Need help in how to talk to partner about my cancer

Posted by cancersucks1984 @cancersucks1984, Jan 3 2:04am

Hello all, nice to meet you. I have stage 4 pancreatic cancer and am a Type 1 diabetic, and am nearing the end stages of my life. I’ve taken care of everything that I need to and am currently trying to enjoy the little time I have left. I have a great support system, but my partner is just not understanding what I’m going through. I was diagnosed nearly 4 years ago and she was there, and has been there extensively through the many doctor and hospital visits since. I know it’s probably denial, and I do my best every day to talk to her about it and be transparent but she refuses to open up or speak about things with me, especially when I want to include her with what’s going on. I find myself getting very discouraged hearing things like “next christmas we’re gonna do this” or “we’re gonna go take a trip here in the next two years” knowing that, at best, I have 3-5 months of life left. Despite all of the things I have going on, I have kept a very positive mental attitude towards everything. I’ve accepted the fact I won’t be here much longer, and I just want to spend time with my loved ones. It just sucks when your closest one wants to argue with you when you’re having a bad day health wise. I get mildly irritable sometimes, I’ll admit, high blood sugar in the morning make me cranky… but I just don’t want to argue with someone who’s supposed to be there for me. I’ve done everything I can to start a conversation about things moving forward, and it’s always “I don’t want to talk about this right now” and on the bad days “it’s always about you”. I know it’s hard on her too, hell, i’m dying and withering away in front of her. I just wish she would show some understanding and compassion… it hurts feeling isolated in my own home near the end like this. I do my best every day to get up and do things so I feel accomplished, even taking a little walk or going out for lunch is a big win for me and I just want to share those small wins with everyone around me. If anyone has any advice regarding this topic… please feel free to comment. I would love input of any kind. And, if you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading. No matter what y’all are going through, we all got this together. Keep fighting the good fight! Much love.

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@cancersucks1984, I hope you have seen the helpful responses many members have posted. Your question raises a really important topic.

How are you doing? Have you been able to have an open and frank discussion with your partner?

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