Blood cancer, friends and your social life

It can be hard to tell people you have blood cancer, especially when you can hardly believe it yourself. And with everyone wanting to know how you're doing, you might want to make things easier on yourself.

Here are some ideas how:

1. Choose one friend as your "information person" who will share your news with others.
2. Give your friends information about the type of blood cancer you have so you don't have to keep explaining it.
3. Share your news via videos or blogs. You don't have to make them public unless you want to - just share with a few close friends.

Cancer doesn’t mean the end of your friendships, in fact, you’ll probably need your friends’ support more than ever. But you may need to explain how things will change for you – at least for a while. Here's what to tell your friends:

Blood cancer has a big impact on your body and your mind. You’ll often feel very tired (fatigue) and this can last for a few months after treatment has finished.

You might not be able to handle as much alcohol as before or stay up as late.

Try to explain this to your friends so they don’t feel disappointed if you’re not the party animal you once were.

You might struggle to be as sociable as before. It might be harder to be spontaneous, but also tricky to plan ahead.

Let your friends know that you need to pace yourself, and that they shouldn't take it personally if you have to cancel last minute.

At times, blood cancer can totally take over your life, and leave little time or head space to think about anything else. But that doesn’t mean it’s the only topic you want to talk about.

In fact, you’ll probably be glad to talk about anything but cancer for a change. So make it clear to your friends that you still want to hear what's going on in their lives.