My husband just had colon surgery, and we were just told by the doctor that he no longer needs to stay in the hospital. Are we really going to be able to manage his care at home?
Nancy’s comment:
A visiting nurse can show the caregiver and family simple nursing skills that they can use when home healthcare per-sons aren’t present. These include using a draw sheet to move a patient in bed, how to pick up someone who has fallen, helping the patient with a bed bath, or how to give a massage. It’s important to know how to do these things properly, particularly if you’re caring for an elderly person or someone who is physically frail.
In recent years, hospital admissions have gotten shorter, in part because patients can now be sent home to manage their care themselves. With training and reinforcement from inpatient staff and/or visiting nurses, patients and their family caregivers can learn to do injections, manage the intravenous infusion of flu-ids, and operate feeding tubes or drains on their own. Sometimes this is for a short time, until the problem resolves and the patient no longer requires the treatment or care. Sometimes, when there are permanent physical changes, as in the creation of a colostomy that diverts solid waste through a surgically created opening in the abdomen, the care regimen can be permanent.
Take steps right from the beginning to prevent yourself from becoming overwhelmed. For example, meet with the nurses and physicians in charge of your husband’s care as soon as possible during his hospitalization and establish realistic goals. Keep in mind that your husband’s psychological and physical adjustment to surgery—and your adjustment as a caregiving partner— are not going to occur overnight.
Pace yourself. If your husband has the medical need, he will most likely have a home care nurse visit, and possibly other care services, after he is discharged from the hospital to provide additional instruction and support. Furthermore, com-munity support groups such as the American Cancer Society (ACS) and other agencies can help you and your spouse adjust to body changes after surgery and other treatments.
It’s not uncommon for patients and family caregivers to be anxious prior to discharge from the hospital. They are losing the emotional safety net of round-the-clock care from doctors and nurses. Going home and assuming responsibility for your loved one’s care will be less intimidating if you focus on getting answers to the following questions before you leave the hospital. If a nurse’s visit at home has been arranged, it pays to go over the following questions with the nurse again:
- What can I expect at home?
- What will I have to do?
- What are the potential problems that could arise? What are the warning signs?
- When should I seek professional help, and whom do I call?
These questions are based on a problem-solving approach advocated by American Cancer Society in one of their publications, Caregiving: A Step-by-Step Resource for Caring for the Person with Cancer at Home (2000). This book, which we highly recommend, also has numerous chapters devoted to physical conditions (such as pain, fever, and diarrhea) that might occur at home and explains how to manage them.