Choosing Not to Have Reconstruction — Are You the Only One?
By Barbara Kriss on July 31st, 2014 Categories: Treatment & Side EffectsIf you’re facing a mastectomy, you may be surprised to find that virtually everyone expects you to have reconstruction. Your doctors, your friends, and even your family may believe that without reconstruction you won’t be happy and you won’t feel whole or feminine. But what if you don’t share these concerns? What if you don’t think reconstruction is right for you?
Perhaps you want to …
Our Friends Answer: How Do You Celebrate Your Cancerversary?
By Caroline Durham on July 9th, 2014 Categories: Community Knowledge, The Breast Cancer JourneyCancerversary: For most people, the anniversary of the day she was diagnosed with cancer. Because every woman’s experience and decisions around a breast cancer diagnosis and treatment are so different — some jump headfirst into being a breast cancer advocate, some prefer to keep their situation private, and all experiences in between — we were curious about cancerversaries. So our community moderators asked the wonderful …
Introducing the Sex Matters Column on Breastcancer.org
By Michael Krychman, M.D. on July 1st, 2014 Categories: Sex Matters
Welcome to the new monthly Sex Matters column on Breastcancer.org. I am honored and overjoyed that Breastcancer.org has the vision to include this important topic for their followers and for all women who are living with breast cancer.
As a sexual medicine gynecologist and a certified sexual therapist, I hope to bring to light some of the complexities of breast cancer sexuality.
Each month in …
Prompting the Healing Power of Writing
By Pamela Post-Ferrante on June 25th, 2014 Categories: Day-to-Day Matters, The Breast Cancer JourneyWriting & Healing: A Mindful Guide for Cancer Survivors uses a “prompt” to literally prompt the writing. It could be an object from a basket, as seen in the picture above, with the suggestion to then write as if you were that object. “I am Helen, a heart, who has…..” or “ I am a bottle top and I live in…” etc. Providing a prompt …
Like Mother (in Law), Like Daughter (in Law)
By Barbara Kriss on June 11th, 2014 Categories: Treatment & Side EffectsWhen I was facing a bilateral mastectomy, I had a wonderful role model — my mother-in-law, Reggie, who lived without breasts (and without reconstruction) for over 50 years. Reggie was a striking woman with dark wavy hair and flawless skin. She wore loose, flowing apparel, often accented by colorful scarves. The loose clothes were necessitated by severe lymphedema that developed in one arm after surgery …
