I told my daughters everything
My daughters get upset when they find out their father and I have withheld information from them, even things from when they were too little to understand. Maybe some children want to be shielded from adult issues, but mine never have. They have always been hurt or offended when they've heard about things we didn't tell them about, like family troubles and such. So I decided to tell my daughters, who are in their 20s, when I was worried that I had cancer, before I even knew that I did. I waited until there was only about one or two days left before we would know, so they didn't have to wait too long. (I think the diagnosis took about a week and a half.) I decided that it would be good practice for dealing with anxious feelings, and that if I got good news they would get to share my happiness, and if it was bad news they were going to know soon enough anyway. I'm glad I did it this way because this is the way my girls have said they want to be treated, but you do what's right for your children.