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These thoughts started as a response to a discussion on the online network but I felt that it’s importance to me meant it needed it’s own spotlight. The discussion was about disclosing a breast cancer diagnosis to others or whether to keep it secret from some. That started a train of thought on my part that if someone has a problem dealing with me having breast cancer that is their issue…I can’t deal with their hangups, too.
The only concession I make is head covering when I’m out of the house and a prosthesis “in public” – that is more about being sensitive to my immediate family than me caring what the world at large thinks. Though, I get the odd weird comment if I’m not wearing a wig.
I do wish that “out and proud” was more socially acceptable. Given that 1 in 8 Australian women get breast cancer (predicted 18,000 women this year), I wonder how many of us are walking around wearing an uncomfortable prosthesis or going under the reconstructive knife just to appease social norms. Will I go down the reconstruction path? Possibly. But not because I have a problem with my self-image.
I know there’s been exhibitions, etc, of women with mastectomies but unfortunately, even with the best intentions, I think they edge towards the label of “freak show”. What would happen if it was just normal to see women without a breast/s? Would the world stop or fall apart, or would our society accept that shit happens and there goes a survivor? Yes, I’d love to be as I was but I’m not and that’s just the way it has to be. At the moment, I’ve got an ugly scar that’s giving me a bit of grief but that will fade…and anyway, it’s a badge of survival.
And to take it further, maybe the idea of a mammogram would not be quite so frightening to other women if seeing the possible end results of a positive one was the norm and not the end of the world.