Making life easier during Treatment

loving_hands_missions · May 2009

Hello all,

First of all, my prayers and thoughts go out to each and everyone of you. My aunt was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer and fought a long and hard battle for six years. During those six years and most likely every year into the future, my family has banned together to walk/race for the cure every year but I personally feel like I would like to do even more. There are many outlets for raising awareness and money to find a cure, which I am whole heartedly behind, but in my experience with my aunt's battle there is a need for support during treatment. My aunt had to travel about 550 miles from home to Houston, TX to receive treatments multiple times throughout the year, as I am sure many other women also experience. I live in Houston, about 1 mile from the medical center, and would like to be a part of or organize a community support system that would provide any services visiting patients would need. Store runs, monetary support for hotel stay, errands, support or prayer during stay, etc etc.

So my question to all of you is what would make your life a little easier during treatment when you are so far from home?

Panchoandlefty · May 2009

I would contact MD Andersson and find out what services they offer and either volunteer with an existing group or augment the services they already provide. No point re-inventing the wheel or duplicating services which already exist in the community. MD Andersson has such a high percentage of traveling patients (as opposed to East-Coast Centers) that a lot of this stuff probably exists, the issue is communicating the existence of services to outpatients who need them.

I travelled from Tulsa to Boston for surgeries, but did chemo at home. I think the missing link for many patients who travel is being hooked into the local system or community of services both at home and at the Center. I felt like I didn't really belong either place.

If you live in the community where you are getting treatment, the case workers/staff have more regular follow-up to plug you into groups, volunteers, services. You develop relationships with others getting care at the same time/place, etc.

When you travel for treatment, each trip is like a business trip with no time for sightseeing. You go to appointments. You go home. At home, you are also not hooked into services because you get treatment elsewhere and therefore don't interact as much with local providers.

Point is, BOTH places probably have support systems, you just are not enough a part of either community to know what is available.

I think it would be helpful for someone to target traveling patients for follow-up to make sure they are getting whatever services they need either at the Center or in their communities. In my experience, that wasn't done very well.

So far as day-to-day stuff-- putting together a list of short-term, furnished apartments and hotels with hospital discounts would be great. I found apartments were cheaper (in Boston) than hotels and had kitchens and privacy. Not sure how that works in Houston.

My Center (Mass General) had a hand-out with hotel info, but it was WAY out of date and not very helpful. I needed someone local to take the time to explain the neighborhoods and travel times to the Center from the different hotels and such.

Also, people one could call in a pinch for a ride or errands or childcare during treatment would be great.

It is nice that you want to help.

Stephanie

Making life easier during Treatment

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