Dealing With Fatigue

Helping ease your loved one's fatigue due to cancer or as a side-effect of his medications and/or chemotherapy and radiation therapy treatments can be done in the comfort of your own home. Aside from following his doctor's indications and monitoring the medications prescribed to him for addressing fatigue, you can also try any of these helpful options:

• Undergoing chemotherapy or radiation therapy necessitates that he gets more rest than usual. This can be easily obtained by just sleeping more, with or without making any change in his typical daily routine. Since he is likely to become more fatigued if undergoing aggressive treatment or upon reaching its end, he may spend more time sleeping.
• Make the needed improvements in his diet to help him become more energized. At best, he should cut back or avoid caffeine, nicotine, or alcohol; all of which would only aggravate his fatigue. Also, make sure that he eats all the needed meals for the day, especially breakfast.
• Try having him break the cycle of fatigue by acquiring a more active lifestyle spent doing moderated, enjoyable activities with friends, and cutting back on screen time—time spent watching TV, playing games, or browsing the net.

Contributed By: Maris Modesto

Breaking It to Your Child Gently

Attending to a child diagnosed with cancer is ranked among the most difficult and heartbreaking challenges parents have to face. As if it isn't enough to deal with your own pain, as the parent, it is also part of your responsibility to manage the impact of your child's condition on the rest of your family. But of the many emotional aspects that need your careful attention and consideration, none could be as delicate and challenging as handling your child's emotional needs, especially at that point when you have to tell him about his condition.

Even though painful, being truthful to your child about his cancer illness is imperative to help him adjust to his condition. Letting him know that he would be needing medical attention due to his illness is his inherent right, which you could not deny from him. Doing so would make him better understand that even if medications and doctors are daunting, they are vital in keeping his health in check. However, despite the need to stay truthful, you must break it to him in a way that neither hides the truth nor exposes it too bluntly as to scathe his innocent mind.

Contributed By: Maris Modesto

Effective Exercise Advice After Cancer Treatment

Maintaining a balanced diet along with regular exercise incorporated into a serious lifestyle change are the common prerequisites ensuring recovery as a cancer survivor. Especially regarding exercise, it plays a vital role in speeding up the process of recovery while helping to maintain our good overall well-being. The many benefits it provides cancer survivors include the following: improved endurance and strength, protection against depression, reduced anxiety, stronger immune system, decreased sleeping problems, less fatigue, and improved mood. To effectively incorporate exercise into our daily routine after cancer treatment, here are some salient pointers to consider:

Instead of enrolling in a specific exercise course, concentrate on making our life more physically active instead. For example, rather than drive to the nearby convenience store, we can just walk.

Don't rush it. Get started slowly and just increase our activities as we get used to it after a period of time. Experts advice adult cancer survivors to have half an hour of exercise at least five times a week.

If we're not up to exercising given a bad mood or any medication side-effect, we shouldn't force ourselves. We can just make up for it by exercising some other time when we're feeling better.

Contributed By: Maris Modesto