A tough call: Would you ever keep your cancer from your kids?
On Monday, Jendro, a loyal commenter and fellow CML mom asked a really interesting question about a dilemma she is currently facing:
My problem is this...I have CML and don't appear sick (nor feel sick for that matter). My children are so young that I don't think they would understand and it might scare them to hear that I have cancer. So the big question is, Should you tell your children that you have CML (or similar, chronic-type cancer)? And if so, when?
Wow. That is not an easy question to answer. And it's one I will be facing sooner rather than later. Here are my thoughts: I am a big believer in telling anyone who wants to know pretty much everything about me (hence, this blog), but when it comes to kids, I just don't know. For those of us with chronic diseases, we could very easily omit the C word from any discussions with our children--at least until they're old enough to understand fully.
Could that spot be cancer? Test yourself with this quiz.
I was the kind of kid who stressed about things that could never even happen. After watching Pippi Longstocking, for example, I honestly worried that my dad might become a shipping boat captain and I'd have to live alone with only a monkey. Seriously. After I learned that my grandfather died in a plane crash, I would lie awake pretty much every night for about a year, envisioning my parents or my sisters or myself doing the same. If Alex is anything like me, I don't think he could handle the potential worry that might come with learning about my cancer, however benign that cancer may be.
But, hello!, a week doesn't go by where I'm not speaking or writing or blogging about my experience. It's not just my disease, it's my life. Surely I can't keep that from him. And the lesson of taking a bad thing in life and turning into so much good is one that I definitely want to pass on to him. Not an easy call to say the least. What do you guys think? What would you do? Let's discuss.
Related: 15 ways how not to get cancer!
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