The follow up appointment after diagnosis

The specialist nurse visited our home two weeks after we received Mum's diagnosis. Her approach felt very clinical and lacked genuine emotion. It seemed scripted, like sending a child to the door with a wallet full of brochures containing numbers and mind-numbing information that I still haven't read.

After handing me Mum's paperwork, she asked Mum a few set questions from a sheet of paper, which she would then pass on to the specialist to assess Mum's capacity since her diagnosis two weeks prior. "Are there any questions before I leave?" she inquired. I thought, "How should I know? I haven't processed the last batch of information yet. What am I supposed to do?" She avoided eye contact as she left, simply wishing us "good luck" and saying, "There's lots of useful information in your folder."

I understand that delivering a life-changing diagnosis to someone and their family isn't easy, but a more supportive approach would have been appreciated, rather than just offering a couple of phone calls from a referred counselling service. I was barely at the beginning of my caring journey; I had no clue what lay ahead or what I would be dealing with. How was I supposed to know that so soon?.

In reality, you are left to navigate this situation on your own, and for me, as well as many others, this did not feel good enough!.