Hi @Imthekingsmummy. I have cancer, and this is one of things I really hate, knowing that people are worried about talking to me, or don’t know what to say to me ☹️ It’s very upsetting, because I’m still TwoBigNoisyBoys.
However, obviously, I do understand that you’re concerned you may say the wrong thing, but really, the only advice I can give you, if you’re worried, is chat as normal about your past etc, but let your friend lead the conversation about their cancer, if they want to. Depending on who I’m taking to, sometimes I want to talk about it in detail, other times I don’t want to discuss it at all. If you let your friend lead, that would be one way of approaching it and you’ll probably find the conversation flows fine, especially if you really listen. As I say they may not want to discuss it at all, (sometimes it’s lively for us to forget and just chat normally for 10 mins!) but they may want to give you blow by blow accounts…everyone is different. I’m sure you’ll be absolutely fine, try not to overthink it 😊
The only other thing I’d say, and everyone I know who has, or has had cancer, says the same, is please don’t compare them to others. I really HATE it when people say “Oh I know someone who had that, and they sailed through treatment/they completely recovered/they were fine having chemo” etc etc. It’s not helpful at all, and it’s actually really annoying to hear - no two cancer ‘journeys’ are the same, and it can be wearisome to hear about others who got through it no bother!
Hope you have a lovely catch up with your friend 😊