My daughter will be starting chemo shortly. She’s divorced with 2 children aged 8 and 6. Luckily her firm is very good and she will get full pay and I will of course go with her to the chemo sessions (I’m an old hand at it - husband had 6 months chemo too not long ago!)However I’m concerned as to how she will manage with the kids on her own. Of course both I and her ex husband will help as much as we can but we both work full time so a lot of the time she will be alone with the kids.
My husband got easily tired but when that happened he could go and have a lie down. My daughter won’t always be able to do that. How have others in the same boat coped?
Hi freccle,
I’m a single mum of 1 (8yrs) and touch wood so far I’ve been fine. I’ve just got home from my 3rd cycle of FEC-T. I get my mum to stay every chemo night but like you she works full time. She doesn’t drive either so I think she feels a little useless so I let her do the odd jobs around the house. The first week after chemo is when I feel a little tired but the following 2 weeks I feel like I did before! I’m still
Able to do everything for my son, take him to school, cook his tea etc. We stilll carry on as normal just more cautious about the risk of infections etc. I tend not to nap anymore as I found i wasn’t sleeping well at night due to them but if your body says rest you should. I’m due to start weekly half through the summer holidays so I have no idea how we’ll be then but I’ve just found keeping busy and keeping routines as normal as possible has helped. He understands if mum isn’t feeling good then we can’t go to the park etc. Everyone is different though and react differently to the chemo. Hope that helps. And good luck to you and your daughter x
Hi Freccie,I’m sure I’ve read that in some areas MacMillan can provide volunteers to support people with practical things through cancer treatment .Its not available everywhere but may be looking into.