Okay, Stop Panicking. Now that you’ve freaked out, reel it in enough to focus. All cancer diagnoses are different, so you have to find out what you’re up against and beat it to the ground. Deal with your diagnosis day by day with courage and strength and hope. Always hope.
| Posted May 30th, 2010 by |  |
I’ve been asked to take part in Tilbury House Publisher’s Virtual Tour themed “Bravely Being You.” I am honored to have the tour visit me here at my website, Project Pink, and invite you to read the following blog in honor of and titled for the Bravely Being You Tour. Leave a comment and be eligible for these prizes.
It was my choice to not reconstruct my breasts after my double mastectomy for breast cancer. My husband, when faced with the your-wife-or-her-breasts choice said simply, “Let them go, I want you healthy.” So I let them go, and all they represented went with them–femininity, sexiness, beauty, not to mention cute clothing choices. I mean, navel-plunging necklines aren’t meant to expose actual navels. So in between searching for shirts that don’t make me look like a twelve year old boy and tossing the unopened Victoria’s Secret catalog in the recycle bin, I’ve been searching for the true meaning of beauty. And against all I’d ever believed growing up, I’ve found that real beauty has nothing to do with my chest. It has to do with everything but–like my laugh (ask my kids), or my smile, (ask my mother) and my kindness (ask my BFFs), and in those cute pants that show off my backside (just ask my husband.) And it has to do with fighting cancer–and so far beating it–and being grateful that I still get to be here to teach my first grader how to tie her shoes. I thought my femininity, sexiness and beauty rested in the two curves about my navel and the size 34B bras I once owned. But according to the film festival crowd I spoke in front of last month, and my kids and my friends and all that life is showing me now, beauty really belongs in choices–to be who you are as you are–and to not be afraid to show it.
| Posted May 28th, 2010 by | |
Recently I’ve had some friends come to me with friends newly diagnosed with breast cancer, asking me what they should do? How can they help? I can only say the first few days of a breast cancer diagnosis are a terrifying time in a life. I am sure that sounds dramatic but it is unfortunately true–whether I wanted to feel it or not I was certain I was going to die. Suddenly grocery shopping lists and dry cleaning pick ups were so imperceptible they almost disappeared altogether–who cares about shopping when I may be dying? So when my friends ask me what they can do to help I tell them three simple words–just show up. And when you do, meet your friends where they are. If they’re scared, hold their hand. If they’re nervous, be a calming presence. If they’re calm, you be calm, too. Just don’t tell them how to feel–find out how they feel and meet them where they are. Whatever happens, your friend may walk a lonely breast cancer path but thanks to you, they most certainly will not walk it alone.
| Posted May 18th, 2010 by | |
Go Ahead And Panic: People want to say “you’ll be fine. It’s going to be fine.” That may be true eventually, but right now being newly diagnosed with breast cancer is scary. And it’s okay to be scared.
| Posted May 18th, 2010 by | |
A great feature in The New York Daily News today about Dr. Elisa Port, the chief of breast surgery at Mount Sinai and co-director of the Dubin Breast Center. Dr. Port specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer.
The chief of breast surgery stresses the importance of mammograms and early detection: “Approximately 200,000 American women are diagnosed with the disease each year. The majority of these cases are treatable and curable, and much of that treatability and curability depends on early detection.”
She emphatically endorses mammograms for women age 40 and older: “It’s still alarming how many women don’t get mammograms or skip for years at a time. Mammograms are essential.”
| Posted May 12th, 2010 by |  |
