Confused

CONFUSED

It's easy to feel confused when a parent has cancer. Sometimes we are confused because we don't know enough about things and other times we are confused because there is too much to take in and understand. . Explore the words in the clouds and see if any describes the way you feel.

DISORIENTED

"I feel absolutely lost"

Your life is in a chaos and you feel completely off track right now. There's just so much to think about and things to do, you don't know where to begin. It's not at all like it used to be before, when you could concentrate on your own world with normal teenage stuff going on.

BEWILDERED

"I don't believe it"

When a parent tells you that they have cancer, all sorts of powerful emotions can set in. you might feel very confused and find it impossible to believe that it is happening. This is a normal reaction when we get news that is frightening to us and we don't want it to be true. Things will sink in bit by bit when you are ready to deal with it and you don't have to absorb it all in one go.

MIXED-UP

"I don't know what to feel anymore"

It's normal to feel lots of different emotions at once, but it can be pretty confusing and they don't always fit into the way you think you should be feeling. One minute you're sad, the next you're happy and then you feel guilty about the fact that you were feeling happy at a time when you know you're not REALLY happy.

MYSTIFIED

"What's happening?"

Imagined fears are often far worse than the reality. So if you have lots of unanswered questions and keep imagining all sorts of things - find out. It is usually better to know what's going on, but make sure you first think through what you really want to know so that you are not bombarded with lots of information that can confuse you even more.

BAFFLED

"What does it mean?"

Cancer is a complex disease and you may hear lots of medical words where you have no clue about what they mean. Even when things are explained in plain English, it can be very hard to understand it all.

PUZZLED

"That's a bit weird"

We often have our fixed opinions about things long before we actually find ourselves in a particular situation. It may be that you had lots of thoughts about what things would be like and now you realise that things are very different from that and your feelings and reactions are not what you expected.

DISTURBED

"Everything seems uncertain"

Cancer is a disease that affects more than the person who has it. It causes a lot of uncertainties and makes everything feel strange and even frightening. Changes occur in daily routines and holidays may be delayed or cancelled and you feel quite disturbed by it all.

TIPS ON COPING