ask questions or look for advice or support.
Being a cancer caregiver will undoubtedly be the most difficult thing you’ve ever had to do in your life. There is no right or wrong way to be a great cancer caregiver because all cancer patients have different experiences.
One of the most challenging aspects of being a caregiver involves being able to know when and where you need to jump in and control, and when you should back off. No matter how good your intentions are, the family member or friend for whom you are caring should never feel like they no longer have control over any aspect of their own lives. Ultimately, the cancer patient is responsible for every decision regarding care, support, and treatment – unless the patient is your own child.
To Take Care Of Others, First Take Care Of Yourself
Getting adequate rest, exercise, and good nutrition is more important than ever when you are caring for another. Despite the importance of self-care, many people put their own needs on the back burner while caring for a loved one with cancer. Neglecting your own health, however, is not only harmful to you but reduces your ability to be the best caregiver possible. Just as flight attendants tell people to put on their own oxygen mask first, it's not only important but necessary to put self-care first on your list.
For those who still feel guilty about considering their own needs, take a moment to consider what you would hope for if the situation were reversed.
How Can A Caregiver Help
The person with cancer faces many new challenges. As the caregiver, you can help the patient deal with these challenges and get through any problems that come up.
For example, suppose the patient’s white blood counts drop, they develop a fever, and as a result, need to be in the hospital. This can be very upsetting and may be seen as a setback by the family and the patient. The caregiver can:
Help address their concerns by pointing out that the patient will need to be in the hospital for only a short time until antibiotic treatment has the infection under control.
Make sure that the patient has everything they need while in the hospital, including doctor’s prescriptions for non-cancer related medicines taken at home, such as thyroid or blood pressure medicine.
Call all the doctors involved in the patient’s care and tell them about the infection and that the patient is in the hospital.
Check that arrangements have been made for the patient to stay on the antibiotics at home or as an outpatient after leaving the hospital. If daily visits to the outpatient clinic for IV (intravenous) antibiotics are needed, the caregiver can coordinate people to help the patient get there and back each day.
These kinds of tasks may be too much for the patient to tackle while fighting infection. This kind of help is valuable. It’s a reassuring sign for the patient that this short-term problem can be managed and solved.