Navigating a Difficult Conversation: How to Share Your Cancer Diagnosis with Loved Ones
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- čas přidán 29. 09. 2022
- In this video, I aim to provide guidance and support to individuals facing the challenging task of revealing their cancer diagnosis to friends, family, and co-workers. Open up a compassionate and empathetic dialogue with my tips on how to approach these conversations with sensitivity and clarity. Learn effective communication strategies, including helpful resources and techniques to convey your diagnosis, address concerns, and foster a supportive environment. Join us in navigating this difficult journey with grace and confidence as we share insights on sharing your cancer diagnosis with your loved ones and professional network.
Great video! I've been pondering this very thing myself. I have head and neck cancer and what I've realized when I just spring it on people, is that some people just don't know how to react when I tell them. So I find that I'm careful with how I announce it to people because of that. When I first found out I had cancer, the doctors could not tell me where it was, how severe it was, what stage etc. So I decided not to tell my 12 year old daughter until I knew more answers. Once I gain more clarity on what I was up against and then had a plan moving forward, that's when I told my daughter. It's wasn't easy for her but at least I told her and could tell her our plan instead of "I have cancer but don't know much." Now that is scary.
Hey Darren,
You're right, I have to admit that I was definitely in the camp of not knowing how to react. I didn't want to be that guy who just says "Oh I'm so sorry" and had nothing else to say because I didn't know what to say. I realized after telling the guys at work that there were a lot of questions I had no answer to (yet) and that was kind of my guide to only tell people once I knew a bit more about what was going on. So have you started treatment yet?
Lee
Thank you for this information. I have neck cancer also. It was very easy to tell my two grown sons. They were both positive about it and said that I would be fine. They both know people who have had this and are doing well. This gave me a lot of confidence in my outcome of treatment. My younger sister took me to the doctor to find out what was wrong with me (I never thought Cancer! We thought inflamed saliva glnd) and she has been my Health Partner throughout the whole cancer process. My older sister has had a tough time with this as she lives quite a distance from us and isn't involved and hardly ever sees us. But she Has seen me in the toughest part and some of the easy parts. I was told by my ENT, who sees this cancer all the time that I will survive and come through it well. This made it easier for me to tell my family my condition.
Hi Deborah,
That's fantastic that the family is being so supportive and positive. I was concerned about telling my daughter as she is a bit sensitive, but she was also very supportive. Just amended my comments after reading your post on the other video!
Lee
@@theregularguy141 I'm so glad your daughter had a positive reaction. It shows to me how much she cares for you and her maturity. You must be very proud of her! Aren't we grateful for those in our family?
Very grateful! She handled it like a pro to be 7,000 miles away and 20 years old!
Many thanks for this series; they've been helping me a lot.
Hey Doc,
I'm really glad to hear that. It's the whole purpose of the videos, to help others. Was there a specific video or videos that really resonated with you?
Lee
@@theregularguy141 I think it is the way the series as a whole has helped me mentally map out some landmarks on the road ahead. (I've just started treatment.) I lost my wife to ALS in June and then got diagnosed Thanksgiving week, so my whole world has been turned upside down. I'm just gritting my teeth (until it hurts to do so) and trying to push through this and figure out what's on the other side.
Hey Man,
These treatments are rough, no doubt, and after all you have been through, it's not going to be easy. But there is an end to it and it is all worth it once you get through to the other side. Feel free to contact me via my email in my bio at any time if I can do anything to help.
Lee
Hi Lee it’s Mark here a fellow throat cancer fighter, the more I watch your videos the more I realise our cancers were practically identical (left side tonsils). Our treatments have been nearly identical and although I’m only on week eight post treatment it sounding like our recovery is nearly identical.
My experience of telling people I had cancer differs in respect that I’m a single foster carer so I had to start telling people the minute I found out I had cancer.
I have three boys placed with me my first is a long term placement and he’s fourteen, he has autism so this made telling him about my cancer a little more tricky. I had to have meetings with the social workers to plan the best way to tell him without causing him any trauma and keeping the emotional distress to a minimum, fortunately we have built up a great relationship over the four years he’s been with me and we quickly learned that being very honest and factual was the best way to keep calm and reassured. I had my treatment planners on the kitchen wall so he could see precisely what stage of treatment I was at and I would talk him through all the stages side affects in advance so nothing caught him out.
My other two lads are a seventeen year old Afghanistan asylum seeker and a sixteen year old Syrian asylum seeker, they are amazing lads and again talking them through my treatment and side affects was perfect for them. I didn’t hide anything from them and they stepped up and started doing a lot of things around the house to support me.
I think the hardest time like you have said was the thirst two - three weeks post treatment, at that stage I had to sit all three boys down and explain they would be going to new foster carers for two weeks just to allow me to focus on my recovery, I also explained it was equally to give them a break as they we’re dealing with so much.
I’m so grateful for the three lads because they did and still are giving me a great focus and not allowing me to fall into self pity, I mean they are teenage boys so I always have a crisis to deal with! 😂
All the social workers were amazing at offering support, three kids so three different social workers helping out.
This might sound bad but the one thing I’m great full for is that my mother passed away last year, she wouldn’t have handled the situation well and I know it would all have been an emotional stress on her that would have really taken her to the edge as she was very frail for several years.
@@m68lanc Wow! What a story Mark! It sounds like you had/have a great support team there. Both the social workers and the kids in the house. The fact that you got teens to step up and start doing things around the house is amazing in itself. I hope your recovery is going along well and that you are back on solid food!
Lee
I relate to this my sis had a nervous breakdown and my mon today i take life more seriously god was on my side and hopefully its it's gone forever its been 4 years🙏
I found telling people to be kind of tough as well. Luckily my family took it very well and were supportive. CONGRATS ON THE 4 YEARS CLEAR!!!