Mom's First Day of Chemo....

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FightingDaughter3
FightingDaughter3 Member Posts: 1
in Caregivers #1

Today is my mom's first day of chemo. She was diagnosed with Breast cancer and had a mascetomy last month. I've felt really detached from the whole process, she is doing fantastic and in good spirits the chemo is just preventive but i dont know what to expect next.. 

 

Looking for some good words and experiences of someone who has been through this before..

 

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  • Catholic
    Catholic Member Posts: 86
    edited June 2017 #2
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    First day and there is

    First day and there is nothing to worry about.  After the 3rd week or so, your mom will lose her hair and most likely she will not take that well.  Go online and order some hats now. Other than that, in my opinion, taking care of the person going through chemotherapy is not difficult.  Your mom will want to sleep a lot.  Probably 12-16 hours of sleep a day.  If you want to do something, find something for your mom to do or work on.  I got my wife a large cross-stitch kit and she worked on that for almost a year.  The chemotherapy drugs are very powerful and really knock the person down.

    Again, in my opinion, but the real work of the caregiver starts when the chemotherapy stops.  2-3 weeks after the chemotherapy has ended, does you mom start to get off the couch (or bed) and get involved in things?  Is she happy, and working or active, and is her behavior good?  Or is she absolutely enraged with anger and not at all pleasant to be around and spends the majority of her time on the couch abusing the caregiver?  At this stage, you wait and see what happens and hope that she gets better.

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