Angel…yes, people can be insensitive. Once, I apologized to someone, saying, "Sorry, I'm deaf on that side, I had a tumor," and I think they thought I was being a wisecracker! She just stared at me balefully.
There are friends who understand and tell me they hardlysee the difference or that the face seems to be improving, which it is. My worse experience, however, is with looking okay but not having the balance and energy-and the hearing-I had two years ago. Some folks whom I thought were close friends don't get that everything is a little harder now, and that is painful. Thinking someone was a best friend and then they are not there.
I try to force myself to do kind things for others, if the opportunities present themselves…like making soup for a friend newly on chemo.
We must count our blessings. The little everyday things that are nonsensical however are so trying...