Why is it essential for care partners to have self-compassion when caring for a loved one? Tiffany Richards, a myeloma nurse practitioner, helps care partners in understanding why they should practice self-care, recognizing the signs of burnout, and learning about support resources available to them.

Tiffany Richards, PhD, APRN-BC, AOCNP is a Nurse Practitioner in the department of Lymphoma/Myeloma at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

See More from The Care Partner Toolkit: Bispecific Antibodies

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Transcript:

Katherine Banwell:

Being a care partner can be taxing mentally and physically, how do you encourage care partners to ensure that they’re taking care of themselves during a process?  

Tiffany Richards:

I think it’s really important for our care partners to take time for themselves because if you’re investing all of your energy into the patient, that’s going to deplete you.  

And when you’re depleted, you’re just being set up for you to get sick or for you to have a problem. And so, it’s important to take time, whether that’s meeting your friends for lunch or dinner or something, making arrangements for somebody else to come and stay with the patient. If you don’t feel comfortable leaving them alone, then engage the people around you. I think it’s important to create care teams, not just focusing just on one person that’s dedicated to providing care because if you do that, then you don’t have anybody else brought in that can provide respite. And we all need respite. We can’t always be caregiving 24 hours a day. If I had to caregive 24 hours a day, I’d be exhausted. And so, it’s important to have a care team.  

Look at the people around you, whether that’s friends or whether it’s some sort of religious activity, other family members, and creating a team so it doesn’t fall just on one person. I think you can have one person be like the main reference point to get to information, but then bringing everybody in so that you can get the care that you need for yourself. It’s really, really important. 

Katherine Banwell:

What are some signs of burnout and how are they managed? 

Tiffany Richards:

I would say it’s exhaustion, difficulty concentrating, just feeling depleted; where you feel like all of the energy that you have is being drained out of you.  

Those would be signs that I would be concerned about and say, “You need an intervention.” So, be on the lookout for that. I remember my mom was caring for my dad, and she was getting burnt out by it all. And so, she lost weight because she wasn’t able to eat because she was so stressed. And so, making sure that you’re taking care of yourself is so, so important. I just can’t even stress that enough. 

Katherine Banwell:

You mentioned some things that the care partner can do to take care of themselves, but what about handling emotions and anxiety? Do you have tips for them? 

Tiffany Richards:

So, I think in the world that we live in, and I tell a lot of my patients this, I think all of us could probably use some amount of therapy just to deal with life stressors. The world is a very stressful place to live in.  

And I think finding somebody that you can talk to is so important. Having a therapist allows you the opportunity to talk to somebody who has no judgement, who’s not going to give you their opinions of what you should do. I think that’s important because it offers somebody outside of the situation for you just to be able to download on. And that is so therapeutic; I can’t recommend that more. I really recommend counseling for people just because we all need that person that’s not in the middle of the situation that you can just download on and say, “This is what I’m feeling.” They’re not going to be judging you and saying like “That’s right,” or “That’s the wrong way to feel,” or giving their advice on things.  

And people are well-meaning by giving advice and giving their perceptions of things, but it might not always be helpful to you as a caregiver. And so, having that other person there can be really beneficial. 

Katherine Banwell:

Are there support resources available for care partners? 

Tiffany Richards:

So, there are. I know International Myeloma Foundation has some caregiving resources. I think maybe the Leukemia Lymphoma Society has some.  

There’s probably not enough as there needs to be, but there is some more information coming out. I think concerns about the caregiver and care partners is becoming more frontline as patients with myeloma in particular are living longer, and all patients with cancer are living longer. But they’re living longer on therapy. It can be hard for care partners because it’s not just this six-month period of time. 

It’s like this indefinite period. And so, there’s more things coming out, but I would definitely say probably the best resource is finding somebody that you can talk to.  

Katherine Banwell:

Is there anything you’d like to add about caring for someone who is being treated with bispecific antibody therapy? 

Tiffany Richards:

Yeah. I think knowing as much as you can about how the drugs work is really important, and then also what you can do to help manage and mitigate some of the side effects is important. And then, making sure that you understand the schedule, and as well as the schedule for the supportive medications is also really important. When we transition patients from an academic center to community, we usually have a touchpoint with that community provider. We provide instructions. 

So, I think it would good to ask the academic center for a copy of the letter for the communication that’s being given, so that everybody is on that same page, can be really, really helpful.