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Breast cancer
Someday, we'll control breast cancer. We'll know how to prevent it or turn it off, and mastectomy will become obsolete. Until
then, reconstruction is our best antidote to losing a breast.
Someday, we'll put breast cancer where it belongs: alongside polio, small pox, and whopping cough on the list of diseases
we've cured and no longer fear.
Prophylactic mastectomy
No one knows who will get breast cancer and who won't. No one can tell you whether you should remove your healthy breast or
not. Only you know what will give you peace of mind. Clearly understanding your risk for developing the disease can help you
make the right decision.
The need to research thoroughly
Most breast cancers grow for six to eight years before they're large enough to be detected. Unless your cancer is very advanced
or very aggressive, taking three to four weeks to learn about reconstruction probably won't adversely affect your health.
The emotional aspects of mastectomy and reconstruction
Dealing with the loss of your breast drops you smack in the front row of an emotional roller coaster. Even after you make
the decision to have your breast reconstructed, you may still have doubts about the procedure. How will your new breast look?
Is there some side effect you haven't discovered? Will you cancer come back? It's not unusual to have these feelings. Experts
say shock, denial, anger, and depression typically come before acceptance. Meanwhile, life goes on around you: there are dogs
to feed, kids to be hugged, work to be done, and a house to manage.
Maintaining perspective
Treatment and reconstruction offer positives for those who are open to them. Learn--or relearn--to appreciate life and all
it offers. Spearate the nickel-and-dime issues, like getting stuck in traffic or burning the toast, from the truly serious.
It's often said that cancer is a journey. Sometimes we don't realize that until we reach the end of the process and look back.
If only hindsight arrived a little sooner!
If you can view reconstruction as an odyssey with an outcome, you'll fare better. When you're uncomfortable, uneasy, or tired
of the reconstruction ordeal, remember it isn't a life sentence. It's a finite experience with a beginning, a middle and an
end.
Reflection
You may feel the need to take better care of your body, not because anything you did caused your breast cancer, but because
living with the disease gives us such a profound gratitude for the bodies we have.
Most of us can't simply flick an emotional switch and go seamlessly from patients to disease-free women.
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