Waiting for a Good Time

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I’ve got myself a bit of a quandary. There is a bit of unhappy news I have to tell my family before too much longer but when I try to break it to them, I find they’ve got problems or other things occupying their minds, all I can think of it, “This is not a good time.” So I can rehearse telling people in the relative anonymity of the web. Early in December, I was diagnosed with endometrial cancer. I hate saying this, because it sounds so much worse than it is. But, it requires a hysterectomy. The doctors tell me 80 percent of women do not need radiation after that, which is a happy thing, but they won’t know for certain until they biopsy the uterus. Yeah, I’m looking forward to all of that. Obviously, I couldn’t say anything to anyone before Christmas. Except my husband. That lucky man knows everything. To complicate matters, my sister is coming down from Alaska to visit my mother in Arizona for her birthday in early January, just when I’ll be having the surgery. I’ve already told my brother, who lives in the same city as my mother, that I can’t make the trip. He didn’t ask the reason and I didn’t supply one. Sister in Alaska was preoccupied with her 15-year-old daughter who had knee surgery on December 22. She is also going to school to get a license as an x-ray technician. It’s not a good time to talk to her. Mom had to have knee surgery put off until she sees a cardiologist because of some complications. She pretends this an annoyance, but in talking to her about it, it’s obvious she’s worried. It’s not a good time to talk to her. Brother and sister-in-law in Arizona are preoccupied with two daughters who are recovering heroin addicts. It’s not a good time to talk to them. A second sister who lives in California closer to me, but who doesn’t communicate much, is busy with a little boy she and her girlfriend adopted. The boy is son of the girlfriend’s heroin addict brother and his heroin addict girlfriend. He was born addicted to methadone and has had a series of behavioral and developmental difficulties. Until yesterday, the last time I spoke with either her or her girlfriend was in April. They have an annoying habit of not returning phone calls. On top of that, her girlfriend’s stepmother has been diagnosed with small-cell lung cancer. I don’t know her status, but she doesn’t want anyone to know about it. I’ll add that my sister and her girlfriend have been together for twenty-five years. Her girlfriend is family. Her family is family. I’ve known them for years. They were at my wedding. This is very sad. But my sister texted yesterday and we’re going to have lunch together. Yeah, it’s not a good time to say anything about my situation. But I have to. And it’s not my husband’s job to tell my family. Any advice?