Pay very close attention to your fathers intake, monitor it every single day. This is something that is within your control. Intake is the key to how easy or how difficult this will be on your dad. Every single day make sure he hits his daily minimums of at least 2500 calories and 48-64 oz of water. If your father is on the slim side he may need even higher daily minimums of 3000 or 3500 daily calories. If he is struggling to hit his fluid intake minimums, he can get extra hydration if his doc writes him a prescription for it. Extra hydration will help your father to feel better very quickly. At least thats how I remember it. I would drag myself in and get a couple bags of fluids and walk out feeling like a new woman. Always ask your fathers doc before giving him something new, even vitamins. Some vitamins can actually interfere with his treatments.

Every patient is different and will experience slightly different side effects regardless of "low" doses or not. Ive watched so many people go thru this over the years and sadly most will have a hard time and skimp on their intake. This leads to a viscous cycle of playing "catch up" thinking the next day the patient will do better but then the next day comes and its even harder. Unfortunately most will start out ok but about the 3rd week they start to notice the side effects and begin to struggle. As your father continues with treatments he will find everything becoming progressively more difficult. Most patients who had the smaller weekly dose of chemo fared only slightly better than patients who had the 3 "big bag" doses of chemo. Radiation continues working even after treatments are finished where most patients worst weeks are the first 2 or 3 weeks right after their last treatment.

Pay close attention to his hearing. Make sure you tell your father to speak up and tell you and the doc if he notices anything different. Even if its only a slight humming, its very important. Most patients will not think much of it and many patients wont want to say anything about a very minor change but they must. Certain chemos cause permanent hearing loss. Prior to getting another dose of chemo the doctor needs to be aware of any hearing changes so the chemo can be changed to something else. Do NOT let your father take another dose of the original chemo if he says his hearing has changed. The same thing goes for any change in his bathroom habits. Chemo can be very hard on the kidneys, especially on the chemo days and the next couple after the chemo is given. His fluid intake must be watched closely to make sure he is flushing that poison out of his system. Its a good idea to try upping your fathers fluid intake the day before chemo, the day of chemo and the day afterwards as well.

As a caregiver, you have a very difficult job! Make sure you take some time just for yourself. Even if its just to go out to lunch with some friends, going for a manicure, or taking a walk around the block to help clear your mind. Too often we are so wrapped up in caring for the patients that caregivers dont notice when they start becoming overwhelmed. It can happen to the best of us! Thats why its so important to take some time away from doctors, hospitals and the patient and concentrate on doing something that you enjoy. Kinda like a mini vacation for a few hours.

Dont be surprised if well-meaning friends and relatives ask what they can do to help your father. Make a list of every single persons name and contact info. Tell your friends and relatives when the time comes, you will let them know what they can do. Theres a million small things that can help make this easier for both you and your father to get thru. Picking up meds from the pharmacy, walking the dog if you or your father has one, getting the mail, grocery shopping, doing a load of laundry, taking out the trash, driving your father to treatments, sitting with him on chemo days, even giving someone the task of updating friends and relatives you will find is a big help, among other things. Maybe you could put one person in charge of taking your father to his treatment on his chemo days to help give you a break and also to enable your father to spend quality time with others who are close to him. If you havent already done so, call the American Cancer Society (ACS) and ask about their volunteer driver program and their $300 voucher to help pay for prescriptions or for transportation costs. I was fortunate enough to use the driver program a couple times even though I lived about 45 minutes away from my treatment facility. There were a couple very kind cancer survivors who drove me to my treatments which helped take the burden off my teenaged son even for one day.

Read and educate yourself with posts and all the do's and dont's for OC and its treatments. Be especially careful about washing hands, using hand sanitizer and not bringing anyone who has even a slight cold around your father. What may not be a big deal to someone who is healthy can become a nightmare to someone going thru cancer treatments. Most patients will struggle with low white counts during and after rads/chemo. It took me a couple years after finishing rads/chemo before my numbers were in the normal range. If your father hasnt yet had a full blood panel done including thyroid and testosterone levels talk to his doc and get it done right away. These numbers are very important to determine down the road what your fathers regular numbers should be. Getting this info later wont work so make certain its done prior to starting rads/chemo. Your father should have also seen his dentist for anthorough cleaning and check up and had flouride trays made (if he still has his own teeth).

Hope I didnt overwhelm you with too much info. Best wishes to you both!!!