Ascites and The Feeling of Being Incapable

As a caregiver/partner, there is nothing worse than seeing our loved ones suffer, especially when we can't do anything about it. We need to keep our eyes open and pay attention to every detail to make this suffering less stressful for the patient and us. When the patient has ascites, the discomfort is considerable. My husband used to take the liquid off once a week, and it was almost 7 liters each time. The symptoms were so uncomfortable. He couldn't sleep or eat well; It was tough to stay sitting all day, working at his desk. His belly was big and it was challenging to breathe; It was difficult to do exercise. The most challenging thing was that he couldn't sometimes drink even 500 ml a day of water. Still, one thing is significant to say: he never gave up to fight at this stage, and I'm very proud of him.

Victim or hero?

What did I do to make this situation better for him? It was crucial to me to show my husband that he could get through it, that nothing could stop him from fighting, even if it were a challenging situation. I didn't want him to see himself as a sick person, that he couldn't do what he needed to do. We needed to fight against our minds and not allow us to see ourselves as victims of the situation; This is the number one thing to do to help get better, but it is not an easy task. All of us grew up in a culture that allows us to put ourselves in this position all the time, instead of asking ourselves how we can grow with the difficult times. We exercised this a lot in our minds; Yes, it wasn't easy, but that helped us a lot.

Partners fighting together to get better results

While everyone was seeing him in bad shape, I was trying to show him that hep C could not define him, but I also needed to do my part to make it easy. I decided to eat the same food I use to make for him, not salt; I used "Dash spices" for two years. Here a link to an article from one of our contributors, Karen Hoyt that can also help you: East Ways to Eat Clean I also tried to push him to carry the grocery bags and water from the car garage to the kitchen, as it helped him to exercise a little. There was a time he couldn't even eat because of the ascites- the nausea was terrible. He used to eat pure ice instead of the food to help with nausea. I started to make a lot of jelly; it helped him to not feel nausea too.

So, when there is a sick person close to us, we need to make this person feel a desire to fight against it. Please don't assume the patient is a victim, but learn how to teach them to be a hero! Together we are strong! I would love to recommend a book to help in this situation: Change your Thoughts - Change your Life by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer. It was one of the most beautiful books I ever read! I'm pretty sure it can help you too. Also check out my page on Instagram - you can find a lot of things that can help you to cope with your anxiety and depression.