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How do you respond to offers of help?

Just Want to Talk | Last Active: Jun 5 11:31am | Replies (103)

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@cvestor

Any idea on how to get a husband's head out of the clouds He thinks mother nature will cure my rectal cancer Don't know what planet he is on. Also he is a work a holic and says he will help. But if my needed schedule requires him to change he gets mad So mad he says he is unhappy told him I was not jumping for joy with this cancer disease He is a great provider & has made our life comfortable but he works 98 hours a week & will not cut back Says he loves his job Any suggestion

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Replies to "Any idea on how to get a husband's head out of the clouds He thinks mother..."

Perhaps he's acting this way because he's in deep denial about what's happening to you, but you have enough to deal with right now without trying to counsel him, too, and from what you wrote, he doesn't sound like the kind of person who'd be open to group therapy with other relatives of people dealing with cancer.

Perhaps you could tell him that he's always been a great provider, and what you need him to provide now isn't money but other kinds of support. It would be a long shot, though.

The most-important thing is not to let yourself become isolated. Get to know other people living with cancer, and meet up to swap stories. Build a network of family and friends willing to take turns driving you to appointments (I was in one friend's network even though I have advanced cancer myself).

You deserve support and understanding. You should be getting it from your partner, but if you're not, you have every right to look elsewhere to build your support network.

Good luck on your journey

This may seem blunt, but your husband needs to realize that whatever his job is, it's not half as important as *you* are.
Maybe I've gotten the wrong impression, but to me he seems to regard your situation as an irritating intrusion on his routine. That might be excusable initially as he adjusts to the shock. But as you are undergoing treatment, he needs to set all that other stuff aside and focus on you.
He owes you that. Isn't that what you'd do for him?

I wish you a complete and timely recovery. May God bless and heal you.