I always knew that frisky cat would get out of that flimsy bag

Dear family,

Last week I got a call from my cousin who wanted to let me know that my mom had found my blog and, therefore, knew about my cancer. As this blog is on the web I suspected this was bound to happen. I've been getting copious calls and emails from family members who have just found out. It's nice to feel the love. I wanted to explain my decisions a bit more. Since I know you're all reading this blog now and I don't have contact info for many of you, I thought this would be a good way to convey information. So here goes.

As most (or all) of you know, I have had a strained relationship with my mother for the last decade or so and have not spoken to her for several years. When I was diagnosed last year I was pretty freaked out, as you can imagine, and I thought it would be far simpler and less stressful to just keep my diagnosis private until I was done with treatment. I decided that I would only tell a few family members about the cancer on a "need to know" basis. This was mainly because I felt like it was unfair to put any of you in a position where you had keep this information from my mother. There are many reasons for this and I can explain further in private if you feel that it would help you understand this convoluted situation. I still think this was the right decision but I hope that none of you feel like it was a personal slight or feel awkward about contacting me now. It was a difficult conundrum faced under horrible circumstances and I do feel like I've made the best decision that I could.

If you want to contact me, please do. The love and support of friends and family has been so valuable in the past year and I don't think it's possible to have enough good wishes come my way.