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Cristina19 · 08-31-2007, 08:25 AM

Leslie, I think I read a number of postings from you under the "sexy cancer" thread. I didn't see the program because I "fired" my cable a few years ago. Why pay tons of money for one good channel? So I'm left with 3 PBS channels, lots of foreign language, and bad-mainstream channels. Anyway, the "sexy cancer" thing: bad title. If I'm correct from your postings, I'm with you. There's nothing sexy about this disease. We hope that we can find our way back to confidence and sense of self through this.

I'm blessed that I have a very supportive family, co-workers, friends, and most of all, a good partner. He has given me so much reassurance. I found myself again after a nasty divorce two years ago and was blessed to have someone wonderful come into my life. He has never made me feel "less-than."

What we go through, though, is less about what other people think or see than what we see. I opted for a free-tram reconstruction (which is a doozie of a surgery) and found that my shock and emotional trauma didn't come from the lost breast but the lost tummy and belly-button that I knew as my own. I didn't have so much to "donate" to begin with and now I'm stretched tight as a board. I couldn't lie down or stand up straight for 3 weeks. Where did my normal, pretty contours go? The scars: someone in another post said, "I look like a patchwork quilt." I look like a rag-doll.

I'm hoping that as time goes by and I have my follow-up surgery, everything will look more "normal."

At 37, having felt as healthy as a horse, having come back around after other trials, this has been a blow. You all know this.

When people commiserate with me, I tell them always the same thing: When life hits you with something like this, you have two choices: you sink or swim. What choice do we really have?

Maybe that show should have been called "Crazy Cancer, Strong Women."

c.

08-31-2007, 08:25 AM	#26
Cristina19 Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 38	Leslie, I think I read a number of postings from you under the "sexy cancer" thread. I didn't see the program because I "fired" my cable a few years ago. Why pay tons of money for one good channel? So I'm left with 3 PBS channels, lots of foreign language, and bad-mainstream channels. Anyway, the "sexy cancer" thing: bad title. If I'm correct from your postings, I'm with you. There's nothing sexy about this disease. We hope that we can find our way back to confidence and sense of self through this. I'm blessed that I have a very supportive family, co-workers, friends, and most of all, a good partner. He has given me so much reassurance. I found myself again after a nasty divorce two years ago and was blessed to have someone wonderful come into my life. He has never made me feel "less-than." What we go through, though, is less about what other people think or see than what we see. I opted for a free-tram reconstruction (which is a doozie of a surgery) and found that my shock and emotional trauma didn't come from the lost breast but the lost tummy and belly-button that I knew as my own. I didn't have so much to "donate" to begin with and now I'm stretched tight as a board. I couldn't lie down or stand up straight for 3 weeks. Where did my normal, pretty contours go? The scars: someone in another post said, "I look like a patchwork quilt." I look like a rag-doll. I'm hoping that as time goes by and I have my follow-up surgery, everything will look more "normal." At 37, having felt as healthy as a horse, having come back around after other trials, this has been a blow. You all know this. When people commiserate with me, I tell them always the same thing: When life hits you with something like this, you have two choices: you sink or swim. What choice do we really have? Maybe that show should have been called "Crazy Cancer, Strong Women." c.