Preparing to Help Your Parent Recover from Cancer Surgery

Surgery is one of the most common forms of treatment for cancer and if your aging family member has been diagnosed with cancer, it is possible that their doctor has planned surgery for them. After they have undergone surgery, however, their challenges are not over. Recovering from this surgery is critical to protecting their health and helping them to get the benefits that they should get from this procedure. As a family caregiver, you can help them to prepare for this recovery before the surgery itself so that both of you are ready for this challenge.

Use these tips to help you prepare your parent for recovery from cancer surgery:

• Start care. Arrange for a home care provider so that your aging parent has access to highly personalized, effective care and support throughout their recovery period and behind. Hiring such a care provider before surgery ensures there is no lapse in care and gives your parent the opportunity to get accustomed to this care provider.

• Create a healing environment. Go through their home and make meaningful modifications to make it more accessible and safer for when your parent is recovering. This can include moving their bedroom downstairs or getting a hospital bed for early recovery, adding handrails and grab bars, doing a deep cleaning to combat germs, and ensuring that it is arranged to be as easily and safely accessible as possible.

• Get support. Seek out support groups for both you and your aging parent to help get through the emotional difficulties of recovery. This can help to preserve mental and emotional health, encourage greater compliance, and reduce your stress.

• Plan ahead for needs. Take steps now to help reduce stress and simplify care during recovery. This can include preparing and freezing meals, investing in extra sets of linens and clothing to reduce the urgency of laundry, and purchasing products that will ease cleaning tasks, such as disinfecting wipes.

Home care can be an exceptional benefit to your parent’s life as they age in place, and to you as their family caregiver. An in-home senior care services provider can fill any care gaps that exist in the care efforts that you give to your parent, including being with them on a customized schedule to ensure that they have access to all of the care, support, and assistance that they need, when they need it. This care provider can work with you to design a set of highly personalized services for your parent that will ensure that their needs are handled in the way that is right for them. This can include providing safe and reliable transportation, assisting with meal preparation, handling housekeeping tasks, supporting personal needs such as bathing, toileting, and dressing, and just being there for your parent to offer companionship for better emotional health as they age in place. This can also include offering reminders to help them to stay compliant with their medications, treatments, and lifestyle guidelines given to them by their doctor so that they can get the most benefit from these during their later years.

http://www.cancer.net/navigating-cancer-care/older-adults/aging-and-cancer
https://www.cancer.org/research/cancer-facts-statistics/all-cancer-facts-figures/cancer-facts-figures-2017.html
http://www.cancer.net/navigating-cancer-care/older-adults/cancer-care-decisions-older-adults

If you or an aging loved one are considering home care in Plainsboro, NJ, please contact the caring staff at Care Street Home Care of New Brunswick today. Call (732) 607-8870.