Examine what tasks are necessary and let others slide. Consider hiring professional nurses or homemakers. Financial costs need to be compared with the physical and emotional cost of shouldering the load alone. Children may need special attention. They need comfort, reassurance, affection, guidance, and discipline at times of disruption in their routine.
Cancer is a blow to every family it touches.
How you handle it is determined to a great extent by how you have functioned as a family in the past. Families who are used to sharing their feelings with each other usually are able to talk about the disease and the changes it brings. Families in which each member solves problems alone or in which one person has played the major role in making decisions might have more difficulty coping. Not Everyone Can Problems within the family can be the most difficult to handle simply because you cannot go home to escape them. Some family members may deny the reality of cancer or refuse to discuss it.