You all are the BEST! Thank you so much! It hadn't occurred to me before, but anxiety over death likely is driving her intense interest in cancer. She has had multiple anaphylactic reactions. She knows she has severe food allergies. She has been struggling a great deal over how food allergies make her different and how much they impact her life. She's never directly expressed fear over dying from an allergic reaction, but she must feel afraid. It would make sense that the fear of death would be expressed indirectly as an obsessive interest in/fear of cancer. I think I may try re-directing her to information that might help her feel more control over her food allergies and making sure she understands our plans for keeping her safe. For instance, I think I'll make sure she knows the signs of anaphylaxis and when an Epi Pen should be used and let her practice with expired Epi Pens on an orange. All those would be efforts to help her feel more in control, but my watch words are that adults must be responsible for her care and that a small child cannot be expected to manage life-threatening food allergies.
I, too, am an anxiety-prone worrier. Information is how I survive. I try to learn as much as I can, and I make plans. I think it's an adaptive approach. I think I'll just try to make sure I'm giving her information about both food allergies, which I think people have correctly identified as driving her cancer-interest, as well as cancer.
Thanks so much again!
