My partner has recently been diagnosed with bowel cancer. He is a very secretive person in normal life and refuses to tell any of our friends about his diagnosis. I’m finding it really hard as my way of coping is to have my support group of friends. It’s also difficult as we’re having to cancel plans and I’m having to make up reasons why. Any ideas on how I can get him to open up about things - I feel support and talking things through would be good for him too.
Hi OscarTrixie
Welcome to our community, I hope you find it both informative and supportive.
Sorry to hear about your husband, my experience of cancer is via my wife who has Leiomyosarcoma but I am fortunate that she has always been quite open about it.
There are a number of pages on here about the benefits of talking - https://www.macmillan.org.uk/cancer-information-and-support/diagnosis/talking-about-cancer that might be helpful. Sometimes people do get worried that they will be treated very differently when they open up and that does happen sometimes. Then of course there may be other friends who are going through something similar who also have not opened up. There is a book I sometimes mention The Secret C: Straight Talking About Cancer by Julia Stokes that sometimes can he helpful.
Of course one of the wonders of being on here is we can talk to complete strangers/new friends protected by our anonymous avatars. I also have had a lot of help from our local Maggies though other local support groups are available and you can check for ones near you using our in your area tool.
<<hugs>>
Steve
