The Home Team

My work as a graphic designer in corporate communications, freelance on-site projects and personal projects has taught me the value of having a great 'home' team'. Working with other designers, art directors, printers and publishers is critical to meeting deadlines on time and within budget. The more knowledge and skill these professionals have attained, the better the outcome. Now, as I battle head and neck cancer, the same is true with having a knowledgeable and supportive home team. Fortunately, I have been blessed with a loving and supportive family which circled the wagons and offered me a great deal of support. Friends and family have led me to find a professional and caring medical team to look after phases of cancer treatments that I must complete. This combination of physical, emotional and spiritual support has been a lifeline to wellness in my fight.

My wish for every reader of this weblog battling cancer is to have the benefit of their own home team. Once the assessment and treatment phase of your battle starts, your home team is whom you rely on to take care of the medical, financial, transportation and logistics along with adherence to the plan. Cancer treatment can be filled with complexity. The medications alone almost begs for external assistance with dosage, timing and balancing other nutritional components Having a trusted member of your home team can offset the confusion and help the patient stay on track. Additionally, some surgical procedures recommended by the lead specialist prior to chemotherapy and or radiation will need to be followed to the letter. The patient really needs to let go of details and concentrate on healing and surviving. Let the home team handle the details and lend support.

While this is an extremely generalized description, I will be happy to answer any questions at grfx303@gmail.com

Some resources I have found helpful are listed below:

American Cancer Society
http://www.cancer.org/docroot/ETO/eto_1_1a.asp

National Cancer Institute
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/support/financial-assistance

I'm too Young For This!
http://www.imtooyoungforthis.org/index.shtml