Feel Like Shouting At People…
Feel Like Shouting At People… Girls, I have finished all my treatment and wondered if any of you have felt compelled to get involved with either fundraising or general raising awareness of this selfish disease.
I feel like just shaking every lady I meet or know already and shouting at them " just check yourself for god’s sake" - especially young girls. Not sure what to do, but want to do something and perhaps use myself as an example of what could happen to literally ‘anyone’. I dont have any family history of cancer and don’t do anything to excess.
Thanks
karen xx
hiyah i know the feeling, i get so angry when i see people abusing there bodies, dont they know just how precious life is!! i think its a case of happening to others, thats untill it happens to them . out of sight out of mind sindrome. as for fundraising there are a number of races for life going on around the country and sponsword walks etc a few ladies on here want to do a special calendar to raise funds see under hot topics. re modelling. wish you well in your recovery , im hoping to return to work in the next few weeks after a horrendous year. speak soon take care lynn x
Why do they do it? Hello Ladies, haven’t visited for a while but thought I’d share an experience with you that I had while on holiday recently. I was sat round the pool at our hotel with my husband, enjoying relaxing and reading a sloppy romantic novel. I sat looking round ( being plain nosey really ) and noticed a lady who was topless, she had a rather large scar on her left boob and a tattoo of the pink ribbon on her left ankle. Now unless I’m really stupid that gave me the idea that she, like us, has at some point suffered from this evil desease.
I cannot understand what she was doing going topless. Ok, she may have had/got a very bad case to deal with but what about all the hard work the medical profession have put in to help her recovery? Isn’t that a slap in the face for them. We all know the dangers of the sun especially the continental sun. ( I was in Cyprus for my hols).
Each of us deal with cancer in our own way, be it up front and open or quietly and with as much dignity as we can muster, but surely she must know how bad topless sunbathing is.
I sincerley hope that everything works out for her in the long run but even I covered up and used the highest possible sun cream I could get my hands on!!!
What do you ladies think?
I went topless about a month after radio stopped I am sorry I don’t check myself either as it didn’t work the first time
I’m not going to worry myself senseless when there doesn’t seem to be any evidence that breast self exam makes any difference (in fact the two trials involving 300,000 found it was actually harmful), and they don’t seem to have done any trials into whether radio exposure makes breasts more likely to be harmed by UV than before.
My breast was tanned by radiotherapy and the good breast got sunburn, not the radio exposed one.
We all have to make our own choices. What made me angry was nanny doctors, nurses and people in white coats
Mole
I will be sunbathing this summer Hi Mole
Just wanted to second your post…ive had a mastectomy and recon in the last two months and when i go on hols in aug i shall be wipping my top off (slapping total block on that boob however to protect my scars) maybe the sunbathing lady had sun block on too…what i would say is good for her for beng able to bare her scars…after all they are nothing to be ashamed of…my breast looks awful at the mo and nodoubt my same coloured nip is going to raise a few stares…
I like the idea of a pink ribbon tattoo!
As we are all very aware life is for living…but lets just do it in a safe way!!
Px
Hi Karen
As with the previous couple of posts, if this lady wants to go topless then all power to her.
Although extra,extra care should be taken (which this lady may well have done).
I really don’t see we why we can’t live life exactly how we want to.
I wish my figure was good enough to go topless but alas those days are over!
The thing about the tattoo, she may not have had breast cancer. Speaking for myself I just cannot wear one of those pink ribbon badges or whatever because I feel its like saying “look at me I’ve had/got breast cancer”.
We returned home a couple of weeks ago from Dublin, whilst there I think I saw 4 or 5 cars with the pink ribbon sticker on the bumper.
I think sometimes it’s a bit of a fashion statement…
Best Wishes
Linda xx
Whoops! Sorry last post should have been “Hi Binner”
Linda xx
Hi
Doesnt the pink ribbon mean you have given a donation, all be it small to breast cancer research…ive had one for many years prior to being diagnosed?
Px
Yes it does…
Maybe it’s just me but do you need to let everybody know how generous you are.
Lots of people donate to lots of charities without having to advertise the fact.
Best Wishes Linda.
pretty in pink… i had to laugh when not long after my surgery i went along to sing in a concert on “Pink Ribbon day” and the only female choir member who *wasn’t* wearing pink was me…as for sunbathing, i’m going along to be drawn by an artist friend topless…i’m quite proud of my scar because it shows people what i’ve been through. whenever i feel low or someone is nasty me in a shop or whatever i just think well, you don’t know what i’ve been through and i’m proud of myself for surviving it…
reply I think the one thing we can all agree about is, that we all deal with breast cancer and the after effects in our own and very different ways.
I have tried to be upbeat and positive (positive is a word which drives other people mad) and I can totally understand that. I have my not so positive days as well, but am thankful at how far I have come when I think of how long the journey ahead seemed in July last year.
I have days when I could shout at people but human nature being what it is would they listen?
The one thing I do not so much shout about as nag people to do is to check themselves and to please go for routine mammograms. If it saves one person then it is worth the nagging.
I wear a small pink ribbon badge not to draw attention to the fact that I have had breast cancer or given a donation, because anyone would not be able to tell by just looking at me that I have had it, even though it is 11 months since I was diagnosed but to try and keep awareness of it in people’s minds as I know so many more people personally who have been diagnosed since I had my mastectomy last year.
I hope to be return to work soon and perhaps plan a long holiday for next year, with a couple of short breaks in between. I won’t be going topless I’m afraid as even my bikini days have disappeared into the sunset.
Love and best wishes to all
Take care
Thistle
Well said thistle
You are right we certainly are all individuals and wether we choose to support a charity and draw awareness to that charity by wearing its emblem is our own choice…i certainly did not and do not wear my ribbon to boast about donations …merely to rasie awareness…as no doubt so did the sunbathing lady with the pink tatoo!!
I was merely trying to point out that i personally dont feel that my pink ribbon is a fashion accessory…its a statement for me that i chose to support a charity I felt was important to me and if by wearing I somehow help than thats good…is it not!!! Little did i know when i bought it that id have a mastectomy…then again maybe i was made more aware by being introduced to the charity and that made me more breast aware…lets hope thats how it could or should work…
Px
that ribbon I used to wear a pink ribbon (a ribbon…not a pretend diamonte studded one)occasionally before disgnosis but have come to dislike the cheery pink fluffy commercial nonsense associated with it now. Pink October will soon be upon us again and I really am very torn about the messages given off in that month…breast cancer seems to have become a jolly fashion accessory.
As for topless bathing…welll good on you anyone with breasts without breasts, scarred or not who wants to sun bathe. Breasts can be covered with factor whatsit same as anywhere else.
Shouting at people? Well I’ve done my fair share but mainly shouting unfairly at the unfairness of getting breast cancer. Shouting and nagging at people to get themselves checked out is unlikely to do anything for the breast cancer survival statistics…though the touch, look check message is OK and yes people may want to attend screening mammograms but they should also know that TLC and screening mammograms have their problems too. (false negatives, false positives etc.)
Plenety of breast cancer fundraising or campaigning work to get involved with…both BCC and Breakthrough have a lot of offer to channel your shouting energies productivley.
Jane
For Jane RA Hi Jane,
It really is a pleasure reading your no-nonsense common sense posts…
Best Wishes
Linda xx
Breast awareness Like a lot of you I have become more breast aware since having had CA and a recurrence. I do support Breast Cancer Care as much as possible and am involved with their Campaign Panel. I don’t personally wear the pink ribon, but only because I don’t want to shout at the world, look at me, Ive had it too!
As to sunbathing, good luck to anyone who has the courage, just as long as you use high factor suncream. Sadly, now that I’ve lost my reconstruction and had a mastectomy, I really don’t feel able to take my top off any more. However, when in the Canaries last year, everyone on one of the nudist beaches had their kit off, so I followed suit, but must admit I put my bikinii back on when going swimming.
Birgit
I agree with JaneRA that the pink ribbon theme seems to have almost trivialised breast cancer. The “pink fluffy” theme seems to have given people the idea that it’s not that bad. I’m not comfortable with it these days as it seems rather “Barbiefied”. I won’t be going topless on holiday this year. I feel like I’ve been gawped at enough while my hair was growing back so I’m certainly not displaying my mastectomy scar. Funny is n’t it, if I had over sized, obviously fake silicone implants, people would generally think that was great.
I do feel impatient with people at times, when I see them behaving in ways that put them at risk of cancer (or any other preventable illness) but people make their own choices and always think" it won’t happen to me". A work colleague who smokes, told me that she believes that everyone is born with cancer and it develops because they get a knock that sets it off. I suggested she came with me to my next appointment with the onc as he could probably do with a good laugh.
Geraldine
hello ladies,
I’m desperately sorry if I offended anyone with my comments about the lady sunbathing topless with the pink ribbon tattoo. It was not my intention to make anyone angry. I read all the posts and got quite tearful thinking I’ve upset everyone. We deal with the things in our own way and I’m truly sorry if anyone was offended by my comments
Binner
Dear Binner
I wasn’t offended, but there are more ways of looking at things than one. What’s good about this site is that we can give our own views.
Please don’t worry, look forward to the weekend - of hurricanes and floods by all accounts
Hi Binner
You were only expressing your opinion…no one upset by you…however i was quite offended by the post having a go at me for donating the £1 for a pink ribbon…and advertising how generous i am… not a very nice post at all!!
I was only expressing a fact…that not everyone buys a pink ribbon to be fluffy…some people actually do it to suuport a charity…and dont care if its pink, green, blue!!! I wasnt bragging about spending my pound!!
Please have a guilt free weekend…you have upset no one!!
Px