I told my daughter her pain was anxiety before doctors found the tumour

Dear Delyara, My daughter complained of headaches for months. She was under stress at university and had a history of anxiety, so I kept telling her stress was probably causing them. I am a nurse. That makes it worse. I told her to hydrate, sleep, reduce caffeine, book therapy. Eventually, she collapsed. Imaging found a brain tumour. She is alive, treatment has begun, and doctors tell me the delay may not change the outcome. I hear only the word may. My daughter does not blame me. She jokes that nurses are terrible with their own families. I cannot laugh. I replay every conversation where she said, “Mum, this feels different,” and I answered with reassurance because reassurance was easier than fear. I did tell her to see a doctor eventually. Not soon enough in my mind. Every time I enter her hospital room wearing my staff badge from another hospital, I feel like an impostor. I have spent twenty years telling patients to trust changes in their bodies. My own child tried to tell me, and I translated her pain into a diagnosis that made me less frightened.