Chemo care package

[KayTee87]

Posting for traffic...

Planning to send my dad a 'chemo care package' he's starting treatment this week. I've only seen him a handful of times in 10 plus years and he lives a fair distance away so not sure exactly what he'd like. Has anyone any ideas? So far I have;

Queasy pops
Bonjela
'Manly' lipbalm
A 'see you jimmy' hat (he will appreciate the joke, I'm Scottish and he's English)

What else though? He stopped drinking when he had his heart attack and has type 2 diabetes so a lot of sweets are probably a no no!

I don't know if he'd appreciate it but one of my family members got terrible dry skin during chemo- the only thing that helped was Doublebase gel, it works wonders and is very protective. You can buy about 500g for £9 online, or the smaller tubes are less expensive.

Oh and slippers- soft, good quality slippers!

Could you stretch to a cheap tablet , kindle fire? And a months free trial for amazon prime. You could download from prime if the wifi is no good. Also the kindle app.

Have you seen the www.notanotherbunchofflowers.com website? Lots of thoughtful gift ideas on there - was setup by someone who had cancer and as the name suggests, had enough of flowers

dermalogica really worked for my mate when having chemo, its pricey though

agree with the dry skin- try and the cancer websites for ideas XX

I send my sister gifts from this website www.notanotherbunchofflowers.com/

The cards are particularly lovely. Everything is beautifully wrapped and delivered very quickly.

DSis is living with this just now. She can't read because chemo has affected her eyes and her concentration (or it's one of the myriad of other drugs she is taking). I've got her an Audible subscription and she listens to light hearted comedies.

Other things she's liked - cosy gloves because she gets cold hands, which makes it harder to find the veins and a heat pack because she gets aches and pains in different places. I'll also get her things like nice pyjamas and toiletries etc because hospital stays seem to be increasingly frequent. (Her health isn't deteriorating, think her hospital is just very cautious about slightest symptoms.)

Hope your dad reacts well to the treatment. Dsis had a hellish time with cycle one; cycle two doesn't seem nearly as bad.

Ginger tea or crystallised ginger is good for feeling sick when you are having chemo. Hats are a good gift as you head does get pretty chilly with no hair. New pyjamas are good too as if you are spending all day in them, they need changing pretty regularly. Hope your dad copes ok with chemo. Xx

Good book, magazine, Ready cooked food

These are all great ideas! X

My mum found she always had a really metallic taste in her mouth and sherbet lemons were one of the few boiled sweets that could hide the taste. I believe they do a diabetic version.

Arnica cream for any bruising from all the needles.

Warm bed socks and fleecy pj's. My mam really felt the cold when she started chemo and a lot of her usual clothes felt uncomfortable as her skin went very sensitive. She lived in soft stretchy clothes.

Easy to eat snacks that have a long shelf life. My mam's sense of taste went haywire and things she could eat one day tasted awful the next, and sometimes she just wanted little bits of things instead of a meal.