When Phil was first diagnosed we remained in a state of shock for weeks. Ocean was 2 and Iris was 9 months old. I was obviously overwhelmed and the prospect of preparing dinner was enough to send me over the edge. We shared our news with a few close friends and immediately we had dinners being brought to our house. That was only the beginning of Meals-a-Plenty '08/'09/'10. I'm so thankful for my community!
With a cancer diagnosis there's so much to consider and take care of, and sometimes the mundane daily tasks are what can take a huge toll on us emotionally. If you have people who have offered to help, let them! Meals are an easy way for your friends, family and neighbors to offer practical help when they want to help but aren't sure how. And consider using these free tools to keep it all organized:
Lotsa Helping Hands allows a designated person to keep track of the patient's or family's needs. From meals to yard work to childcare, this scheduler will ensure that everyone is on the same page.
MealBaby is meant for new moms, but we used it to simplify our meal scheduling. It's really easy to use and doesn't require an administrator.
Google calendars are also helpful for keeping track of those things that need to get done and can easily be shared with everyone who wants to be involved.
Am I missing any good sites for keeping your team organized and on the same page?
Have a happy hump day, homies.
3 comments:
There was no way as part of the supportive team that I could organize anything - keeping myself up and ready for any action which included grandchildren was plenty. The family found the lotsa meals program extraordinarily helpful and there were many, many wonderful contributions over two years of treatments. Happily with a successful allo the patient is doing much better. So I recommend that a close friend take on the organizing role rather than a member of the family... that's my observation.
And to all who are facing the new year with health issues, may you be blessed with flexible caregivers!
Our family could not have made it through the first year of treatment without the help of my church. One woman in my ward-(thats a geographical area-like a parish) was in charge of assigning out meals. Usually about two a week. We were amazed with the generosity of the people in our ward. It was over 100 meals! There was always plenty of food for leftovers as well. Some of these people did not even know us. Wow! We will never be able to pay all of these kind people back, but hopefully we can pay it forward.
AMEN to that! I've spent the last almost 4 years overwhelmed with responsibility and if someone asked me what task I would hire out if I could, it would be cooking. We're spending far too much on take-out meals but I am just toast by that time of the day and cooking is the last thing I want to do. If it were up to me, we'd have Cheerios for dinner. If I've got my second wind, maybe with sliced banana! ;o)
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