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Communication fatigue, quietly draining me
The exhaustion of constantly updating everyone. Managing their emotions about YOUR diagnosis while you’re just trying to get through treatment. Feeling guilty when you go quiet, overwhelmed when you try to catch up. First year especially, keeping people connected felt like a second job I never signed up for
And I know some will say ‘I wish I had people reaching out’ — that loneliness is real too. This isn’t about being ungrateful for the love. It’s… read more
As a cancer patient, or any other type of patient, you have the right to talk about your health, disease/sickness, and how you are feeling or dealing with it as much or as little as you want to without feeling guilty for it. There is nothing "ungrateful" about not wanting to talk about your health for whatever reason or no reason at all.
Some people are very private about their health. My mom only told her family and 2 friends that she had cancer. After reading her obituary most of her friends were surprised about her cause of death. I happen to be very open about my cancer status. If you want to listen I'll tell you more about cancer than anybody really wants to know. The royals in England are somewhere in the middle, stating they've had cancer along with various treatments, buy they haven't said what kinds of cancer they have or anything really specific. It's all up to you and what you feel comfortable with, and that level of comfort and openess can change at any time according to your own personal feeling and whims.
What you're describing — communication fatigue during breast cancer treatment — is so real, and so rarely talked about. Managing other people's feelings about your diagnosis, while you're the one actually living it, is an invisible labor that can quietly wear you down.
You are not obligated to be everyone's real-time news Show Full Answer
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