My "Mamm"wars: Fighting to Survive Stage 4 Breast Cancer

Last night, as Reagan was getting dressed after her bath, she seemed to notice her nipples for the first time. She poked one, looked at me, and asked me when am I "getting these things put back on?" I was taken aback, to be honest. Not that she had realized mine were missing.. for as much as I tried to hide my new body from them, they do like to barge in on me while I'm dressing quite frequently. I was more surprised that she knew I was "getting them put back on" soon. I told her that I was having another surgery in January, and I'd be getting my nipples put on then. Then I reiterated that "they are called nipples" because we always call body parts by their correct name so I tried to look at it as a learning opportunity. But when I said "nipples" it apparently humored us both, because we both started cracking up. It was the kind of laugh that is infectious and hurts your belly - and doesn't stop ...

 When I talk about my cancer with people, my hair loss is inevitably brought up. And what my feelings on my hair loss are. From the second I was diagnosed, I didn't care about losing my hair. I would have given up anything I didn't NEED in order to live. Now that treatment is over, I'm fascinated by how it's growing in, what I look like, and how much fun it's going to be to experiment with short hairstyles. I'll be totally honest... in my more lucid moments, I was a bit terrified of what it was going to look like. I'm not out of the woods yet, but so far I don't think it looks half bad!!  People are constantly commenting on how I can pull the short pixie cut off. But let's be honest. What else CAN they say. Anyone would look like a giant jerk telling a woman who so recently finished cancer treatments that she looked terrible with short hair! So now I'm going to ask for feedback on what to do with it going forward. I've included three photos...