Denial

[Guest guest]

Dear Jeanny,

You are so right, you daughter is in denial and she had better get on the

bandwagon and get serious about this disease. So far you have done all the

worrying for her. She needs to take charge of her life and take responsibility

for her own treatment and start learning as much as she can. If you told her

you would not do that any longer, she might wake up to the fact that she will

probably have to take the drugs for the rest of her life. Maybe if she read

some of our posts, she would know that we all have side effects and she needs to

learn how to minimize them. How can she communicate with her doctor if she

doesn't know what to say? Little birds are kept in a nest until they can fend

for themselves, then the mothers push them out of the nest and teach them to fly

and how to catch their own food. There are pain clinics she can go to and

certainly speak to her oncologist first to find out if these are side effects

from Sprycel, or something else? You said earlier that she likes to go out and

party, so who takes care of her baby? You will have to use tough love and be

firm about it. I don't know what else to say, Jeanny. You have been a good

mother, but where do you draw the line and step back and let her make her

decisions? This is a disease you can live with for a long time and if one drug

doesn't work, there are others. Do have a serious talk with your daughter and

say it like you mean it.

Blessings and best wishes,

Lottie