[edit] Resources
The Family Care Navigator is a state-by-state resource intended to help you locate government, nonprofit, and private programs in your area. It includes services for family caregivers, as well as resources for older or disabled adults living at home or in a residential facility. It also includes information on government health and disability programs, legal resources, disease-specific organizations and much more. http://caregiver.org/caregiver/jsp/fcn_content_node.jsp?nodeid=2083
Other valuable resources for caregivers from http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/5037.html:
Eldercare Locator (a national directory of community services) 1-800-677-1116 http://www.aoa.gov/elderpage/locator.html
Family Caregiver Alliance 1-415-434-3388 http://www.caregiver.org
Medicaid Hotline Baltimore, MD 1-800-638-6833
National Alliance for Caregiving 1-301-718-8444 http://www.caregiving.org
National Family Caregivers Association 1-800 896-3650 http://www.nfcacares.org
National Information Center for Children and Youth with Disabilities 1-800-695-0285 http://www.nichcy.org
The Mastocytosis Association has a thoughtful and thorough caregiving section at http://www.tmsforacure.org/caregivers.shtml
Mastocytosis is one of the rare diseases in patients with GIST also being investigated in conjunction with the FLAG study at Dana-Farber in Boston.
Cancer.Net, the patient information website of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), reminds you of tips to manage stress at http://www.cancer.net/patient/Library/Cancer.Net+Features/Living+With+Cancer/Managing+Stress
Links for cancer patients, loved ones and friends at http://www.cancercare.org/get_help/loved_one.php