Caring for a Loved One with Cancer

You are not alone as a cancer caregiver

Caring for a cancer patient comes with a lot of responsibilities, some you may not be prepared for. Remember that being a caregiver is a team effort between family members, friends, volunteers, and the health care team. Here at the Henry Ford Cancer Institute, we have resources to help you tackle the biggest challenges caregivers experience in an educated way. These include communicating with your loved one’s medical team, dealing with legal and financial issues and handling medical issues you may encounter.

Communicate effectively with your loved one's care team

It's good for a caregiver to accompany their loved one to doctor's appointments and treatments. Because of age, emotions about the cancer diagnosis, or side effects from treatment, a patient may need assistance communicating with the care team. Here are a few tips for being efficient as a caregiver at your loved one's appointments:

• Keep track of appointments and arrive early
• Write down questions for the care team ahead of time
• Take notes or voice record things your care team tells you at an appointment for future reference
• Keep a list and schedule of your loved one's medications for easy reference at an appointment
• Keep track of side effects that are occurring or worsening, and talk about these with the care team at the next visit

Stay organized

Caregivers have a lot of information they need to keep track of. It's helpful to keep all information in a single notebook or folder. Another option is using a phone or tablet app to keep track of all this information.

• Use Henry Ford MyChart to stay in touch with the care team, view test results, schedule and view appointments, keep track of medications, pay bills, and view your medical record. Mychart is available on your computer or as an app on your phone or tablet. If you have legal guardianship or power of attorney for your loved one with cancer, they can request for you to have your own login for their MyChart to view medical and billing information. This can be requested from the preferences tab when they are logged in to their MyChart account.
• The Henry Ford Rx application allows you to manage prescriptions, including request for prescription refills, refill by scanning your label, track refill status, find nearby stores to place a refill request and setup dosage reminders for helping with medication adherence. Bookmarking of stores, getting driving directions, and managing doctor appointments are some of the additional features available. If you need help registering or using the app, email henryfordsupport@mscripts.com.
• The cancer.net app is a cancer-specific app for researching information on cancer, coming up with questions for your loved one's care team, recording notes or voice recordings from appointments, tracking side effects, and storing medication lists with pictures of the medication labels. Most people take their phones with them everywhere these days, so a folder or notebook becomes one less thing to remember to bring with you.