Hepatocellular carcinoma patients are of great concern because of the high mortality rate of liver cancer. During hospitalization, liver cancer patients will receive scientific, comprehensive, and standardized care from medical and nursing staff, but how should patients themselves and their families properly and reasonably care for them after they are discharged home?
The following aspects are worth noting.
Dietary care
People are dependent on food. The most basic care for patients is undoubtedly dietary care. As patients are physically exhausted after cancer treatment, their bodies have high nutritional needs and need to be conditioned to recover through a proper diet.
Patients are advised to eat light, high-calorie, high-quality protein-rich, vitamin-rich, low-sodium, low-fat, easy-to-digest foods, and to eat small, frequent meals to avoid overfeeding to prevent nausea and vomiting.
Medication management
After discharge from the hospital, most patients with liver cancer will be taking a variety of medications depending on their condition. It is important to emphasize that all medications taken after discharge from the hospital must be administered according to the doctor’s orders given during the hospital stay, and not to add or subtract medications or doses at will! The first thing you need to do is to change your doctor’s orders.
Some patients or family members believe in folk remedies, not knowing that they have very limited active ingredients and may increase the metabolic burden on the liver, impair liver and kidney function, and even lead to serious consequences such as liver failure.
Body care
After discharge from the hospital, the patient should be moderately active, and neither short periods of strenuous exercise nor long periods of inactivity are recommended.
- Because patients are physically weaker than healthy people due to the ravages of the disease, short-term strenuous exercise can easily lead to accidental injury, infection, and even tumor progression due to overexertion;
- Tumor patients’ blood is mostly in a hypercoagulable state, prone to thrombosis, and prolonged immobility will increase the incidence of thrombosis, so they should exercise moderately to strengthen their bodies and resistance.
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Therefore, it is recommended that patients with liver cancer be discharged from the hospital and return home with moderate exercise, such as brisk walking, jogging, walking, Tai Chi, slow dancing, etc.
Other care
- Maintain a happy mood and good lifestyle habits;
- Pay attention to personal hygiene, especially to keep the oral cavity, perineum, and broken skin areas clean, otherwise they are prone to infection;
- Patients and family members should closely observe the patient’s weight, blood pressure, body temperature, skin color, urine and stool, etc. If there are significant changes in a short period of time, they should seek medical attention promptly;
- Patients with poor immunity should avoid entering areas with a high prevalence of infectious diseases or contacting people with respiratory or gastrointestinal infections to avoid infections or complications in patients.
Finally, patients with liver cancer should follow their doctor’s orders for all actions after discharge from the hospital, and family members should closely monitor the patient’s condition. If there are any abnormalities, you should give feedback or seek medical attention.