Cancer

Medication Management: The Benefits of Same-Day Prescription Delivery

Lotsa is excited to partner with Medly Pharmacy to provide you with co-authored, collated content on topics relevant to caregiving and supporting the needs of a loved one.

If you are interested in learning more about how Medly can support you or your loved ones with same-day prescription delivery, please call or text the Medly Care Team at 1-800-917-3382, a line exclusive for Lotsa use. You can also read more about the service and how it can help at https://medly.com/en-us/partner/lotsa.

Having to fill and refill prescriptions can be an arduous task. Whether you have one prescription, multiple refills, or are helping someone else with their monthly medications, getting to the pharmacy is one more errand on top of everything else you already have scheduled. Getting to the pharmacy can be especially difficult when dealing with lack of mobility, medical conditions, or limited access to transportation . We have a few suggestions for getting rid of this errand so you can make more time for the important things in life.

  Continue reading

Comforting a loved one with cancer
9 Things to Say to Someone with Cancer

By: Jennifer Jasutis

Hearing the words “you have cancer” is a scary experience for anyone and is likely to turn a person’s world upside down. If a loved one has recently received a cancer diagnosis, you may be struggling to find the right words to say to comfort them. Though you may not understand exactly what your friend or loved one is feeling, you can certainly serve as a source of support to them in a trying time.

Knowing what to say to someone who has cancer is not easy. Keep in mind that this diagnosis is new territory for your friend too. There are many unknowns and unfamiliar emotions that surface as a patient navigates this new world. Keep the following in mind as you consider how to communicate:

Continue reading

Caregiving support to provide caregivers respite.
The Caregiver “Cloak of Invisibility”

How Friends and Family can Support a Caregiver in Keeping Their Sense of Self

Lotsa is excited to partner with Papa to provide you with co-authored, collated content on topics relevant to caregiving and supporting the needs of a loved one.

If you are interested in learning more about how Papa can support your loved ones with companionship and assistance, please call Papa Care Team at 1-888-552-3816. You can also read more about the service and how it can help at https://joinpapa.com/lotsahelpinghands.

Caregivers Need Encouragement
Caregivers, whether they are a spouse or friend, can find themselves in a “cloak of invisibility” as they lose touch with their identity. At the end of a long day, they may be weary, overburdened, or overwhelmed. As a result, they may start to feel alone with such a huge weight of responsibility on their shoulders.
Continue reading

A woman sips her coffee while thinking of ways to support her spouse living with cancer.
6 Ways to Care for Someone with Mesothelioma Cancer

Contributed by Asbestos.com

A mesothelioma cancer diagnosis can leave families wondering how to best care for their loved one at home. Supportive cancer care for mesothelioma will involve special attention to lung health, as well as finding ways to ease mesothelioma cancer symptoms and treatment side effects.

Consider the following tips to care for your loved one with mesothelioma cancer. Remember that simply being there for them is a lot to handle and taking care of yourself will help you be a better caregiver.

Continue reading

A woman sips her coffee while thinking of ways to support her spouse living with cancer.
Supporting Your Spouse Living with Cancer

Contributed by Nathan McVeigh

According to the National Library of Medicine, the spouse of someone living with cancer holds a very influential role. So much, in fact, a recent study found that a spouse’s positive attitude can help reduce the likelihood of depression in the one who has cancer by as much as 30 percent. This finding is important because it shows that the spouse’s mental health is just as much of a factor in the adjustment process as the one with cancer—if not more so. If you find yourself occupying this role, and want to be a more helpful spouse, you can start with these general guidelines.

Continue reading

As a woman sits in a window, she reflects on the things she didn't know about breast cancer.
5 Things You Might Not Know about Breast Cancer

Contributed by Christine Binney

Over the course of a lifetime, invasive breast cancer will develop in about one in eight women in the United States. Since it is such a prevalent disease, there are countless organizations that exist to spread awareness about breast cancer. Yet despite the public awareness, there are still aspects of the disease that are unknown to many. Here are five things you might not know about breast cancer.

Continue reading

Waiting for the right moment to tell your children "I have cancer" takes patience and courage.
Honey, I Have Cancer: How to Talk to Your Children About Cancer

Contributed by Michelle Hassler

Sitting across from a doctor and hearing the words, “you have cancer” may be the scariest moment of your life. Those three little words may seem like they can stop time altogether. However, after the initial blow, time seems to speed up as you immediately become more aware of your mortality than ever before. Some are immediately hit with the gravity of the situation. Others may need time to process the information and seek comfort in a mind-numbing state of denial. Reality may seem too harsh, too uncertain, or too much to process. However, there is one part of reality that may be even harder to handle: having to tell your children, “I have cancer.” As a parent, you have always been there to support and protect your children. Not knowing what changes the future will bring is a scary reality. How are your kids supposed to cope with this diagnosis when you yourself are having trouble dealing with the news?


Continue reading

A woman is bald after going through chemotherapy hair loss.
Staying Positive and Making Chemotherapy Hair Loss Look Good

Contributed by Christine Binney

The effects of chemotherapy on cancer patients can be hard to endure.  As chemotherapy drugs work to kill cancer cells, they can also kill other quickly growing, healthy cells including those in the hair root. Many people will experience hair loss during treatment and it is one of the most feared side effects that people encounter. Hair loss can be sudden or slow, full or partial, and occur evenly or in clumps. Hair loss may also occur among eyelashes, eyebrows and body hair. In almost all cases, hair will grow back after treatment. However, chemotherapy hair loss can have a negative effect on a person’s confidence and self-esteem.

Continue reading

Help your friend during the chemotherapy process.
What to Talk About During the Chemotherapy Process

Contributed by Haley Burress

If you have never had a family member or friend trudge through the chemotherapy process, you might be nervous or anxious about giving your friend a ride to his next chemo appointment. It can be daunting to walk in the room and sit next to those big recliners. You might feel scared or sad that your friend has to be there at all. However, all of those feelings aside, you are doing the best thing you can for your friend – you are showing up. When you show up, you are demonstrating that your friend isn’t in this cancer fight alone; you are showing that you are here for the long haul and that you will sit with them through the bad parts so that they are not sitting alone.

Continue reading