Gastric & colorectal cancer
7 articles shown
Home or Hospital? Choosing the Place of Care When Pain Can't Be Controlled at Home
When caring for a loved one with advanced cancer at home and pain becomes hard to control, this article explains how to weigh the place of care — home, hospital, palliative care, or hospice — and how to ease caregiver guilt.
When Your Loved One Says 'I Want to Stop' — Weighing Whether to Continue or Pause Palliative Chemotherapy
Understanding what it means when a loved one with advanced cancer wants to stop palliative chemotherapy — how to weigh quality of life against continued treatment, the difference between stopping treatment and stopping care, and the questions to ask the care team.
When the Medical Team's Advice Seems to Keep Changing — Understanding Shifting Recommendations and the 'Goals of Care' Conversation
In advanced cancer, rapidly changing conditions can make a doctor's advice seem to flip-flop between chemo and hospice. Because the day's condition shifts the judgment, a 'goals of care' conversation and understanding that symptom-control comfort care continues regardless of treatment choice can ease the confusion.
Surgery Went Well, but the Chemo Feels Scary — Adjuvant Chemotherapy for Stage 3 Rectal Cancer, Between Fear and Choice
Why adjuvant chemotherapy is recommended after surgery for stage 3 rectal cancer, the regimens commonly used (FOLFOX, CAPOX) and their main side effects, and how families can respect an older patient's hesitation while gathering information and offering support together.
Living With the Hand and Foot Numbness That Lingers After Colorectal Chemo
Numbness in the hands and feet (peripheral neuropathy) left by drugs like oxaliplatin can persist after treatment ends. Instead of self-blame, accept that nerves recover at their own pace, manage daily life with warmth and burn prevention, and seek medication or rehab if it is severe. A reassuring message to keep your eyes on what is better than a month ago and walk alongside your body.
Steadying Your Mind Right After a Colon Cancer Diagnosis
The shock and confusion you feel right after a colon cancer diagnosis is a completely natural reaction. This piece gently walks you through practical ways to steady yourself: holding off on frantic searching and big decisions, letting yourself feel the emotions, writing your worries down, preparing questions for your next appointment, and leaning on family, patient groups, and professional counseling so you don't carry it all alone.
I have nowhere else to say this, so I'm writing it down — the heart of a caregiver for advanced colon cancer
The helplessness of a caregiver whose mother, living with advanced colon cancer, suddenly took a turn for the worse, and the heart that wavers between another surgery and hospice care. It's a message about letting go of the guilt of not being able to stay by her side, and remembering to care for yourself as a caregiver too.