To tell or not to tell???

I have a dilemma, my mother-in-law has diagnose final stage of her cancer in China.  Both my wife and my brother-in-law knows about this but my mother-in-law still think that she is just very sick.  

I feel this is not right as I believe that my mother-in-law may want to know her condition so she might have something that she might want to do the reminder of her life.  My brother thinks and feel that if mother-in-law knows about it that she may not be able to control her emotion and also her mentality, then it may have a negative impact.  It has been almost 6 months when my brother-in-law has been doing everything he can within his power to find cure, medicine, treatments in hoping that there's a miracle where my mother-in-law gets better.

My mother-in-law now has two big tumour in her brain and another one in her stomach where if any one of these burst/bleed then she will not survive.  So it's almost like a time bomb.

 

Both myself and my wife is very frustrated because we cannot go back to see her because of the covid pandemic restriction for travel.

 

The 14-days quarantine and all the medical testing proof of assessment are not making the travel any easier.  The last thing we want is that we catches the virus during the journey which may then complicate things even more.  

 

So my question is if anyone have any experience at all in this dilemma is whether we should tell mother-law about her medical illness condition so at least she may have something that she want to do for the remainder of her life.

 

I don't want to challenge my brother-in-law's decision  but I just feel that my mother-in-law should at least be told about her condition, but then if we did, something bad may happen because she cannot handle the news, so the question is the tell or not to tell?

 

Really sorry to share with you with this dilemma but I can't not bear the sadness that I see with my wife and the frustration the fact that we cannot go and see her.

 

She has been my best mum, and it is so hurtful to see her suffering.  Especially when she thinks that she is very sick but really she is in her late stage of cancer.

 

Thanks for listening,

Dave

  • Thank you so much Lorraine, I will share your thought with my wife.  We are feeling so helpless as we can't even be by her side because of the travel restriction and quarantine. 

     

    Thank you for sharing.... Really grateful.

    Dave

  • Dear Dave,

     

    I'm so sorry to hear of your difficult situation. It must be incredibly upsetting and frustrating to be unable to go to China to see your dear mother in law, and so hard for your wife. 
    Regarding your dilemma. That's really difficult too. I can understand your feelings. I guess your brother in law has one relationship to his mother and this is his belief about what is best, but your wife also has her own relationship to her mother and she may feel differently. I don't know what your wife thinks about it, but perhaps all you can do is support her and validate her, whatever she wants to do, as she has to manage the relationship to her brother and her mum, and also to you. Ultimately your relationship to her is your priority as you two together are a team. I'm sure she really appreciates that you had such a good relationship to your mother in law and can share in her experience of loss and comfort her. 
    These are just my own thoughts and you must do what you think is right of course. 

  • Thank you for sharing your thought, and you're right.  I guess I can only deal with things within our control.  My wife's feelings and mental support is the priority, of course there's mine too..... My brother in law has a more difficult task and because he is already there, he is probably more stressed and needed our virtual support.  We uses this to keep in touch at the moment, and it is the only way we can to keep  ourselves connected.  This COViD pandemic is truly affecting anyone with family member who are in another part of the world.... 

    Anyhow, really grateful for your reply

     

    Thanks

    Dave