Hi All!
Just wanted to ask if anyone has had a similar experience.
My mum was diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, liver mets in January. She is taking her time to process it and denial is her way of coping. She believes she will continue working in the school part time mornings throughout treatment.
She has had radiotherapy and got upset with a side effect. Has since spoken to nurses for reassurance.
She lives on her own and plans on calling the hotline if she feels unwell and asking friends for food shopping. When I expressed my concerns she says she doesnt want to think about adverse side effects and can 'call a friend' to take her to A&E.
She starts chemo drip/then 12 week tabs on 30th, has a chat with chemo nurse next week.
I live about 45 min away from her, the rest of my family are either abroad or live 3+ hrs away.
I am concerned that she will be on her own during treatment,
I am in the process of applying for work...how can I sit at a desk/turn off my phone, and know mum is ok?!
If I need to live with/care for her then I would rather know before I go for interviews for work, understandibly.
I shall speak to her chemo nurse next week.
Any thoughts on what to do on this situation?? Similar exp
Thanks
One7 xx
Hi ,
Sorry to hear about your mum and the effect it is having on you, it is great to hear your mum has someone to take her to A&E and of course if all else fails there is the ambulance service - as a cancer patient on chemo she would likely be classed as a fairly high priority. In terms of her work the employer will need to do a risk assessment however she has some strong protection from discrimination so it will be interesting to see how that works out.
While Janice was undergoing chemo I was mostly with her but there were quite a lot of patients who did not have anyone - except of course the nurses and the health care assistants. What I think possibly surprised me was how happy the place felt with a few people talking about cancer but most of the people there just putting the world to rights.
My workplace has been very good in terms of my wife's cancer including at time working from home - of course since covid many people have become much more used to the idea of working from home.
<<hugs>>
Steve
