My wife will be starting chemotherapy soon. How can I make day-to-day life and activities easier for her?
- Keep it as normal as possible. She may need help with homemaking; meals and cleaning.
- You can offer to help or hire help in. Her appetite and taste will change. She may prefer smaller frequent meals. It will be trial and effort finding things that taste good to her.
- She may want to spend time with family, friends or a spiritual person. She may have lower than usual energy levels so these arrangements need to be scheduled around rest periods.
- She will want to spend some time talking about her fears with you. This is her time. Allow her an opportunity to talk about her fears and anxieties. This is not the time to vent your fears but to support her in trying to cope with this new fear.
- Encourage her to make a list of questions for her doctor. Hers and your anxiety level will be high when going to these appointments so have the issues written down so she can refer to them.
- Be sure to take care of yourself. Go for a walk. Go to the grocery store. Meet friends. She will need to know that you are strong and okay.
