Jessica, Im so sorry about your husband! You certainly have your hands full with his illness and your daughters leaving for school soon. Being a caregiver is not an easy job at all! I have great respect for anyone who can manage to care for a loved one when they are at their lowest and still keep a smile on their face. Make sure you take good care of yourself too! Every week, make some time to be alone or away from the house so you can catch your breath and get a different perspective. Staying super busy is another way to keep from worrying too much.

Already, you must have spent lots of time reading our site. Im very glad the milkshake recipe is helpful and your husband is able to drink it. Make a couple of those a day and he should meet at least the daily minimum of 2500 calories. As the treatments progress he may develop painful mouth sores making the milkshake hard to drink, just thin it down with more milk or half and half.

Im sure you must have seen many of my posts stressing the importance of intake. Not only are calories important, so is daily water consumption and managing pain levels. Since your husband has a feeding tube, I suggest practicing with it to make sure you both are very familiar with using it. This way it wont be such a big deal if the time comes he needs to do tube feedings. Even if not using it, at least 2x a day flush the tube with a large syringe (should be 60ml). If you can slowly flush the tube morning and evening with 2 syringes full of luke warm water then you have just added 8oz of water to your husbands daily intake. Another benefit of the feeding tube is many medications are available in liquid form. These can go right thru the tube (just flush it good after using) which is a huge help to patients who have a sore throat or mouth.

Depression is prevalent with OC patients (caregivers too). At the treatment facility, ask if they have someone who specializes in speaking with their cancer patients and their families. Some medications for depression take weeks to begin working. Make sure you ask about this if you notice your husband really needs help right away. There are other meds that are for a more occasional use, maybe that would help him? One thing that always seems to help patients is giving them a purpose. Everyone needs a reason to get up in the morning. Do you have a dog? If so, maybe your husband could start taking the dog on daily walks? The exercise and fresh air should help make him feel a little better. How about a hobby? Now is a great time to start one. It would give him something positive to focus on. Reading is always something that held my attention. Anything that helps to keep his mind occupied with other positive things besides sitting around thinking.... [i][/i]what if???? Everyone is afraid of the unknown so Im sure he must be under incredible stress. Maybe by joining our site or meeting other OC patients/survivors would help him to not feel so alone. If he would like to speak to someone who has been down a very similar path, Im available. Over the years, Ive talked with hundreds of OC patients and caregivers. Just let me know if this is something that would help and I will send you my number.

Since treatments begin very soon, make sure you make a list of anyone who offers their assistance. Having a close friend pick up a day of driving your husband to rads could be a huge help to you and a nice change of pace for your husband. There are all kinds of things others can do to help out to make this easier on everyone involved. Picking up medications from the pharmacy, visiting your husband, doing a load of laundry, mowing your lawn, or doing other outside chores all can be very helpful when you have so much going on caring for your patient. Dont be afraid to ask people for help. Most really want to help out but they dont know what they can do.

Stop back often and keep reading. Post questions and updates as much as you like. We are here to help both you and your husband get thru this and the recovery phase too.

Best wishes!!!!!


PS... Great job with your signature. Thank you!!!