telling people

I can be hard to understand for people who have had nothing to do with cancer. Knee jerk reaction is they may imagine you are riddled with cancer and get into a panic and start writing you off with a short life. What you need to explain is the cancer is not something that came up overnight and its been sneakily been invading for a little while and its not going to get much further now its been diagnosed and found out as there is treatment available to get rid of it. Focus on the good news rather than the bad and yes, explain the treatment can be rough and you will need love and support but you will beat the cancer.

I didn't tell a lot of people prior to the surgery. I told most after I got that bit out of the way and it wasn't so cripplingly scary for me. After surgery there was obviously going to be chemo for me and I knew not only would my outward appearance look different, my brain and moods would be altered while in treatment as well so I did openly tell all my neighbours and friends and family on face book and with phone calls and letters.

Much of it was therapy for me to get it off my chest so to speak and warn pretty much the whole world of the importance of early detection and get in and get themselves checked out.

Be warned, some will step back like you are contagious or something but some will absolutely stun you with how caring they are and be great verbal support for you. You can pick friends but you can't pick your family so try not to take it to heart if some family don't come near you or don't call. It is very confusing to me but I just have to focus on beating the cancer and get on with life, with or without them.