Hi Karen,
I think that until one has been through the experience of a cancer diagnosis it is probably perceived as a scary thing, plus a lot of reference points for the general public are movies and tv celebrities who have had it and the media loves to use words and phrases like battling cancer, lost their battle with cancer, courageously fighting cancer, etc.
I think those of us who are actually dealing with our cancer are often doing just that, dealing with it, going to our appointments, surgeries, chemo, radio... whatever and just getting on with our lives with perhaps a few more ups and downs thrown in because of the side effects. I am certain some people are doing it tougher than others depending on the prognosis and treatment and so maybe those phrases are appropriate in some situations but I hear you. I have not posted a single word to social media except for this group and I don't intend to because I don't want my contacts to possibly expose their ignorance about it and tell me to do a juice cleanse or some such nonsense.
I don't really have a suggestion on how to handle it. I keep reminding people that my situation could be much worse as any trip to a hospital or a look at the nightly news can reveal.
On the upside people have been incredibly kind to me during this period and it has reminded me that we should all be gentler with our fellow beings regardless of their health status.
Best of luck with everything,
Andrea x
