An article, three years old, was in my facebook feed today. But it was insanely timely. It’s a little lifestyle piece about how to talk to people who are sick or experiencing trauma. It’s just plain common sense, but it needs to be circulated regardless! The idea was illustrated thusly:
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A Puff of Absurdity: On Missing the Girls
“Ring the bells that still can ring. Forget your perfect offering. There’s a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.” – Leonard Cohen (Everyone’s using that bit today, but they always skip the first part of the verse.) As I started down the road towards mastectomy-ville, I wondered
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Character
Now that I’ve sufficiently survived surgery physically, the psychological stuff is creeping in. Creeping is apropos. People keep telling me I’m so brave or so strong to go through it all and then to be up and at ’em so soon after. But I just happened to survive. There was
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Preventing Ovarian Cancer Program Logistics
I went down the road to genetic testing all because of a link I noticed on facebook in early May 2015 – just before my 50th birthday, from the POCP. It said that anyone could get free genetic testing to test for cancer if they have a close relative who
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Now I’m Trendy, Dammit
The NY Times published a piece last night:“‘Going flat’ after breast cancer,” about the nascent movement towards openly having a boobless chest. And here I thought I was doing something courageously original! Turns out I’m just an early adopter, not an innovator. When I first found out I needed a
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: Just a Flesh Wound
This is a figuring kind of post wherein I try to make sense of it all. I have all sorts of thoughts about breasts now. I had to get the dressing changed today, so I got a glimpse of myself for the first time. The nurse at the CCAC was
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: One of the Lucky Few?
I’ve been reading other blogs about mastectomies, and the level of pain described makes me feel like someone’s made a huge mistake, and they’ll take off all the bandages to find they forgot to remove my breasts! I’m experiencing zero chest pain. I could be taking up to 12 pain
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: And on Recovery in All its Glory
I walked into the O.R. for a three-hour surgery just yesterday, and I feel fine. I’m taking half the pain meds that I’m allowed to take because the pain is minimal. Weirdly minimal for all that’s been done to me. The worst of it is in my shoulders from gas settling
Continue readingA Puff of Absurdity: On Justified Worry
I’m going to be writing more personally for a bit. I have a lot to get off my chest. Literally. I’m getting a double mastectomy today and an oophorectomy for good measure (which sounds to me like something Willy Wonka might do), because I have all the fancy genes that
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