Becoming A Caregiver For An Ovarian Cancer Patient Without Losing Your Mind

Becoming a Caregiver for an Ovarian Cancer Patient without Losing Your Mind

If your wife or loved one has been diagnosed with ovarian cancer, you are most likely just as stunned and frightened as she is. Unlike many other illnesses, this one carries a distinct connotation of death, fear of the unknown, and also the foreboding that unpleasant medical treatments will be utilized in an effort to save her life. Sharing the burden is a difficult undertaking, and if you want to be completely honest, you know that in order to share the burden, you need to take the lion’s share of it onto your shoulders.

Becoming a caregiver for an ovarian cancer patient without losing your mind is not an easy proposition but it can be done! Begin by learning about the disease itself from Internet sources and also available texts and education materials from your local library. It should not be your goal to be on equal footing with the patient’s doctors, but instead to have an overview of what to expect in such an illness.

Accompany your wife or loved one to the doctor. Make it your responsibility to know where the office is located, do the driving, set the schedule to ensure you are not rushing, and initiate a brainstorming session with your loved one about which questions to ask. Compile this data and keep it handy. Make it your responsibility to tote it to all of the doctors’ appointments and to keep it up to date.

When you are at the doctor’s office, your wife or loved one will do the talking with the help of the notes you took. Take your own notes about the responses the doctor gave. Look for subtle clues that your loved one does not understand an answer or is becoming frustrated. At that point do not hesitate to calmly but succinctly jump in and restate the question in such a way that the doctor will rephrase the answer. If nothing else, ask until you are sure you understand and then you may help her understand later on what the doctor said. This is especially crucial if there are language barriers.

Becoming a caregiver for an ovarian cancer patient without losing your mind also means capitalizing on your relationship with your wife’s or loved one’s medical providers. Get answers to questions covering topics such as record keeping, time frames for treatments, side effects, pain management, insurance issues, and of course whom to contact in case of questions or problems after treatment. Find out what side effects are common and which necessitate a call to the doctor or hospital.

What can make being a caregiver sometimes frustrating are differences of opinion with your loved one. For example, you may believe that pain and cancer are fairly synonymous and thus it is only normal that she will have pain. Your wife or loved one may have the fear that pain is a sure sign that the cancer has gotten worse but because she does not want to be a burden or frighten you, she requests more pain medication. Accept that this is a situation that requires the help of a doctor and openly but respectfully describe your difference of opinion. While the patient has the last say, you both may be surprised to learn that you are wrong. In this case, pain is part of the disease but not indicative of a worsening of the condition; pain in this case does not serve a purpose and eliminating it by medicinal means is not only appropriate but also suggested!

News About Ovarian Cancer Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month 1 Sep 2010 at 4:52pm It's a form of cancer that affects more than 25,000 women in the U.S. and nearly half of them will die from the disease. Ovarian cancer can often be misdiagnosed, and local cancer groups are looking to heighten awareness surrounding the disease. Ovarian Cancer Awareness 1 Sep 2010 at 1:51pm September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness month. Cancer fighters tell it like it is 2 Sep 2010 at 9:05pm Ovarian cancer strikes silently. But on Sept. 25, there will be a lot of noise about it. Raising ovarian cancer awareness 2 Sep 2010 at 11:54am Women?s Cancer Awareness Group founder, Lydia Zipp, center, with cancer survivor Karin Hoy, left, and Mary Ann Combs. Hoy and Combs were guest speakers at last year?s Teal Time event. Walking to fight ovarian cancer 2 Sep 2010 at 10:12am A fundraiser will be held to fight ovarian cancer Sept. 12 at Oakes Park on Morrison St. Registration for the Mini Winners Walk of Hope is free. The event raises money for ovarian cancer awareness, education and research.[...] Somerville-founded Sisters Against Ovarian Cancer to hold third annual walk 1 Sep 2010 at 8:26am Sisters Against Ovarian Cancer (SAOC) announces the third annual walk to benefit ovarian cancer research and genetic testing. The five-mile SAOC walk will be held Saturday, Sept. 11, in Stoneham.. September Is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month 2 Sep 2010 at 11:23am Many women dismiss the seemingly benign symptoms of ovarian cancer. New and improved test to save women from ovarian cancer 2 Sep 2010 at 2:32am SINGAPORE: The fight against ovarian cancer gets a shot in the arm with the development of a new test, said to be able to detect early stages of the disease with a more than 90 percent accuracy. Women at Genetic Risk of Ovarian or Breast Cancer May Want to Consider Pre-Em... 2 Sep 2010 at 6:49am Women who have gene mutations that put them at high risk of ovarian and breast cancer can significantly reduce the risk of developing or dying from these cancers by having their healthy ovaries or breasts removed. Ovarian cancer organization R.O.A.R! hosts benefit 1 Sep 2010 at 9:27am The nonprofit Responsible Ovarian Awareness Required -- R.O.A.R! -- will host the R.O.A.R! on the Floor event from 6 to 11 p. Ovarian Cancer Books & Resources What We Have: A Family#s Inspiring Story About Love, Loss, and Survival What We Have: A Family#s Inspiring Story About Love, Loss, and Survival (Hardcover) By Amy Boesky Buy new: $17.16 31 used and new from $13.00 Customer Rating: First tagged "ovarian cancer" by Daenel Gilda's Disease: Sharing Personal Experiences and a Medical Perspective on Ov... Gilda's Disease: Sharing Personal Experiences and a Medical Perspective on Ovarian Cancer (Hardcover) By M. Steven Piver Buy new: $30.98 63 used and new from $0.02 Customer Rating: First tagged "ovarian cancer" by PaulaM The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (Hardcover) By Rebecca Skloot Buy new: $14.30 104 used and new from $13.00 Customer Rating: First tagged "ovarian cancer" by Librarian "Librarian" 1022 Evergreen Place 1022 Evergreen Place (Cedar Cove) (Mass Market Paperback) By Debbie Macomber Buy new: $7.99 36 used and new from $3.99 Customer Rating: First tagged "ovarian cancer" by Edie Mae