Behind virtually every cancer patient that is coping well, there is a strong, supportive caregiver. However, while medical and other support services abound for the cancer patient, there are remarkably few resources available for the caregivers themselves. Yet in many ways, their role—their job, if you will—can be even more challenging, and at times even debilitating.

The role of caregiver is an absolutely crucial one, but it is all-too-frequently overlooked. Caregivers endure anxiety and stress, fatigue, changing family roles, and certainly many of the same emotional ups and downs as the patients themselves. Therefore, during the month of November, cancerpage.com will focus on these and other issues that directly affect the caregiver, including:

• Changing Roles Within the Family
• Meeting the Patient’s Needs (medical, personal, nutritional, emotional)
• Meeting the Caregiver’s Needs (physical, emotional)
• Financial and Insurance Concerns
• Juggling Other Jobs
• When Children are Involved
• Doctor/Patient/Caregiver Communications
• Seeking Help From Family, Friends and Others
• Caregiver Fatigue
• Caregiver Anxiety and Depression
• Issues Surrounding Home Health Care
• Hospice Care
• Loss and Grief
• A Caregiver’s Emotional, Physical and Lifestyle Recovery

Support for the caregiver directly provides important support to the cancer patient as well. Unfortunately, it is an aspect of cancer care that has long been overlooked.

Special Series

Caregivers of Men with Prostate Cancer Suffer Too

Cancer Takes a Toll on Spouse Caregivers

Caring for the Caregivers

Women Use Web For Health Info More Than Men

Community-Based Program Launched to Help Cancer Care-Givers

Psychological Toll of Caregiving Is Long-Lasting

Teamwork Helps Couples Cope with Cancer Diagnosis

Feds Launch Family Caregiver Program

Sleep Deprivation Increases Risk Of Depression In Family Caregivers

When to Stop Caregiving

Hospice as a Caregiving Lifeline

Caregivers as Communicators

What To Tell The Children

Legal and Financial Aspects of Caregiving

The Physical Toll On The Caregiver

Emotional Challenges Facing The Caregiver

Helping the Cancer Patient Cope

Where Caregivers Can Get Help On The Web

Meeting a Cancer Patient’s Nutritional Needs: A Major Caregiving Challenge

Daily Challenges of Caregiving

The Caregiver as Healthcare Provider

Congress Passes Legislation To Help Caregivers

The Changing Face of Caregiving

Caregivers Out of the Closet

The author:

Richard Zmuda