Self-Care for the Care Partner

Caregivers, or care partners, often feel overly taxed by their duties. Remember, once you board a plane, you are always advised to put on your oxygen mask first before assisting your loved ones. The same rule is true for care partners. Listed here are some resources that will help you 'catch your breath' in your role as a care partner:

• Care Partners, (https://www.myeloma.org/resource-library/tip-card-care-partners) a Tip Card from the IMF
• Caregivers Need Care Too (https://imf-d8-prod.s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/2023-03/caregivers-need-care-too.pdf), a presentation from the IMF
• Being Your Own Caregiver (https://imf-d8-prod.s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/2023-03/being-your-own-caregiver.pdf), a presentation from the IMF
• Caring for the Caregiver (https://www.cancer.gov/publications/patient-education/caring-for-the-caregiver), a booklet from the National Cancer Institute 
• Emotional Freedom Techniques (https://www.myeloma.org/videos/unlocking-emotional-freedom-technique-eft-myeloma-patients-care-partners-tap-healing) a.k.a Tapping
• Help for Cancer Caregivers (https://www.helpforcancercaregivers.org/)
• This article from the medical journal Blood Advances gives insight into a care partner's unique psychosocial issues. Quality of Life, Psychological Distress, and Prognostic Perceptions in Caregivers of Patients with Multiple Myeloma (https://ashpublications.org/bloodadvances/article/6/17/4967/485880/Quality-of-life-psychological-distress-and)