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Slide 4 of 20
Notes:
The spouse may also feel at a loss in terms of what to do.
Many spouses ask, “What should I be doing?” This is a completely new situation for them.
They may want to help, but are not used to taking on a caretaker role - and actually the patient may not accept them in that role
Sometimes the patient won’t tell them what is needed, or what they could do to help, even if the spouse is ready and willing to listen
Some spouses don’t really want to talk about the illness, and that of course makes it difficult for them to be truly helpful
Very often the spouse feels ignorant - for example, in scleroderma most spouses are confronted with a disease that they’ve never even heard of before
