Keep Believing and Hope for the Best

“Hoping means hoping when things are hopeless, or it is no virtue at all… As long as matters are really hopeful, hope is mere flattery or platitude; it is only when everything is hopeless that hope begins to be a strength.” G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936), English writer, poet, philosopher, and lay theologian.

Hope is a positive state of mind. It is the power of believing. I am writing this article as a follow-up to my previous topic on caregiver role to a patient with cancer. To lay things in its simplicity, the caregiver to a cancer patient needs care-giving too. The caregiver needs support – physical, financial, but more on the emotional side of things and situations. Caring for a loved one with cancer requires emotional energy and a willingness to adapt to whatever tomorrow brings. If you’re a caregiver, by definition, a “cancer survivor,” to a loved one diagnosed with cancer, this article is for you.

Life-changing events that the caregiver can expect to encounter

1. Increased responsibility. Depending on what roles your loved one had prior to cancer, you might need to step up in other areas, such as earning money, “the father and mother role,” cooking, washing, or anything else that needs your attention now.

2. Different roles. Caring for a cancer patient time and again means taking care of new duties, such as managing medical appointments and medication, and learning how to help out without being arrogant or domineering.

3. New living arrangements. Your loved one with cancer might live in a place requiring long commutes. Hospital stay might be often, most especially when treatment options, with treatment reactions considered, make it more practical for hospital confinement. Caregiver role requires adaptation to the new living condition in the home. Being more present at home might even make you feel that you have to trim down your work schedules, for you to be able to meet the demands of caregiver role.

4. Greater uncertainty about the future. This is one of the hardest parts after cancer diagnosis is established. You’re in a quandary. The situation becomes so sticky and you don’t know what the future holds. Without a doubt, an emotionally challenging place to be.

5. Difficult choices. With cancer, decisions and choices need to be made, and these can sometimes cause disagreements between family members or their loved one.

6. Changes in communication. Relationship-wise, when it comes to listening and sharing, you’re loved one with cancer might be angry and hopeless at the same time. Don’t hesitate to find a professional or another person to act as buffer.

With the foregoing probabilities, you will find solutions to brace yourself for you to be always healthy and well. Be hopeful. As the great American poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote: “Even in the mud and scum of things, something always, always sings.”