Working Through Your Own Emotions After Your Parent is Diagnosed with Cancer

Elder Care Lexington NC

The moment that you find out that your elder parent has cancer, your life changes. You now must think of all of your care decisions and efforts through the lens of your parent’s diagnosis, and help them to make difficult decisions such as what treatments they want to use and how they will plan for their end-of-life transition. As you are helping your elder parent through this challenging time, it is important that you also keep your own emotions in mind. Though focusing on how your parent feels and what they are going through is essential to giving them the care that they need and deserve, recognizing your own emotions and working through them is an important part of ensuring that you stay at your best throughout this care experience.

Use these tips to help you work through your own emotions after your parent is diagnosed with cancer:

• Allow yourself to feel them. Your first reaction when you learn that your aging parent has cancer may be to close yourself off so that you are able to focus completely on your parent and what they are going through. While this can help you to feel more stable during the early stages, it prevents you from properly acknowledging and working through your own emotions. This can cause them to grow and worsen, causing stress and other mental and emotional health consequences.

• Take some time. You may not immediately feel the entire emotional impact of the cancer diagnosis. It may take a few days or even a few weeks for the magnitude of the situation to really sink in. Give yourself this time and realize that you may feel fine one moment and then be extremely emotional the next. Embrace this and allow yourself to feel and work through those emotions as they come.

• Seek out support. You do not and should not have to go through this experience on your own. Seek out a support group for family caregivers of seniors who are going through cancer and participate in it regularly. This support group will bring you into contact with others who are going through much the same thing that you are, enabling you to feel less alone and to get advice and recommendations for how to handle the challenges that you may face along the way. This is a safe environment for you to express yourself and your emotions, and get support and encouragement to help you through.

Starting elder care for your aging parent is one of the best decisions that you can make after they receive a cancer diagnosis. The personalized services of a elder home care services provider can help your aging loved one manage their individual needs in the way that is right for them. This not only helps your parent enjoy the highest quality of life possible as they age in place, but can also dramatically relieve your stress, ease the pressure on you, and allow you to focus your energy and attention on other aspects of your care for your parent as well as your life outside of your caregiver role.

If you or an aging loved one are considering Elder Care Services in Lexington NC, please contact the caring staff at Tender Hearted Home Care today. (704) 612-4132.