Hi all carers, I’m after some clarity about who does what when it comes to cancer care.
My lovely mum is in her 80’s and unfortunately has secondary breast cancer now in liver lungs and bones with a poor prognosis. She is reluctant to have any outside care but has deteriorated rapidly over last 6 weeks. I’ve read lots of the literature provided by the nhs and online but am finding it all a bit daunting and don’t really know how everyone gets involved, at what stage and what each do/offer. I’m hoping I can convince her to take advantage of the help on offer when she needs it but need to understand it myself first, for example is medication always the GP? Who would you go to with new symptoms? How to get her help at home?
Thank you in advance xx
Hi Red3
A warm welcome to our community, I hope you find it supportive and useful.
I am Steve one of our community champions and my experience with cancer is through my wife who has Leiomyosarcoma - fortunately for us her cancer is stable and has been that way for many years now.
Most medication we have comes from our GP except of course she had to go to hospital for her chemotherapy and then on a few occasions when she has been in hospital they would provide a short course of medication when she went home.
Sometimes it can be helpful to get a needs assessment for your mum and a carers assessment for you, there is information about this on the NHS website, this can be helpful in finding out what can help you both continue to manage and being independent can sometimes be easier to accept.
I know it took me a while to reach out for help for me, I find a lot I recognize in your feelings when someone has cancer and being able to recognize the emotions and accept them as valid can help to make them less overwhelming.
Do post on here whenever someone is always listening and it can help to make us feel less alone knowing others are in a similar situation and somehow together we will get through this.
<<hugs>>
Steve
