Senior Care Hicksville NY
Facing a cancer diagnosis can be one of the most frightening experiences that a person can go through in their life. As a family caregiver, if your senior parent has recently received such a diagnosis, it is your responsibility to help them through the situation in the best way possible. This starts with making sure that they truly understand their diagnosis and what it means for their health and wellbeing. By knowing the reality of their situation they can feel more confident evaluating their options and making the decisions that are right for them.
Use these tips to help ensure that your parent understands their cancer diagnosis:
• Educate yourself. Before you can help your parent understand their diagnosis, you must understand it. Take the time to talk to your aging loved one's doctor about the diagnosis and what exactly it means. You should know the actual type of cancer that they have, what area of the body it impacts, and how it generally progresses. This will help you to better talk to your parent about their diagnosis and answer basic questions.
• Encourage questions. Asking questions is the way that your aging parent is going to better understand what is happening to them. Encourage your parent to ask any questions that they might have about their diagnosis, what it means, and what options they may have. Answer what you can and write down any that you are not able to answer confidently. You can then bring those questions to their doctor to discuss them further so that you can provide all of the information that your parent needs.
• Find a support group. Even with all of the information that you can give your parent about their disease, it can still be difficult for them to really understand what they are facing. Look for a support group tailored to people dealing with their specific cancer. Participating in this group will introduce your parent to others who are going through the same thing that they are. This can help them to feel more connected to the experience and realize that it is not just a disease that happens to "other people", enabling them to come to terms with the diagnosis and start to work toward not only understanding it, but working through it.
If your senior parent has recently been diagnosed with cancer, now may be the right time for you to consider senior care for them. A senior care provider can give your parent the personalized support and assistance that they need to handle their cancer diagnosis in the way that is right for them. This can mean being there to offer them companionship and emotional support, encouraging them to make good lifestyle choices to improve their health and help them to respond to their treatment in the most effective way, and provide reliable, safe transportation to doctor's appointments as well as other personalized services. This will help to support mental and emotional health and encourage them to live the highest quality of life possible as they age in place and cope with this diagnosis.