As Anton Chekov once put it, anyone can survive a crisis; it’s the day to day living that wears you down. And cancer patients need help to prevent the day to day from wearing you down as well as the heroic efforts to survive the crisis. During this time, help for cancer patients comes in many different forms. We’ve looked at how to manage your medical bills in a couple of previous blogs. What about the rest of your life?
Fortunately, there are organizations that provide communication tools, meal scheduling, planners and other services for patients that could use a little help.
Communicating with Friends and Family
One of the most popular organizations, Caringbridge.org, offers a journal format for those battling cancer to post, with a comment forum. It offers the obvious convenience of a central place for information, alleviating the need to tell loved ones news again and again. As some have attested, it also provides a unique writing experience, and several people comment that they can share things that would otherwise be hard to tell people face to face.
Mylifeline.org and CarePages.com offer variations on the same idea, a place to share news, thoughts and feelings. A somewhat different communication site is Navigatingcancer.com with a greater focus on cancer resources.
Understanding and Planning
Cancerplanning101.org offers planners, as you might expect, but it also offers a wealth of information on defining cancer terms, things to ask your doctor, and many other topics.
Meal and Medication Scheduling Made Easy
Lotsahelpinghands.com is an interesting spin on coordinating care, meals and lots of other things. Patients and relatives use it as a hub to facilitate logistical planning. The idea is to start or build or join a community that provides meals, rides and other forms of assistance. Other options include Foodtidings.com and Takethemameal.com which both provide help for cancer patients by organizing meals.
Mymedscheduler.com offers tools for scheduling medications – schedules reminders and a new health tracker.
All of these sites will lead you to yet more resources, lots of help for cancer patients. Take control—that’s the goal.
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