Hey im's
I'm a single mother to a beautiful little girl and I have just been diagnosed with Von willebrands desiese as well as getting test for aml (lukima) I have been run down and sick for about 12 months now and have just put it down to stress and ignored it. About 3 months ago I started getting infections in every cut or scrape to the point that even a tiny in grown hair would turn into a sore that would take weeks to heal. I only have my parents as support for which I'm eternally grateful, they have been fantastic, but I'm terrified and don't know how I'm going to cope in the next few months with tests and bone marrow aspirations as well as keeping working through all this as I can't afford to not work. And as much help as my family are when it comes to my daughter they fall apart when it comes to my health so I can't really rely on them. So I guess my question is has anyone been through anything similar? Any advice? And how do I stop myself from being terrified of not being here to watch my daughter grow up and how do I explain all of this to a 3 year old?
1 Replies
Sorry you are going through this. Firstly until you have all the information don't feel the need to tell your daughter very much at all. You can say things like mummy is tired, has a cold, or has a doctors appointment, but at this point until you know exactly what is going on then I'd keep it very vague.
Talk to your employer. Make sure they know what's going on so they can make adjustments and allowances. If working long term is going to be an issue think really hard about changes you can make so you can afford to live on a disability pension. It's hard to do, but sometimes we just have to face facts. If that's downsizing, moving suburbs, living with mum and dad. There are options.
As far as leukemia goes a friend of mine managed to hold down a full time job while undergoing treatment with some adjustments to schedule and support from friend and family.