I am a Breast Cancer Survivor, one year. Truly, that was the easy part. Finding peace with what brought me to breast cancer and living my life after breast cancer, that's the true story of strength.
It all started with a torturous divorce and the rage ate away at my immune system and cancer was the result. I had a double mastectomy and reconstruction. No chemo, no radiation, no drugs. I have great support. I'm a lucky girl. This was the easy part.
Now I'm a single woman in a sexual universe with a disfigured body looking for love in the world of dating. This is the hard part. This is when you have to truly believe in yourself - when he doesn't call you again after you told him, or he can't understand why you won't let him touch you and he thinks you don't like him, or that you're not even worthy of being loved until your body looks nearly perfect again -- you have to believe that you're still the same loving, giving, fun and sexy girl you were before your breasts were taken off. I look forward to the next first date which could be the 'one". I look forward to being with my kids and friends. Most of all, I look forward to being in love with someone who can see all of me and love what he sees.
I don't have breast cancer anymore so I'm considered a survivor. To me, I'm a person who had breast cancer and is a survivor of life. Each day I survive the voice in the back of my mind that says I may not be loveable this way and I tell myself I'm better than ever. Surviving breast cancer was easy, this is the hard part.
Fort Lauderdale, FL