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Accompany patients to their doctors appointments or treatments.
Treatments can take many hours and a patient will usually enjoy the
company.
Be prepared with a list of questions for your doctor before each
doctor's appointment.
Ask the health care provider about special food needs while the patient
is present. As undergoing cancer treatment can take a lot out of a
person, it would be helpful to the patient to have assistance in
preparing special foods or meals as suggested by the doctor.
Hire a Chef
Instead of spending your quality time together cooking meals, you may
want to consider hiring a chef for a cooking session every couple or few
weeks. The chef can prepare several special meals / menus based on
the doctors recommendations that can be frozen for the patient.
These meals will require little preparation on the part of the family
members or patient and can free up time for the patient and family to do
other things. Look for a personal chef in your area. They
will usually have all of their own equipment, will do the shopping
necessary for the meals and prepare the meals in your home. They
will usually charge an hourly or flat rate plus the expense of the
groceries. If you need additional storage containers for food
storage the chef can usually purchase those for you or make suggestions.
Help with or Hire a helper for Gardening / Cleaning / Laundry
Family members may want to hire someone to help out around the house
once a week to tend to the regular tasks that the patient will not have
the strength to manage. These tasks can also be split up among
family members or friends that want to provide support.
A patients energy level, mood and spirit may change from day to day.
Be willing to provide as much support as needed. Conversely, be
willing to let the patient enjoy a heightened energy level. Let
the patient take advantage of their increased energy or spirits by
giving them space to do the activities that they believe they can
manage.
Each person knows their own body best. Let the patient listen to
their body.
Bring the patient favorite magazines, puzzles, books - whatever they
enjoy most.
Encourage people to write the patient letters or send emails.
If you can use the web and the patient doesn't mind - publish regular
updates on the status of the patients visits, health, etc. This
will keep them from having to remember all of the details and report the
details to many different people who phone for updates.
If the patient has children they may enjoy a day or afternoon alone with
their husband or wife. See if you can arrange for play days for
the children/child with a family member or friends.
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