The Importance of Comfort Care (Palliative Care)

For those who are patients at Mayo (or who have explored beyond this particular discussion group), this might not be news to you. For everyone else (patients and caregivers)- read on! I am 4 weeks post chemo/radiation for HPV SCC base of tongue/tonsil. I was referred to palliative care early by the very wise doc who diagnosed me. I consider myself extremely fortunate that I didn't experience a lot of pain with my treatment. I had a few big bumps in the road (blood clots in arms, permanent hearing loss, dehydration, weight loss and subsequent G-tube). Now, I'm in the healing phase and so happy I made an appointment with the Palliative Care team. I needed a "tool kit" of sorts to help me deal with the aftermath of this really hard treatment. How to manage fatigue and chemo brain? Striking a balance between nausea and constipation? Why am I so itchy and what can I do? Where might I find in-person community of those who are experiencing the same things? So - moral of the story? Your healing phase needs a different set of docs with different gifts. Seek them out. It's definitely worth it!