Accept, respect and dose
Having a disease, or suffering from it, entails much more than the disease itself. You learn a lot about yourself, your body and mind, about the people around you and about the disease you are dealing with. The cancer, unfortunately, was not the first major illness I had to deal with. For three years I had a (severe) depression. A mental illness, something that cannot be seen on the outside and which unfortunately many people still don't understand. With any disease it is difficult to put yourself in the position of the “patient” if you have never had to deal with that disease yourself. And even if you are familiar with the disease, everyone is different and a disease can also progress differently. You can try to get a picture of what that is like for the other person by listening to his/her story, asking questions or looking for information. I am very open about my illness. It helps me to talk about it. It struck me, especially during my depression, that people can react very diff...