Your loved one may continue to lose weight in spite of your combined best efforts. If they do this, try not to take it personally. Their weight loss doesn’t mean that you are not caring for them properly, nor does it mean that they are not grateful for your efforts and eating as much as they comfortably can of what you prepare. It is no more possible to stop some people with cancer from losing weight than it is possible to stop some people with cancer from dying of it.

So try to aim for what is possible. If you refuse to settle for anything less than stopping a person who has extensive cancer or is having very intensive chemotherapy from losing weight, you are likely to succeed only in making both of your lives miserable. Both of you have enough to deal with without getting into battles over food. Why not simply aim for pleasant meal times, free of nagging or feelings of guilt? Perhaps there are even times when both of you would benefit more from a chat and a cuddle than more food!

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It is important for everyone to know how to do artificial respiration.

The easiest and most effective is mouth-to-mouth resuscitation — or the «Kiss-of-Life.» This is simple to learn — and simple to forget. So you will need to refresh your knowledge from time to time.

Cardiac massage is harder to learn. You may do harm if you try this when a person’s heart has not stopped. But if it has, then that person will die unless CPR, a combination of external massage and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation is begun at once.

The brain cells are very sensitive to lack of oxygen. If breathing stops, then oxygen is not taken in and various organs of the body will suffer from the lack of oxygen. The heart itself may also stop.

If the brain cells are deprived of oxygen for longer than 3-4 minutes, irreversible damage may occur. However, this should not be considered a reason for not trying artificial respiration or heart massage. It is possible that breathing may stop but the heart may continue beating for some time, pushing around an ever diminishing amount of oxygen in the blood, but still supplying the brain with enough oxygen so that permanent damage has not occurred.

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