As with @"Kiwi Angel" - I only excluded those 2 (who also live many hundreds of miles away.) I am totally with @Romla and you KiwiAngel - this time, I let pretty well everyone else know pretty well straight away, cos when my husband was diagnosed with stomach cancer in 2010, he didn't want ANYONE to know - and that impacted SO badly on me! I was taking him everywhere on my own, doing all the arranging without ANY support at all ..... and bursting into tears if I bumped into someone at the shops who asked the 'casual question' of "How are you Going?". I then set up a 'bulk email' to keep everyone in touch with his diagnosis & what was happening, explaining that we may not be able to respond to every return email ..... After the surgery & Chemo, I got Keith his own iPad so that HE could reply to all the emails from family & friends (I'd been his social secretary for 9 months at that point! LOL)
And - some good things can come out of a cancer episode ........ It was actually thru my husband's cancer that I took up ukulele again (I played it every so briefly back in 1970 before my sister left our boarding school & took it with her.) I found a neat banjo uke in a 2nd hand shop in North Sydney when visiting Keith's specialist - and bought it! hehe - little would we know that it would end up dominating our lives - by me starting the Forster Jumping Fleas!! LOL And now - my uke buddies are amongst my best friends & supporters - especially since my diagnosis in early Jan - and 2 who had had BC were able to give me tips & info that helped me in the early days especially. I've also been able to help support 3 members now, thru their own current cancer battles - and they feel totally at ease with talking to me about pretty well anything, in private or public. I am so proud of them. None of them could play an instrument before joining the group. And here we are, entertaining others now.