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| Keeping Friends and Family Informed |
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When you or someone you love is facing cancer, it can feel overwhelming. Your family and friends want to express their concern and keep up with all the details, but you are so tired at the end of the day, you barely have time to brush your teeth. Returning all their well-meaning email and phone messages can be daunting. There are many ways to make this part of the journey easier.
- You can make a new voicemail (or answering machine) message every day, or every time the situation changes. In the message you can thank everyone for their concern and kind words, and apologize that you can not possibly get back to everyone individually. You message can be very specific. For example, something like "Today is ___. The results of the biopsy revealed _____. We are meeting with an oncologist to get plan tomorrow."
- There are now many online sites that allow you to post your story as it unfolds for anyone in your circle of family and friends to read. They are easy to set up and use, and are free.
- There is a national organization, Share the Care, that teaches you how to create a team of helpers to take care of the day-to-day tasks that are often ignored during times of medical crisis.
- We have books on the topic in our lending library (search under "caregiver"), and names of local families who have taken part in such teams who are glad to speak with you over the phone.
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