Reply to How can I tell my 10YO DD that I have cancer

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[quote=Anonymous]New poster here - I was diagnosed with cancer when my children were young, and I did tell them in a basic, straightforward way. Such as, they are bad cells in x part of my body called "cancer" - drs will remove the bad cells via surgery and I will have to be in hospital for awhile and when I come home it may be a bit painful for me so no jumping on me, etc for awhile - then I have "strong medicine" called chemotherapy which further kills any leftover bad cells in my body - the strong medicine helps my body fight the cancer but will cause some funny things to happen to me like my hair will fall out and I will wear "fake hair" called a wig - showed them the wig - and kept emphasizing that my doctors think I will be okay and that cancer is not contagious -- that's the nutshell version of what I said, at least :-) There are some great books out there which help with these discussions - I'm sorry I can't recall the titles, but I know I ordered them on amazon (I think I was pointed to the books by the American Cancer Society website). At 10 I think your child is old enough to know, and frankly deserves to know, the truth. You can be as matter of fact about it as possible and reassure her with the positive facts you've been told. Kids don't hear the word "cancer" and associate the same level of fear as we do as adults. My kids are younger than yours, and besides me, their mom, they know two other adults who had cancer and survived, so my kids for example don't equate the word cancer with a death sentence. [/quote]

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