Showering facilities for my dad who has SCLC

Good morning ,

Thank you for your email. I’m so sorry to hear about your dad’s recent diagnosis. I can only imagine how you must be feeling. Please know Macmillan is here for you all whenever you need our support.

Marie can I ask, does your dad have a health care team or specialist assigned to his care at all? The reason I ask, they may be able to refer or advise on support available to you and your dad to assist him with his independence and care needs. In addition to this, you can contact your dad’s adult social services and request a needs assessment. This would be for support with things like meals, care, aids and more. It may also be worth reaching out to your dad’s GP as they can expedite referrals to services such as adult social services as well as advise, signpost and referral to local based support.

I can see you have mentioned that your dad is receiving his first cycle of chemo soon and that not being able to shower is causing him some anxiety as well as panic attacks. Marie, has this anxiety started since your dad’s diagnosis? The reason I ask is we have a specialist service for those who have or have had cancer where we can offer free counselling through our partnership with BUPA. Do you think your dad would give us a call on our support line number 0808 808 0000, we also have a web chat option if dad wants to communicate through another medium. We are open 7 days a week 8am-8pm.

When someone gets diagnosed with cancer in can be incredibly tough on them emotionally as well as physically. Have you heard of our sister site Be.Macmillan? This is our information website. We have PDF’S, audio’s, booklets and more. I wanted to let you know about one of our booklets that may help dad today. ‘How are you feeling? The emotional effects of cancer’. There is also ‘Looking after someone with cancer’ that may be helpful to you Marie. In each of the booklets there are organisations of support at the back.

There are a few other organisations I wanted to let you know about Marie. Have you heard of ‘Living Made Easy’? They have lots of information available including health and personal care, access and mobility and much more. There is also home help and voluntary services through The Royal Voluntary Service and Age UK.

Marie I can see how much you care for your dad. Please also know your needs matter too. You mentioned you are your dad’s carer. Have you heard of Carers Trust and Carers UK. They may provide some assistance with your dad as well as considering your wellbeing and needs as his carer.

I hope this information helps today Marie. Should you need further assistance please do reach out to us. You will always be met with a listening ear.

Take the best of care.