Everything my friends (22F-24F) have had to say about my dad's cancer has made me feel even more alone

I found out last Wednesday that my dad has esophageal cancer. He's had trouble swallowing for about two months now and we knew it was possible it was cancer, but were hoping for the best. We don't know what stage, if it's spread, etc. yet, however we do know that esophageal cancer is, unfortunately, very deadly. There is a 16% survival rate on average because by the time the cancer shows symptoms (like my dad has) it's already very advanced.

I have two really close friends, one I've been friend's with since middle school, and one I met Freshman year of college. I have different relationships with both of these girls but all of what they've had to say has been shockingly similar.

One girl, I'll call her Anne, didn't return my message. She eventually, after a day, returned a text I'd sent and said "I'm sorry. That sucks. Sometimes it's just a matter of surgery though and it'll be fine." I texted back "I hope so too." We met on Saturday and she talked about her job for about 45 minutes and I listened sympathetically. Then she asked about my dad after I mentioned that relatives keep bringing food to the house. I said I was scared, I mentioned the 16% survival rate, the fact that he's lost 35 pounds this month, and that he's getting worse every day and she basically said that he'll be just fine and that I need to have a stronger faith in God. It almost turned into a lecture. Then she started talking about her job again...

My second friend, I'll call her Jill, responded to a text and said she was sorry, etc. I called her later that night and she said "I wish I could tell you everything is going to be alright, but it might not be. Whatever is going to happen is going to happen and you're going to have to deal with it." She said to let her know if I needed anything. The next night I called her again and said I just needed girl talk for a few minutes. She said that her sister was getting her hair done for her senior picture so she couldn't talk, but she was very curt. I don't remember what she said exactly but it was something to the effect of "is this something important?"

It's like they feel the need to diminish or dismiss the cancer or explain it away to make it better. I just want someone to say "I'm sorry. That sucks. I'm here for you." Not to tell me why it's really not that bad or to just suck up the fact that I'm probably going to lose one of the most important people in my life. They want to make it sound okay and it's not. My dad is probably going to die and that's not okay.

If I found out that either one of these girl's fathers had cancer I would be dialing their number on my phone before I had time to think. I'd ask what they wanted and if they said it was for me to come over with a pint of Ben and Jerry's. Done. A shoulder to cry on. Done. Food. Done.

I'm trying to give them the benefit of the doubt that they just don't know what to say, but God...to be honest I'm really pissed at both of them right now and I feel all alone in this.

Am I out of line? What should I do?

Posted Aug 29, 2016, 11:10 PM UTC · edited

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