My dad has lymphoma and is going through radiotherapy and chemo treatment. He is 3 weeks into treatment and is at a stage where he can’t speak. He is not good at texting and I’m struggling to communicate with him. I can tell he is getting upset. With him not being able to speak I feel like I’m guessing how he is feeling all the time. Has anyone got advice for me on how best to communicate with him and support him and understand how he is feeling?
Hi 1M9L9L9 and a warm welcome to this corner of the Community although I am always sorry to see folks joining us. I am Mike and I help out around our various Lymphoma groups.
What your dad is experiencing is not that unusual when radiotherapy is used to treat Lymphoma. This will pass but it is challenging at the time. My vocal chords were affected due to the mass i had in my neck but once I started chemotherapy things improved quickly.
Using texting is a good way to keep in contact so do encourage him to keep persevering, I also used a notebook a lot over my treatments.
There are over 60 types and subtypes of Lymphoma so we can’t have a group for every type but these are our main Lymphoma groups below.
General Non Hodgkin's Lymphoma
These groups are safe places to talk to others with a similar diagnosis, treatment experience, to ask questions, get support and talk with others supporting family.
If you'd like to connect in with a group click on the Green (Bold) Group Link I have created above. Once the group page opens click on the black banner that says [click to join] at the bottom, or the [Join] button under "Group tools."
You can then introduce yourself by putting up a ‘new post’ by clicking in the box near the top right with + New or + (Depending on the device you are using) and you are ready to go. You could copy and paste the text from this post into your new post.
I will keep an eye open for you but if you are not sure what type you have pleased do get back to me on this post and I will help you out further.
Always around to help more or just to chat
