What they don’t know..they need to know
If we’ve lived it, we need to share it. It’s a simple as that.
A newly appointed “care giver” is some one who has been thrown into cancer world with no preparation. It’s not their fault. We don’t practice how care for our loved ones. We never expect to be a part of this mixed-up world that is cancer. And Al is right, we rely on our doctors to tell us everything. That is just not going to happen and it’s not because they aren’t good doctors. They are concentrating on the medical care. If we’re lucky, they warn us about side effects to treatment and what the warning signs are, but that’s not a given. We’re expected to pick-up on the signs of low blood counts or fevers or disorientation. We’re supposed to read up on how to avoid infection, or the benefit of spearmint gum to knock down nausea. If we’re really lucky, we have an amazing oncology nurse who shares the wisdom of years of caring for cancer patients. The nurses are walking care books on this disease.
But if we’ve been there…if we’ve lived the care giver life, no matter how it turned out, we can help the next family walking in the door. We must do that because we have so much knowledge, we can’t let it go to waste.
What they don’t know…they need to know and we’re all here to make that happen.
March 27, 2013 @ 9:44 pm
My brand-new grandaughter has a case of Thrush. My husband and I were talking tonight about the fact that he had it, too, when he was going through chemo. He was wasting away and we didn’t know what was going on! When he had it the second time, we knew just what to do. My heart goes out to families starting this journey. They are jumping out of an airplane with no idea if there is a parachute.
March 27, 2013 @ 6:43 pm
I think oncology offices should have a network of volunteers who have been through it to help those about to go through it. We all have a lot of giving in us and it’s hard to say who would receive the most out of the deal.