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If you can stomach medical TMI, take a look at this photo - the author of that blog had a mastectomy a couple of days ago, and that's what it looks like.
I'm not including the picture to ram the reality of breast cancer down anyone's throat - doG knows, enough people reading this have been exposed to breast cancer in one way or another. Nor is this an injunction to slap a pink ribbon on your car or do your monthly breast check, because I think we all know better by now (except maybe me - I always forget my self-exam. Someone slap me upside the head, please?)
No, I link to the picture to remind myself that those of us with loved ones who have survived (or sadly sometimes not) a mastectomy don't often know how extensive the damage is, or how radical and invasive the surgery can be. My mother had breast cancer when I was in high school, and my own stupid teenage dramas combined with the fact that to all outward appearances she was fine (she didn't even lose her hair during chemotherapy) kept me from realizing for many years just how very bad it was. I never saw her scars and even when she was sick from the chemo she usually recuped while I was at school, and everything seemed so normal.
She still sees her onocologist (sp?) at least once a year and though she's never had a remission, I know it could happen, or at least I know it intellectually.
Not much else to add except to note what a selfish brat I was when I was 15. I really didn't get it, and I'm not sure I do now - maybe it's just a comfortable self-delusion NOT to.
I'm not including the picture to ram the reality of breast cancer down anyone's throat - doG knows, enough people reading this have been exposed to breast cancer in one way or another. Nor is this an injunction to slap a pink ribbon on your car or do your monthly breast check, because I think we all know better by now (except maybe me - I always forget my self-exam. Someone slap me upside the head, please?)
No, I link to the picture to remind myself that those of us with loved ones who have survived (or sadly sometimes not) a mastectomy don't often know how extensive the damage is, or how radical and invasive the surgery can be. My mother had breast cancer when I was in high school, and my own stupid teenage dramas combined with the fact that to all outward appearances she was fine (she didn't even lose her hair during chemotherapy) kept me from realizing for many years just how very bad it was. I never saw her scars and even when she was sick from the chemo she usually recuped while I was at school, and everything seemed so normal.
She still sees her onocologist (sp?) at least once a year and though she's never had a remission, I know it could happen, or at least I know it intellectually.
Not much else to add except to note what a selfish brat I was when I was 15. I really didn't get it, and I'm not sure I do now - maybe it's just a comfortable self-delusion NOT to.
I survived.
Date: 2005-10-13 01:38 pm (UTC)Here's your slap, as a daughter of a survivor you must take the breast exams more seriously.
Re: I survived.
Date: 2005-10-13 10:14 pm (UTC)I'm sorry - and somewhat surprised - that you had to go through so much just to get a diagnosis, because it seems that all health professionals and most of the public are aware of breast cancer now. When did things start finally change?
I take the slap gratefully and will (I swear, I promise) do a breast check when I get back from fencing tonight! If you have any tips to help me to remember, I'd appreciate 'em :)
Re: I survived.
Date: 2005-10-14 02:43 am (UTC)Tim's mother had shown me her scar before I went in for the surgery. She tried to prepare me for what to expect. Tim was the person who changed my bandages and emptied that little plastic bulb looking drainage bag each day and measured full it was each day. He faced that horrid image each day and still loved me. I don't think many men could have stomached it.
I've yet to see a scar that was didn't look like the area had been butchered.
"When did things start finally change?"
When October became "Breast Cancer Awareness Month" about 15 years ago. For my surgeon, a 27 year old Army Major, it was when she got my biopsy results from Walter Reed and then saw my mamogram. I was 29 years old, no breast cancer in the family. I started the Legacy in my family. I was told that since my case, she had diagnosed another woman in her late twenties. Because of me, she took that woman more seriously.
I did see that program with the woman who got the tattoo over her scar, that is about the only way I could see a way to make them pretty.
Some day I'm going to do a rant about how much I hate breast forms.
Re: I survived.
Date: 2005-10-15 03:12 am (UTC)Tim was the person who changed my bandages and emptied that little plastic bulb looking drainage bag each day and measured full it was each day. He faced that horrid image each day and still loved me. I don't think many men could have stomached it.
He's a good one, no question :)
Reality check
Date: 2005-10-13 03:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-10-14 12:59 am (UTC)