Care partners play an important role in every stage of bladder cancer care, providing emotional support, helping to make care decisions, and advocating for their loved one. Dr. Michael Poch shares practical advice for care partners on staying organized, communicating with the care team, and caring for their own well-being while supporting someone with bladder cancer.
Dr. Michael Poch is a urologic oncologist specializing in bladder cancer and prostate cancer at Moffitt Cancer Center. Learn more about Dr. Poch.
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Transcript
Katherine Banwell:
Dr. Poch, why are care partners an essential part of the bladder cancer care team?
Dr. Michael Poch:
I think care partners are essential for all cancer care. I’ll say that first. But I think particularly for bladder cancer, there are a lot of treatments that are typically involved in bladder cancer. Whether it’s multiple return trips to infusion centers to get treatment inside the bladder, and having support during that time. Whether it’s having a major operation where you need support at home to help you do some of your activities of daily living.
I think caregivers are also instrumental in the identification of side effects. Sometimes patients don’t necessarily wanna “bother” their physician, but a lot of times, you need a family member advocate, caregiver advocate. Those are the people that may identify something first. They may say, “Well, you seem a little bit off today. What’s going on? You don’t seem like yourself.” Whereas a patient may just go through their normal routine and say, “Oh, well. Maybe not a perfect day.” But I think caregivers are really helpful in identifying changes that we see in patients.
Katherine Banwell:
Yeah. What advice do you have for care partners to take an active role in their loved ones’ care?
Dr. Michael Poch:
I think number one, be as supportive as possible. I think having an eyes wide open approach where you’re looking out for things. I think being an advocate. So, if you have a concern, and that concern is not necessarily heard or communicated well to the care team, keeping that communication going. I also think it’s important for caregivers – we know that caregiver burnout is real.
So, paying attention to that I think is also important. It’s important for the caregivers to take care of themselves. Whether that’s with nutrition. Sleeping. Having some alone time to make sure that they are in the best position to support their family member.
Katherine Banwell:
Yeah. How can care partners stay organized and prepared while caring for their loved one?
Dr. Michael Poch:
I think the best thing to do is take notes. Handwritten notes are the best. Sometimes accessing patient portals is good. Sometimes that can be frustrating. We have a lot of patients that end up taking notes on their phone. I think the Notes app, whatever it may be on your Android or Apple device I think is actually really helpful ‘cause then you can go back. Oftentimes, when patients are in the hospital, when we do rounds, they often forget what their questions are. So, even in the hospital, we ask patients just to take notes or even write them on the whiteboard in the hospital room. I think that’s really important. Again, a lot of times when you’re seeing the physician, your mind goes blank and you forget what all of your questions are.
Whether that’s in the postoperative period. Whether that’s just following up after some treatments. So, it’s important to keep those notes, and having them digitally I think helps.