Ask Ill Friends Specific Questions to Keep the Conversation Productive

Conversing with a friend who's sick is never easy, but you don't necessarily need to walk on egg shells throughout the conversation. To keep the talk productive, The Wall Street Journal suggests you get the facts straight and ask very specific questions about their health.

It's tough to ask a friend or family how things are going after they find out they're ill, or if they just walked away from a surgery. Asking "how are you?" doesn't do much good, and instead it's better to keep things specific:

Did your friend have a heart or liver transplant? Chemo or radiation? Don't just ask, "How are you?" Ask questions specific to your friend's health. "How's your rotator cuff these days?" "Did the blood test show Lyme disease?" "Are your new meds working?" If you need help remembering who has shingles and who has lupus, or the date of a friend's operation, enter a health note under the person's name in your contacts list or stick a Post-it by the phone and update the information as needed.

The idea here is that you can concentrate on what just happened, see how they're really feeling, and show that you're paying attention to what's going on. Talking to a friend who's ill is never an easy conversation, but head over to The Wall Street Journal for a few more tips for keeping those tough health conversations productive.

For a Sick Friend: First, Do No Harm | The Wall Street Journal

Photo by Christopher.

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/D1zWwYE4qpM/ask-ill-friends-specific-questions-to-keep-the-conversa-472968665

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