I am sorry to read your posts and the circumstances you are encountering. With every cancer patient there is a supporting caregiver and the job is not an easy one. I read your first blog post to get an idea of your husband's timeline and diagnosis. It would be helpful to put dates (month / year) in your footer information and share a general geography as to where you guys live for treatment options and services. Many here are outside the U.S. and treatment options are different.
My suggestion is to become a purposeful advocate for your spouse and take leadership roles that may be untraditional in your current relationship. He will do the fighting and healing and you will be the engine blazing a path of success and future for your family. This starts with ensuring he has proper care. I noticed he was staged at III, but in your footer you used the words "invasion of visceral peritoneum." If this is true, he is a Stage IV cancer patient / survivor. With that, he is entitled to the most aggressive cancer treatments like Avastin and maintenance chemo after his initial treatment plan. You need to make sure this is being done with scans every 6 months to confirm that treatment is working.
Once he is diagnosed on a pathology report or doctor's review as a Stage IV patient, he may be eligible to apply for Social Security Disability benefits, if you are in the U.S. Here is the link to Social Security's Compassionate Care Program for Colon Cancer. It does take time to qualify and your husband's income will be diminished under it. I know many caregiver spouses who obtained basic fulltime jobs to support health insurance for family needs until the Medicare provision kicks in to cover the patient / survivor. I think it takes about 18 months to obtain this. Y
ou can take any local 32 - 40 hours per week job to qualify for heath insurance. It does not have to be a profession, this time away may actually be good for your mental health, because you will keep busy and have work friends. Look for a close job with benefits that keeps you busy and not stressed. Second shift cafeteria, custodial, and security jobs will keep you busy without being work stressed. It will also free up days for medical appointments and other family errands.
https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0423022215Lastly, make sure that you have the advice of a major caner center. Even if you get your local treatments closer to home, have the advice and consent from a major cancer center. They know what aggressive treatments will work for each patient and they have a historical knowledge that the local oncologist does not have. Be proactive, be aggressive, and be a leader! This will help you stay mission focused and will put you more in control as a problem solver as opposed to victim of your spouse's diagnosis.
This type of purpose has kept my wife alive, my purpose in her support, and many years of family memories. Always fight the thing that is directly in front of you and not what is down the road. You are in control of the six inches in front of your face. Knock it out one battle at a time and keep moving forward. Before you know it, you may have several years of family memories and decent quality of life.
Good luck and best wishes!
WS:)
D/H 47 years old, 10/2014, Stage IV M/CRC, nodes 12/15, para-aortic, 5 cm sigmoid resection, positive Virchow. KRAS mut, MSS, Highly Differentiated, Lynch Neg, 5FU/LV and Avastin 1 YR (Oxi for 5 months), Zeloda/Bev since 01/2016. 02/2019 recurrence para-nodes, back to 5FU/LV Oxy/Bev. It is working again. "...Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after the other."-Walter Elliot