Recently, someone I love was diagnosed with Cancer – and told they will need to go through Chemotherapy. So often when loved ones get a diagnosis like this it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. What can we possibly say or do to help?
While I don’t have any magic answers, I’ve found it helps me to cope – if I can find a way to be helpful to the person who is sick, even if it is in just a very small way. That’s how the idea for this Chemo Care Basket Came about.
Below, is what was included in the Chemotherapy Gift Basket I made – hopefully it gives you some ideas. That said, you could include so many other helpful items! So, feel free to be guided by your knowledge of the gift recipient and your own intuition as well!
Putting together a Chemotherapy Gift Basket-
- A Tumbler that has a Lid, and a Straw – This is helpful for drinking when the person is laying down. The lid and straw keep the beverage from spilling when the person takes a sip from bed.
- Hard Candy to Suck – Ginger hard candy can help with the nausea Chemo can cause, and flavored hard candy can help with the metallic taste chemo can sometimes leave in the mouth.
- Fuzzy socks or Throw – When the person is actually receiving Chemo they can get a chill, and feel extra cold. So a fuzzy throw, hat or socks can help them stay cozy during treatments.
- Assorted Fruit Juice or Tea – Staying hydrated can be hard, especially when some tastes cause nausea. An assorted pack of flavored beverages will give your loved one choices, and hopefully provide one flavor that they can keep down.
- Unscented hand lotion & Chapstick – Scented products are likely to cause nausea, but hand lotion and chap-stick are often sorely needed. Chemo can cause skin to get chapped and crack. Formulas for sensitive skin with no scent are really helpful.
- Non-Metal Utensils – Not all chemo patients experience an aversion to the metal taste it can sometimes cause in their mouth, but many do. In that case it’s helpful to not exacerbate the taste by using metal silverware.
- A Treat – Something that makes your friend or loved one smile. An inspirational book, a personal note… chocolate? You know best!
- Hand Sanitizer for Visitors – Chemo can wipe out the patients immune system and make them very easily susceptible to germs. I took the label off a bottle of hand Sanitizer, painted it to match my basket, and added ribbon to it. Hopefully the pretty presentation makes it nicer to keep nearby – and visitors will be more likely to see it, and use it before visiting.
Do you have other suggestions for great gifts for those undergoing chemo? If so – I’d love to hear them!
About Shannon SchmidShannon traded in her sensible NYC TV producer shoes (they were best for taking the subway), for a pair of Texas Cowboy boots when she married her best friend! He's at fault for making this Yankee a Texan! Shannon writes about all things that make a house a home. Her chief blogging inspiration is being the proud & slightly neurotic mom of a preschool age daughter.
You can find Shannon on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and her new favorite place to hang out, Google+.
this is a fantastic post! My mom would have loved all of these things. These are things definitely any chemo patient would be able to use.
Love that you personalized the hand sanitizer bottle!
I pray your loved one is better soon!
Thank you! Did not know what to get my elder father who fighting cancer for father’s day. This helps!!
Thank u for sharing. I did purchase many of your basket products mentioned in your blog on pinterest. Our sister appreciated the socks, hard candy, chapsticks homemade cards with crazy, silly stuff on them. We bought some zen fabric and soft fuzzy fabric material. She loved the thought. I even searched out loud fluffy socks …alive with color.
I am currently having chemo. I made my fellow chemo-ites little lavender sachets, each in a co-ordinating one-piece box. Lavender is so fragrant and relaxing and everybody loved them. I love your idea of the chemo basket and will definitely be thinking along these lines in the future! When I am feeling well enough (not too often so I’m really behind!) I am making little “chemo angels” in mixed media. I was sent a beautiful quilt from America all the way to the UK from a blogging friend. Scarves are lovely because sometimes coming into the cold air can make your throat go into spasm and you need to breathe warmed air. Gloves too – I suffer from peripheral neuropathy brought on by cold. Little puzzle books are nice to have when you’re sitting around for hours being infused. A little teddy bear to cuddle! Actually, any gift is really appreciated by someone having chemo. It’s nice just to feel loved and thought about! Thank you for thinking of us!!
Shoshi
With long waits while getting chemo- I enjoyed reading material. Music may be soothing,even a travel neck pillow. some chemo causes cold neuropathy where anything cold causes extreme pain in extremities, so the little gloves with grips and easy slip on slippers. Also the little hats for those with hair loss..
I will be starting chemo soon and all of these are good thoughtful things to put in a basket for a friend.
I am going to do a chemo bag fundraiser in January using my thirty one products. Please find me on Facebook of you’d like to help out have any ideas. My name on Facebook is Jennifer Thomas Raddatz. This post was great to see what the person could use.
This is really cute and a lovely thought. However, my sister had chemo/radiation last March and got tons of this stuff. We just stopped opening them eventually and the baskets & bags piled up in her kitchen until I took them to the basement. From my time with her, I noticed a few things she REALLY needed:
–rides to treatment, especially if there is vision loss
–babysitting, or taking the kids out for a few hours so the house is quiet
–yard work –raking leaves, mowing, weeding –this is the kind of thing that gets neglected. You’d be surprised how much planting a few annuals in a neglected pot will cheer someone up!
–housecleaning
–errand running –someone texted and said, “hey, I’m going to the shops –do you have any errands for me to take care of?” So thoughtful.
–audiobooks –vision loss and nausea/dizziness can make reading unpleasant
–Netflix or Amazon Instant Video credit vouchers –my sister binged-watched Downton Abbey –it took her to another world for a few hours
–an in-house massage or manicure voucher
The best offers were very specific. It can be hard to ask someone to do something or to answer when they say, “is there anything I can do?” But if you call up and say you’re going to spend a couple hours tidying the garden this afternoon, or take the kids to see a movie, or change the beds & launder the sheets, it’s unlikely to be turned down.
Every kind word, prayer, and gift is appreciated, but there’s only so much tea a person can drink.
Share the extras with the people at the treatment center.
These items are great. My friend who was going through chemo at the same time as I was, sent me a goody bag when I was in the hospital with complications. I laughed out loud when I got it–she had sent to me coloring books and crayons, a Pez dispenser and candy, lemon drops, a gyro wheel, scarves, just so many things to occupy my mind and messed up tastebuds that week.
Something else I enjoyed was lots and lots of ginger ale!
I went through 6 months of chemotherapy three years ago and here are the things I most appreciated:
— knit caps that I could sleep in because my bald head got really cold at night
— funny books that had really short chapters (so I could just pick them up when I was feeling good, but didn’t have to remember the plot or characters)
— meals for my family since I didn’t want to eat but my kids and husband still needed to!
— pajama pants or cute loungewear (I didn’t bother to get dressed during the chemo weeks, just stayed in sleepwear. So I needed stuff that was cute enough for the occasional visitor to see)
But you’ve posted some great ideas. Very thoughtful. I think the most important thing was all the people who let me know they were praying for me or thinking of me. It didn’t matter how they conveyed that thought or what they “did” for me, just knowing so many people were pulling for me made the rough times easier!
In my baskets and gift bags I usually put in those little hand warmers, (the infusion room is cold) Chapstick, usually sturdy plastic bags for the ride home (my husband had to use them every time) and pictures of family and friends, (I put these in the front of the sudok, crossword, coloring whatever book was in the basket). My husband would look at these after he was tired of the books.
i love this idea, enjoyed reading this. the little personal touches goes a very long way! this is such a fantastic idea, thank you for this!
Travel bands can help with nausea too might be a nice thing to add x
Love your ideas. I like to include a set of blank notecards, a pretty pad of paper and a good pen in my hospital bags. Tervis tumblers and also the Yeti type cups are available with a plastic handle that slides onto the cup. The handle really helps with grabbing onto the cup. Thank you for your post.