My son has been sent home after his treatment proved to be unsuccessful and has been told there's no further treatment for him
He is on morphine and spends most of the day asleep. With the covid19 virus I can't visit. I find phone calls difficult and would like some support in what to say. He doesn't want to talk about his illness or say how he feels. (We have faith and are praying for healing) He can't go out or do anything and it's limiting and seems a bit mean to say what I've been doing. ( not much as I'm self isolating!) He is married with a young baby. I live alone and sometimes feel scared that in this time of isolation I may live to regret what I didn't do
Hi and welcome to the online community
I'm very sorry to hear that your son has been told that his treatment was unsuccessful and that there's no further treatment available. That must have been a devastating blow for the whole family. You're right that unfortunately you can't visit him because of social distancing so this makes this time doubly difficult for you all.
You've said that you find talking to him on the phone difficult and that you want to know what to say. Do you both have access to Facetime or Skype as I find face to face conversations flow much more naturally when you can see the other person?
Please don't feel guilty telling him about the things you've been doing as we all like to hear 'normal' conversation that doesn't revolve around cancer. You might like to take a look at this from Macmillan on tips to talking to someone with cancer but personally I'd just say, be yourself. If he wants to talk about his cancer then let him, but if he doesn't then you can obviously say something like "how are you feeling today" to show that you're acknowledging the cancer without needing to talk about it.
This booklet on talking to someone with cancer has a list of things to avoid saying on page 16 which you might like to take a look at. There's also a section starting from page 26 on ways to keep in touch which could give you a few ideas.
I hope this helps
Sending a supportive ((hug))
"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
