 Administrator, Director of Patient Support Services Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts)
Joined: Jun 2007 Posts: 10,507 Likes: 7 | Now is not the time to be stubborn or too proud to accept help. You should have someone withyou to give you a hand.
I ended up hospitalized several times due to being malnourished and dehydrated. You will need help with monitoring your calories and fluid intake. If you get this wrong you will feel 10 times worse than you should. You will not want to eat or drink and if someone isnt there to push you to do it then it wont happen. This will lead to dehydration and becoming malnourished. You should have someone there to cook you food and encourage you to eat. I would stay in bed all day until 5 minutes before my kids came home so they didnt know how bad I really was. You should have someone there to help with medications so you dont take it too close together and get the doseage correct.
Its better to be prepared than to get blindsided by this. Not everyone has a rough time but then again not everyone has it that easy either. I lost the ability to drive somewhere around week # 3 of rads. Just having someone there will be a comfort to you.
Best of luck with everything.
ChristineSCC 6/15/07 L chk & by L molar both Stag I, age44 2x cispltn-35 IMRT end 9/27/07 -65 lbs in 2 mo, no caregvr Clear PET 1/08 4/4/08 recur L chk Stag I surg 4/16/08 clr marg 215 HBO dives 3/09 teeth out, trismus 7/2/09 recur, Stg IV 8/24/09 trach, ND, mandiblctmy 3wks medicly inducd coma 2 mo xtended hospital stay, ICU & burn unit PICC line IV antibx 8 mo 10/4/10, 2/14/11 reconst surg OC 3x in 3 years very happy to be alive  | 
