Teresa Cannon & Desmond — you are the winners! You’ll both be receiving a copy of this fantastic novel by Allison Winn Scotch.

Congratulations to you both — enjoy the book and please, come back here and share your own review of the book when you have the chance!

Thanks to everyone who participated. I truly do appreciate your readership.

Post from: Blisstree

Teresa and Desmond Have Won Copies of The Department of Lost and Found

Josie herself was treated at the MD Anderson Cancer Center for metastatic lobular breast cancer. The book is targeted to patients at MD Anderson but really speaks to the soul of every survivor.

The photographer, Jack Opatrany, did an amazing job capturing the soul of each individual who volunteered for this project; flipping through you’ll find page after page of pure and beautiful women in spite of their changed bodies. Wouldn’t I love for him to be able to photograph my family and I!

Some of the most poignant pictures are of women who chose to bare their chests post mastectomy. It’s amazing, actually, because without breasts, their true beauty shines bright.

My favorites shots are those of women with their young children. Yet the ones featuring couples or even individual survivors are equally strong.

There are also men who survived breast cancer in this book; handsome, proud, confident men. The faces behind breast cancer are as diverse indeed.

Each photo in the book is accompanied by a quote, like this one from Carolyn:

“Once I heard the words ‘breast cancer,’ all of life’s little details that seemed so important five minutes ago became one big blur. The only clarity was my husband and our daughters. Their love is what has made me so strong during this fight. Their love is why I will win.”

And this one from Victoria:

“More or less, breast cancer has changed my life. I fear less, worry less, hate less, and love more, appreciate more, laugh more and live more.”

This book is amazing. For more info, go straight to the source: pinkcruisader.org. Or, click on the following link to get to the book on Amazon.

(Image: Josie Sethi)

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Book Review: The Faces Behind Breast Cancer

A little later today I’ll post the review I wrote when the hardcover came out. But here’s the teaser:

“The book’s heroine, Natalie Miller, a 30-year-old single woman working as a senatorial aide, is loaded with ambition and gumption. Her world is rocked when she’s diagnosed with breast cancer. That’s where the story begins … read this excerpt from page 13:

“‘So you have to understand that in the span of less than a month, my (disloyal, scum-sucking) boyfriend of two years dumped me (”I can’t handle this” is how he put it, right before I threw a vase at his head, which, surprisingly enough, because he wasn’t much of an athlete, he actually manged to duck); my job, which previously had been my lifeblood, had been paired down to admittedly semidesperate emails; and my health, my mortality, something I’d never even given a flying fig of a thought to, was suddenly in total jeopardy. So it’s not hard to see why I was coming more than slightly undone.’”

It’s such a great read. And I’ve got such great news:

Allison has sent me a copy of the paperback to give away to a Pink Ribbon Reader!

I’ll choose a commenter, at random at month’s end, after I’ve pulled the name for the Belkin iPod case. Of course, if you can’t wait … you can buy the book through Amazon!

(Image: Allison Winn Scotch)

Post from: Blisstree

Pink Ribbon Giveaway: The Department of Lost and Found

If you want to learn what it would be like to face breast cancer as a single woman in your early thirties than read Cathy Bueti’s memoir, “Breastless in the City.”

Cathy’s breast cancer diagnosis and treatment was intertwined with her search for love. Most of us at least faced breast cancer with our spouse by our sides — not Cathy. See, Cathy’s husband was killed in a car accident when she was 25 years old. Nobody should be widowed that young!

Then she got breast cancer … can you imagine?

Right away the introduction to the book intrigued me … “The probability of becoming a widow at the age of 25 is infinitesimally small; the probability of developing breast cancer around the age of 30 is far less than one in 10,000. If we really think about this, what is the likelihood that these two events would happen to one woman?”

As I reached the end of her story, not only did I want her to thrive as a survivor, I wanted her to find love — I think she deserved to.

But let me take a step back.

Cathy’s breast cancer story is not unlike many others: she found a lump when she was in her early thirties, she went to her doctor, got a mammogram, needed a biopsy, found out it was Invasive Ductal Carcinoma (IDC), she’d need a lumpectomy, perhaps radiation, perhaps chemo … she got a second opinion (something I always, always recommend), and though the two doctors concurred, she still opted for a mastectomy with reconstruction (a wise, wise personal choice because there was indeed lymph node involvement!) … she chose the TRAM flap and MAN don’t I know what she was talking about in terms of her recovery … then needed six months of chemotherapy.

Cathy’s description of the post operative ‘trauma’ and the side effects of treatment were so similar to my own: “The first thing I remember after surgery is feeling as if I’d been run over by a truck! I guess I am still alive, I thought. From my breasts down to my thighs, everything felt like a combination of a burning pain and numbness.”

Yup. I definitely felt that way after my double mastectomy/TRAM flap. Almost exactly that same way. Except that I’d most likely use the phrase ‘hit by a train’ in my memoir (still unwritten, of course, but maybe some day).

Here’s another experience you might recognize as your own: “As I knelt on the floor hugging the bowl, it felt as if all my insides were going to come out. I was shaking, sweating, and wondering how the hell I would get through this. I screamed and pounded my hand on the side of the bowl. Then I started crying. I felt completely alone.”

It was painful to read about someone else’s pain but even more jubilant to read about someone else’s survival — and of course by the end of the book she gets there.

I have to say that the other thread of the book, Cathy’s trials and errors in the dating world, weren’t as easy for me to relate to. Not that I didn’t date but I never utilized online dating services — Cathy’s method of choice.

After dating EIGHT different guys (yes, I counted) I started to wonder if she would ever find another soul mate. Poor Cathy, I kept thinking each time she’d start dating another loser … this sucks. These guys were total schmucks.

I enjoyed reading about Cathy. I love survivor stories in general and this one brought an entirely new issue to light … dating through breast cancer treatment.

I’ll bet you’re wondering if Cathy ever did find someone to share her life with. Well, you’ll just have to read the book yourself to find out, I’m not giving away the ending. Here’s a link to the book on Amazon.com. Enjoy!

(Image: Cathy Bueti)

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Book Review: Breastless in the City by Cathy Bueti