How to be Supportive

sheismyhero · 09-09-2008, 10:28 AM

Bill, Here is some history on us. Both my wife and I have lived all of our lives in Southern Illinois. Together we have two children which are both grown and have moved away from this area.

In late 2005 my wife was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma in her jaw bone. She underwent extensive surgery (14 hours) to remove the left side of her jawbone. Then reconstructive surgery to replace the jawbone. After the operation she spent 7 days in intensive care. Then came the recuperation from the intense surgery. Although she did not experience the chemo treatments, the radiation treatments she had to take were about as much as one person could stand. As a result of the radiation treatments, she developed blisters in her mouth. She endured a great deal of pain and suffering as a result of the caner.

On June 20th my wife and I took our son to the airport in St. Louis. He was in the military and had to return to Germany. Needless to say it was a very depressing day for both of us. While doing yard work the next day, we stopped for a rest. At that time was when she told me of the lump in her breast. My inital response to her was "you are a very strong will person, you can beat this". I vaguely remember riding across the yard on the mower and could no see where I was going because of the tears in my eyes. We were both devistated to say the least. Her diagnosis was er- pr- her2+ stage 2.

This is why SHE IS MY HERO...Thanks

Colleens_Husband · 09-12-2008, 08:02 AM

Hey Bob:

I just want to let you know that if your heart is in the right place, then you aren't going to do anything that is so wrong emotionally that it can't be fixed. And it is pretty obvious that your heart is in the right place.

There is a fine line between being super supportive and suffocating. That line changes day by day and hour by hour. If you are doing it right, you will be crossing that line quite a bit in the early stages and less so as you and your wife learn how those boundaries can change. If you communicate with your wife, things will work out eventually. Sometimes communicating means not saying anything.

As for me, I had just as much anxiety as Colleen did with this cancer. When I was feeling insecure, then I tended to talk too much about it. Sometimes Colleen just wanted me to be near her and to try to be as normal as possible. Unfortunately, cancer is like an elephant in the room, a big scary elephant at that. Something I learned to do was that when I had too much anxiety, I would start planning normal things like a vacation or what the next big home improvement project was going to be. It got everyone looking past the cancer.

Hey Bob, I am glad you found this site. I think you are doing a good job with all of this. You and your family will be in or thoughts and prayers.

Lee

sheismyhero · 09-12-2008, 06:00 PM

Pink Girl, Thank you very much for the feed back and support. My wife and I have been married for almost 32 years. Prior to the cancer, I never had to ask if there was something I could do for her, It just came naturally. The situation now is far from the norm. I guess that fortunatly for me, my wife is not a hard person to please. I do ask her if there is anything I can and should do for her. I tell her that I love her, buy her flowers and on occasion if given the chance will tickle her feet. I do know that I the situation were to be reversed, she would do what every she could to help me. Thanks for your encouraging words.

sheismyhero · 09-12-2008, 06:15 PM

Lee, Thanks for your encouragment. There are times I get anxious. Mostly due to the time span between the diagnosis and the beginning of the treatments. The fear of matastisizing is overwhelming. I can only immagine what is going on in her mind. Then there was the time we drove to St. Louis (2 hours) for a doctors appointment to be told that we did not have an appointment. She had received a notice of the appointment in the mail but that did not seem to matter. I could very well have let my anger get the best of me but my thought was what effect my causing a scene would have on my wife. After a few minutes of discussion we were able to speak with the nurse and was told we could wait two hours to see the doctor. Its ws hard to put the thought of the situation behind us but in order for us to look focus on the future we have to forget and forgive. Looking back on the first time my wife had surgery for cancer, the 16 hours I spent in the waiting room taught me a great deal about patients. I guess the moral of the story is that being a caregiver goes much farther than material needs. Lee thanks for the feedback and encouragment.