Whether it is your husband, your father or your brother, playing the caregiver role close to a man with prostate cancer is not such an easy thing.
Indeed, your life changes at the same pace as his, and you are the first person to note the ups and downs caused by the disease. You are taking care of him, you help him daily, and you attend every treatment, every medical appointment.
But you? Who is taking care of you and helping you? Even though you are not the main person to get through the hardships of prostate cancer, you also suffer from the physical and emotional impacts. It is why it is important that you take some time to take care of yourself.
For the Body
When you are taking care of someone else, you often forget to take also care of yourself in parallel. Yet, you do not want to be sick too, so you need to give yourself some time to maintain your physical health and to help your parent suffering from prostate cancer better.
This is not rocket science – eat healthy food, sleep as much as you need, and practice a physical activity you like regularly. Finally, take some time to breathe deeply. In other words, you only need to follow basic principles for a balanced lifestyle.
For the Mind
Taking care of your body is important to give you the energy to continue. But to keep your motivation, it is your mind that needs some rest. When you accompany your parent with prostate cancer, you ask questions, you take in the hardships, and you are the one making searches about the disease. Soon enough, you get under the impression that it is the only thing around you.
However, it is necessary to find ways to give up a little bit and to relieve yourself from this stress. As a matter of fact, it is what this caregiver suggests:
“You have to do fun stuff, your own hobbies, lose yourself in your work, and have family and friends you can rely on. And you have to have people to whom you can say, “I need to call you and cry on the phone,” or “I need to spend an evening with you, and we can’t talk about anything related to medicine.” Know yourself well enough to let the people around you know what you need.” Deborah, wife of prostate cancer patient
You also have the right to think about yourself to get better.
