I just want to say hello. I am supporting a very close friend of mine who was diagnosed with Advanced stage 4 Prostate Cancer, with multiple bone Metastasis a few months ago. We have been told that his care is Palliative and that he can’t be cured. I am supporting my friend to all his appointments and am making sure that he has access to other services he needs. He also has a Macmillan nurse. We are just trying to navigate our war through appointments, tests and treatment and learning about and understanding the disease. . I work as a nurse, which does help. I am there for my friend to support him and we also have lots of fun things planned to look forward to. He is an incredible person, but is clearly overwhelmed and not always understanding that he can’t be cured . I have explained Palliative to him and I have asked his doctors to be careful with their wording as when they use the words such as treatment he thinks he can be cured. When the emphasis is on controlling the disease and enabling him to be him for as long as possible. I have assured him that I will be with him every step of the way. And I will be, but recently I have started to feel exhausted myself and have realized that I too need support through this joy. I feel guilty about that as I’m not the one with cancer ,
