Telling Your Family and Friends
It is difficult to digest the news that one has breast cancer.
It is equally difficult to tell those we love. Anticipate shock, disbelief, sadness, worry, anxiety, helplessness, and fear. Expect dozens of questions for which you have no answers. Especially if you are a caregiver, be prepared for family and friends to rely on you for support during this ordeal.
Telling my parents and in-laws that I had breast cancer was difficult. My mother responded in disbelief by asking me to repeat what I had just told her. My in-laws hung up the phone and wept. My daughter Rachel asked me so many questions that I exploded in frustration; in a flurry of emotion she ran upstairs to her room. My husband and my son were at a loss for ways to help me. Initially, I tried to hold it all together for them.
Eventually, I realized that my primary job was not to meet their needs but to meet mine. I needed to concentrate on the road to wellness.
