How to handle the outside world when you are sick:

How to handle the outside world when you are sick:
The outflowing of support, phone calls, texts can be wonderful, but it can quickly become overwhelming and even annoying! It is important to establish clear boundaries for family and friends. People often seem to lose all sense of normal behavior and appropriate boundaries.
Pick a point person
The name of the game is to prevent people from annoying you and your family.
Pick a point person to send all group communications. This should be someone you feel comfortable being honest with and who has the ability to act as a gatekeeper to the rest of the world. It's generally best for a close friend, cousin, or family member to do - but not your spouse, children, or parents.
The point person will send weekly or monthly updates, meal train sign-ups, and visiting/helping sign-ups.
The point person should make it clear that when bringing food/doing errand/driving kids it is not a social call. People will want to come in and talk. If your point person makes it clear that they can’t do that, they won’t. (See the section of meal train rules for more info!)
People say very odd things. . .
People, both strangers and good friends and family members, may say incredibly odd things. Prepare for it and try to find the humor in their comparing your situation to their 98 year old grandmother or dog (I promise, promise someone will do it). They mean well, they just have no understanding.
Set up an email folder for friends/condolence/“I can’t believe it” emails. You can read them when you are good and ready and won’t have to deal with looking at them in your inbox and feeling bad you haven’t replied. Even better, you can have your point person tell people to send actual paper letters.