Now What? Getting the Word Out...

This article ran recently throughout Westchester County, New York. Thanks Jessie Jafet and Patch!

bedford.patch.com/articles/westchester-breast-cancer-survivor-publishes-book-on-mastectomy

The Story of "Now What?"

This is the story of how I came to write Now What? A Patient's Guide to Recovery After Mastectomy.  I wrote this piece for the 'What Survivors Know' section of the Support Connection Fall 2011 Newsletter.  Support Connection provides counseling and support services to women who have been diagnosed with breast or ovarian cancer.  They are a phenomenal organization made up of very caring women; they offer peer counseling and a nationwide toll free support hotline.

During January of 2011 I found myself home with the kids for what turned out to be many... many snow days.  Some weeks we would only have two days of school in a week! It was an unusual winter, the likes of which we haven't experienced in our previous years here in New York. Between shoveling the driveway, sipping cups of cocoa, snuggling in the bed watching movies on demand (and trying to pretend like I'm not really in it for the nap), I had the idea to start work on a brochure about mastectomy recovery. Of course that "brochure" later became a book.  And so it goes...check it out, page 7.

http://www.supportconnection.org/pdf/pdf2012/Walk2011Newsletter.pdf

Now What? Blogging, etc.

Welcome!  Today is an exciting day because my book:  Now What?  A Patient's Guide to Recovery After Mastectomy (Demos Health Publishing, 2012) was released!  As the title says, the book is about mastectomy recovery and it includes all of the most important information that women need when preparing for and recovering from mastectomy:  information from what to bring to the hospital and how to prepare yourself emotionally for mastectomy, to what it feels like when you wake up and all that follows with the recovery process.  I couldn't have written this book without the help of the women of FORCE, Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered and Support Connection (see links below).  Not only did I turn to the women of FORCE and Support Connection to aid me in my own recovery after my breast cancer diagnosis but I also turned to them when I was doing research for the book. They completed surveys and shared their stories of recovery so that -- going forward -- no one will feel alone or unprepared when facing mastectomy.

Please check in with my blog from time to time. I will post stories and articles about mastectomy, breast cancer recovery, and other related topics. Be well!