Ways Home Health Care Assists After Cancer Treatments
Your mom has colorectal cancer and is undergoing treatment. Her oncologist and surgeon recommend home health care services for her recovery at home.
Explore these seven ways how this service helps during your mom’s recovery.
Incision Care
If your mom has to undergo surgical removal of part of her colon, she’s going to have incisions to keep clean. The incisions are usually small, and your mom may not have a hard time caring for them, but it depends on her flexibility and attention to detail.
She needs to keep the incisions clean and bandaged per the surgeon’s directions. If not, she needs someone who can care for them, change the bandages, and watch for signs of infection.
Ostomy Care
It’s not common, but some cases of colorectal cancer lead to an ostomy procedure. If this is the case, your mom’s nurse can help with ostomy care. You’ll learn how to help your mom take care of her ostomy bag as needed.
Medication Administration
Pain may be present for a few days. A nurse can help your mom with pain medications. If she’s on prescription medications, her nurse can track the dosages and make sure she’s taking them as advised and not overusing them.
If your mom needs antibiotics, her nurse can administer them, too. If medications are not working for her, her nurse and doctors will confer and medication changes can be made without your mom returning to the hospital.
Mental Health Monitoring
A cancer diagnosis can impact your mental and emotional well-being. A home health care nurse will assess your mom’s mental health and make sure she has the emotional support she needs as she navigates cancer treatments and all of the medical follow-up she’s going to go through over the next few months.
Injections and IVs
If your mom’s doctor has your mom on IV fluids or pain medications after the surgery, your mom’s nurse can take care of them in her home. She won’t have to leave and go to a clinic. If she needs IV infusions of essential vitamins or minerals as she heals, her nurse can take care of it.
Physical Therapy
While her abdominal muscles heal from surgery, your mom can have physical therapists come to her home to help her rebuild muscle strength. She’ll gain flexibility and endurance over time, which is better than letting those muscles go lax and increase the risk of incontinence.
Dietary Education
Finally, your mom’s medical team may recommend she learn dietary measures to keep her colon healthy and strengthen her immune system. Learning to plan and prepare high-fiber meals that are rich in antioxidants and essential vitamins is something that can happen with home health care.
As your mom undergoes the recommended cancer treatments, make sure she has support from her home health care nurses. There are going to be a number of things you cannot help her with, but a nurse can and that eases everyone’s stress. Call our home health care specialist to get started.
If you or an aging loved one is considering Home Health Care Services in Westland MI. please contact the caring staff at No Place Like Home Health, LLC today. 734-259-4200
Connecting Families with Compassionate & Quality Home Health Care In Wayne, Oakland, Livingston & Washtenaw
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