Miscellaneous
In this season's first episode, we are joined by clinical and health psychologist Michelle Bishop, who specializes in working with cancer patients, survivors, and family caregivers. Michelle spent the first half of her career as a research assistant professor at the University of Florida studying the long-term quality of life of BMT survivors and caregivers, and has been in private practice for the last 11 years.Michelle likens the BMT journey to a long road trip with many roads and pitstops. There are often unexpected detours as well. On this long BMT road trip, we can’t actually see the final destination and we don’t really know exactly how long it’s going to take so we will need to plan differently and be mindful along the way. For example there is the period of transplant and early recovery at the transplant center, the transition home and ongoing recovery. Keep in mind, with a bone marrow/stem cell transplant, there may be additional roads dealing with graft versus host disease. And it's important to remember that caregivers are on this journey along with their patients. Michelle encourages caregivers to ask for help and make a list of the things you need help with. And be sure to have friends and family who can support YOU as the caregiver on this road trip. Self care is absolutely essential to keeping your engine running. For this road trip, you'll want to make sure your tires are full and fluids are topped off before you start.For more from the National Bone Marrow Transplant Link, visit us online at nbmtlink.org or call us at 800-546-5268.This season of Marrow Masters is sponsored by the nbmtLINK, Incyte Corporation and The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.nbmtLINK website: https://www.nbmtlink.org/The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society: https://www.lls.org/