Hi nnic,

Welcome to Cancer Chat. I'm sorry to read about what you're going through at the moment, although I'm glad you found this forum.

Firstly, you absolutely shouldn't blame yourself. Finding things out like this can be a shock to the system, and it throws normality out the window. No doubt you have and will experience a range of emotions, with some better days and some not so good days.

It is cliched but taking things one step at a time usually does help, and keeping up with as much of your usual routines as possible. Once you find out more about next steps - information and treatment - hopefully this will help in terms of being clearer about what might happen next.

As for telling your children, it's of course up to you when you do this but I'm sure they will appreciate you telling them and hopefully will understand and support you.

Hopefully you have support elsewhere too, whether it is friends or family - it helps to speak to others and also to make sure you look after yourself. You'll find support here on this forum too - it's a very welcoming and understanding community of people, so do use it as much as is helpful.

Wishing you all the best,

Ben
Cancer Chat Moderator