Wow, does that sound familiar. The catch is, I've discovered they know more than you realize. Not long ago, before dx, when I got to work, my 17 year old daughter was in my office. She knew how horrible I felt even though I said I was "just fine". Someone came in and I put on my "just fine" smile and carried on a pretty good conversation. Even gave the positive "I'm just wonderful" type reply to "How are you really doing today?" When the person left my daughter said. "WOW, YOU ARE SO GOOD, MOM!" I said "Good at what?" to which she replied "Lying!"

This just confirmed what I had suspected all along....she wasn't stupid afterall! Since then, I've been pretty honest with her. She is old enough to hear it and really wants to know the truth. Her age has a lot to do with it, but given that hindsight is 20/20, I probably should have been "somewhat" more honest all along...

Would not try to claim I have the answer to this... but hope it helps a little bit!

Maybe it would be okay for us to be a little more up front with how we feel, like with your sister... It's hard enough for us to understand and we are the ones going through it. I guess it's no wonder other people just don't get it.


I don't know..... good luck! Thanks so much for sharing!