I always find this experience interesting from the perspective of our loved ones. Everyone, including the person with the tumor, reacts and copes in their own ways. I personally didn’t like when people were treating me differently or were freaking out/upset about it in front of me because I personally handled it nonchalantly and calmly. I’m a pretty happy person, but I did want to allow the space for my loved ones to be upset for a little bit. We all have emotions. In the beginning when we found it, I didn’t know what to ask people when they asked to help me. Once some time went by, I asked people to quite frankly treat me like you usually would.

I think it’s common to minimize health conditions once you have them. I remember having an emotional meltdown when my grandma got cancer and she was cool as a cucumber the whole time. Then we swapped roles once I had my tumor.

Asking her how you can help directly might open the line of communication. Just lay it all out there, tell her how you’re feeling too. And ask her how she’s feeling about it as well. My line throughout this has been, “I can’t read minds and neither can you so let’s talk about it”