Cancer Caregiver? Participate in this Survey...

Hi folks -- I'm passing on this information for Alexis, who is studying the ways that caregivers might interact with their support groups. I'll let her tell you all about it...

"My name is Alexis Johnson and I am a doctoral student in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. My research centers on health communication processes, and I am conducting research that I hope will improve our understanding of supportive communication between social networks and family caregivers of patients with cancer. As someone who has provided care to a patient with cancer, I am interested in conducting research that is aimed at better understanding the memorable, supportive messages that are shared with family caregivers in cancer.

"To participate: Participants in the states of Nebraska and Alabama must be at least 19 years old or older to participate, participants in the state of Mississippi must be at least 21 years old to participate, and participants in all other states must be at least 18 years old to participate. If you meet these requirements, and are a current family caregiver of a patient with cancer, and have 20-30 minutes to complete an online survey, you are eligible to participate in this important research."

You can learn more about this survey by going to the site and clicking on the link on that page. You can also find Alexis' credentials and contact information at that site.

How My Husband Died

Hugh and I met in 1997, but we didn't marry until September 2010.

I haven't written since I returned home from Dad's house in Virginia in April, because life was pretty hectic around home. It was good to be back with my husband, Hugh, and daughter, Cora, and we all were pretty busy. I was hired by a travel publication to write an itinerary about our town, my husband and I were working the local farmers' market, he was fixing up the house a bit, and he was anxious to get back on that school bus as a driver. I was so tickled about how much he loved driving that bus after holding down jobs that had him traveling the world.

While I was at Dad's house, Hugh finally scheduled a colonoscopy for himself. He couldn't get an appointment until the end of June, and the doctor called to cancel that appointment and to reschedule for July 6th. Hugh and I never discussed the colonoscopy, other than the fact that I planned to have one later in the year. I was happy he scheduled, as he was older than me and he delayed that procedure as long as he could.

The day of the colonoscopy, Hugh said, "I'm afraid they're going to find something." When I looked at him, he told me that he had been bleeding for the past few weeks. My heart sunk, but I had enough experience with mom to know that I didn't need to get morose about this news. Instead, I told him that we could handle anything they found.

What they found was a tumor about the size of New York. When I saw the images that July 6th morning, I felt as though I had been hit upside the head with a 2x4. Fortunately, I was sitting, as all the emotions I had when I first learned about Mom's cancer returned, only twice as large.