Hierarchy
Last week I read an excellent post from Marie Ennis O'Connor on "Is There a Hierarchy Among Cancer Survivors?" Then this week that discussion was followed by another excellent post and discusssion at Regrounding. Even though the topic has been quite thoroughly and thoughtfully covered in these previous posts, I'd like to add a bit. So, is there a herarchy among […]
A Final Poem for October
Affirmation The breasts are gone but I am whole Disfigurement need not include my soul (Excerpted from Fine Black Lines, copyright 1993, 2003 Lois Tschetter Hjelmstad)
Poem for My Flat Chest
In keeping with my recent posts on whether or not to reconstruct/replace one's breasts after a mastectomy, I offer one of my poems: Double Amputee I have looked this way before– flat-chested, pencil-thin when I was ten Strange it is to seem a sexless child again (Too bad about the graying hair and slightly sagging chin) (Excerpted […]
Reconstructed Breasts?
On my birthday last week, Nancy published a guest post that I had written for her. It was an especially nice thing for my birthday. I include an excerpt here: I missed my left breast mightily. I struggled for days, weeks, months to make my front look okay. I stuffed the empty side of my […]
Just Stay Positive?
"You will be just fine" has long been a problem for me. No matter what horrendous circumstance one is facing, what one needs is support and validation, not cheer-leading. Discounting a person's feelings and implying that everything can be solved by being positive does a great disservice to the ill or injured or depressed or bereaved. […]
Why Am I Alive? Why Is She Dead? No. 3
Shoreline (for Ann) Everything seems so distant now Is Life receding or is Eternity approaching? (Excerpted from Fine Black Lines, (c) 1993, 2003 Lois Tschetter Hjelmstad)