Celebrating an Anniversary of a kind

It's been a year now. It's been a year since they found my breast cancer.

And what a year it's been. Up, down, sideways.

Just last week I went to see the lovely "permanent makeup artist" woman who reserves space in her busy work schedule to complete the reconstruction process for mastectomy patients who, like me, want to have as normal and natural a look as possible. Sandy's business involves using a form of tattoo to give women permanent lip liner, eye liner, and so on. And because of her unique skills and knowledge, she's also able to tattoo colour onto reconstructed nipples (which are made with grafted tissue). As the owner of a set of recon nipples, I can tell you that I'm pleased to have them - but without Sandy's touch, they would be pale - matching the surrounding breast tissue (not at all like real nipples).

And so I made an appointment with Sandy and inside an hour she applied tattoo'd colour to my nipples and the surrounding areola.

It's magic, simply magic.

The colour this early on is a bit bright - but Sandy assures me that it will fade. Even if it didn't though, well... it just looks so much better. My fading scars no longer draw your eye (or more correctly... my eye or my husband's). Instead there's this rather "real" looking bit of tissue - with colour that makes sense.

Sandy charges very little for the service. As a matter of fact, she charged me only for the cost of the materials. Her time and considerable talent is her gift to me; it's something she does as a kindness to women who have been ravaged by cancer and the radical surgery that some of us need in order to be safe.

I'm so grateful. I'm so blessed.

So happy anniversary to me. I pray that one day the doctors will find a way to prevent breast cancer. Not just cure it - but prevent it.

Nobody should have to go through this.