Communication

As we were going through the 3 weeks of tests, scans, biopsy, and worry, I elected to tell only one of my sisters and my father what was going on. It was difficult knowing that I probably had cancer, yet didn't have any final information. I just couldn't tell a lot of people, because I didn't know what to tell them.

This got in the way of my sisters and I planning a trip to Minnesota to see my mother. This journey started right after we started talking about the trip. Not wanting to tell anyone else, I said something vague to my other sisters that I had something going on and wasn't sure about dates. I was hoping that they could trust me and that I'd have something to tell them--one way or the other--soon.

Unfortunately, it was misconstrued as a control issue. [I am anoldest child...] By not at least telling them I had a medical issue, it was easy for them to come to their own conclusions. I guess I didn't trust them to respect my desire for not wanting to talk. In reality, I should have given them some information and known that they would have waited until I had something more to say.

There are always lessons in communication to be learned. No matter how old we get, we are still so good at poor communication. I hope to continue to improve in this.