My husband is having treatment for glioblastoma which was diagnosed in November last year. We understand that this is a terminal diagnosis and that the illness is unpredictable, although the operation and treatment (radiotherapy everday and a trial drug chemo substitute) are going fairly well at the moment.
I notice that I have a shorter fuse than usual when someone says something upsetting or things are just not going right. I'm good at taking on too much at the best of times and a difficult extended family issue arose over Christmas which I was sucked into and which has been causing a lot of stress and upset with extended family members. I feel they should be more understanding of our situation and resent the seemingly attention-seeking behaviour of some family members which is causing unwanted stress and upset at a difficult time for us.
I find it difficult to get people to understand how desperate I'm feeling as it always seems important to "put on a brave face" to the outside world - even to parents for example. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to keep calm and how to encourage friends and family members to be a little more understanding? If you're always seen as a "strong" person who copes with virtually everything, how can you signal to people that enough is enough and you need people to say "it's okay, I understand" and just cut you some slack?
