I had a prostatectomy in the fall and fortunately it was encapsulated and I didn't have to go through chemotherapy.
If I could turn back the clock, magically deleting my prostate cancer, the surgery I needed and its complications, would I do so? It seems an odd question. But I find it surprisingly hard to answer.
I'll never forget the day that I was told I would have to have a mastectomy. My reaction to the words was total denial.
I had a mastectomy in 1998, and then chemo.
I had a lumpectomy. It wasn't that bad. Six and a half weeks of radiation.
I would like to take the stigma away. 'Mastectomy' the word seemed so scary to me at first. After doing research and seeing the advancements, the surgery has come a long way from 20 years ago. The results can be incredible.
A typical triumph of modern science to find the only part of Randolph that was not malignant and remove it.
I first met Susan Sontag in spring 1976 when she was recovering from cancer surgery and needed someone to help type her correspondence. I had been recommended by the editors of 'The New York Review of Books,' where I'd worked as an editorial assistant.
Losing a part of a breast or all of one or both has, obviously, serious psychological consequences.
My nan's skin cancer was on her nose and had to have it removed a few times.
