Kathie, I think the doctor who did the SFEMG got it right: the point of a diagnosis is so that you can get the right treatment. Your daughter already knows you're sick. Now she can know that the sickness has a name and a treatment plan attached to it, and that the prognosis, while never certain, is clearer. Those are good things.

I have seven children, ages 9 to 23. I don't believe that my illness has been emotionally traumatic to them. In general, the rule for explaining difficult things to children is to tell them the truth, but to tailor the level of details you give to the child's readiness to hear them.

I'm seronegative too, and it took 15 months for me to get a diagnosis. When I finally got one, we all rejoiced. It wasn't that I was happy to be sick, but I was happy that we could now proceed with a treatment, that my symptoms wouldn't be dismissed as "merely" (as if!) psychological, and that it wasn't something worse, like ALS. Those are things worth celebrating!

Abby