Lung Cancer
Making A Plan
Having a whole health plan is an essential part of managing your lung cancer diagnosis. This person-centered approach to your health and well-being focuses on the issues that matter most to you, such as managing your treatment, treating side effects and creating a path into survivorship. While many health care professionals will be a part of your team, the most important team members will be your caregiver and loved ones.
Your relationship with your caregiver is one of the most vital connections you may have. Together you will make decisions and learn how to navigate your treatment plan. That will require patience, strength and flexibility from both of you. You must also be on the same page. When you have a shared understanding of your goals and how you hope to achieve them, you can make your whole health plan more successful.
Strategies for Success
To make a successful whole health plan with your caregiver, you both need to adopt interpersonal skills that maximize your care and help you work as a team. These skills include being able to communicate clearly and effectively, showing empathy for each other’s situations, building trust and resolving conflicts effectively. Following are some things to consider as you and your caregiver implement the skills and tools needed.
- Discuss the level of assistance needed. Let your caregiver know how much you’d like them to be involved in your care and how independent you would like to be. You may want to continue doing specific activities on your own during treatment, keeping in mind that you may adjust this as needed.
- Outline responsibilities early after receiving the diagnosis. Having this discussion at the beginning of treatment helps to prevent disagreements and unrealistic expectations in terms of who does what.
- Talk about shared decision making. It may be helpful to discuss how you will be making treatment decisions. Will you make decisions together? Will you have the final say? The caregiver should act as your advocate, making sure that your preferences for care are recognized by the health care team.
- Continue to communicate your expectations to avoid problems and hurt feelings. Discuss how you feel about each other’s ability to perform the tasks necessary. For example, you may not trust that your caregiver can properly dispense medications. Likewise, caregivers may be skeptical about your ability to follow the treatment plan, take medications on time and communicate with them and the health care providers.
- Be understanding of each other. Both of you will have different roles. It is helpful that you understand the challenges each will face. You need to feel free to speak up about any issues that should be addressed as they happen. Try to resolve conflicts by honoring each other’s perspectives. Respect each other’s decisions even if you agree to disagree.
Getting Started
Make sure you are clear on your roles. You should both be in agreement about taking on the following responsibilities.
Meeting the health care team. You and your caregiver should know the members of your health care team. Ask for contact information for members you might need to reach out to, such as the doctor, nurse navigator and nutritionist. Find out how they prefer to be contacted (phone call, email, text or health care portal).
Setting up the health care portal. Make sure you both have access to the center’s patient portal, which is a secure website or phone app that provides 24-hour access to current and past health information.
Getting the “OK” to receive medical information. Make sure your caregiver is authorized to receive information from the health care team. Without authorization, the caregiver will not be able to access medical information, renew prescriptions and more.
Tracking medications and symptoms. Your caregiver will be responsible for ensuring all medications, from drug therapy to breathing treatments, are taken the way the health care provider intends. Use the tools available, such as medication reminders and a medication tracking form. Download and print a medication tracking form at PatientResource.com/Medication_Journal
Watching for and managing side effects. Catching side effects early will offer you the best chance at finding relief. Ask the care team about the side effects and symptoms for which you and your caregiver can watch. Track when they happen, how often and whether anything makes them better. Provide as many details as you can to the care team. Ask about symptoms that may require urgent assistance and the actions to take so you can be prepared. Download a side effect tracking form at PatientResource.com/Tracker
Finding support. You cannot rely on each other for everything. Both of you will need an emotional outlet. Explore supportive care resources for both of you, and seek out support from other friends, family or support groups. Having more than one person for support is healthy and helps to minimize feelings of loneliness or overwhelm. You need to ensure that your caregiver doesn’t take on everything alone because they could very easily burn out.
Practicing self-care. Remember to give yourself some grace as you go through treatment. Do things that help you feel good, such as leisure activities, meeting with friends or whatever brings you joy. Your caregiver(s) should be extra mindful to take care of themselves so they can do the best job taking care of you. Their well-being directly impacts you.
