Cancer Survivors Network

Hi Jane
My husband kept calling it the "We Disease". Has your husband read up on everything like you have? He could read this site and see that all us gals are plugging along. Everyone processes fear differently and he may need to "not know" or see anything. I'm sure he'll be fine. Does he go to meetings? That may be a good vent. As for you ... the lumpectomy is easy and my surgery breast looks better than the other! Good luck. Jamie

Dear Friend, there are 2 things I will suggest because they helped me and hubby too. First is the excellent book, "Lisa's Story". Written by Tom Batiuk, creator of the strip "Funky Winkerbean", the book was given to me by a friend. It tells the story in comic strip fashion of Lisa and Funky when Lisa is diagnosed with breast cancer and follows them through her treatment. It covers a lot of situations and issues and makes them seem less frightening because of the comic-strip format. My husband, too, was very upset and very uptight. But he couldn't talk about this problem. However, he could and DID read the book. It helped both of us.
The other thing that was so important for both of us is the fact that I was able to reach out to friends and family and say, "I'm in trouble here and I need you". (I actually did announce and explain all of this in an EMAIL and that's how I told even my mom and my 2 sisters.) The reason I think that was important for my husband is that BECAUSE he was not able to talk about BC very often or very much, he could see how much my friends and family helped me with their love and support, and so he didn't worry about me QUITE so much. He saw all the cards and letters that came in the mail, the food and flowers and other small gifts that were dropped off duri