Two years post-mastectomy—and now cancer-free—the singer, actress, and producer opens up about her unexpected journey
In 2015, I was diagnosed with breast cancer, and had a double mastectomy and reconstruction. This piece isn’t about that. It’s about after that. The aftermath. The P.S. (Post Surgery) to diagnosis and treatment. The A.D. to the B.C. (Before Cancer). We often assume that once you have had the surgery and treatment, you are fine. And hopefully you are. But I found that there were unexpected things that came along with having gone through something as frightening as having had cancer that I only heard about from my friends who’d had cancer too. I hope this will help women going through treatment or having to face going through it, or loving someone who is dealing with it, better understand what it’s like after the crisis is over.
I had initially been misdiagnosed and was told I didn’t have cancer. But a friend suggested that I get a second opinion on my pathology. I did, and was stunned to hear the words you never want to hear: “You have cancer.” I was playing Larry David’s wife in his hit Broadway play, Fish in the Dark, when I took off for my surgery. I asked my doctors how long it took before women usually returned to work. They said three weeks; I took four. One would think that doing a play, as opposed to a musical, would have been less demanding, as I had believed. Girl, it was so exhausting, all I could do was sleep all day. I felt like Snow White, waiting for Prince Charming to gently wake her up, or, as in my case, Prince Charming being the backstage speaker blaring, “This is your half-hour call.” I soon realized that women, no matter what they did for a living, must have more than three to four weeks off after a major surgery. It may seem to others that you are through the worst of it, but it takes real time for your body to heal.
Esta historia es de la edición October 2017 de Harper's BAZAAR - US.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 8500 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición October 2017 de Harper's BAZAAR - US.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 8500 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
ALL Aboard
LUXURY TRAINS offer a uniquely NOSTALGIC way to SLOW DOWN and ENJOY the RIDE
Keep It MOVING
COMMUTER-CORE has become more than a VIRAL TREND, as designers meet the NEEDS of our BACK-to-OFFICE lifestyles
IN CONVERSATION - JESSICA LANGE and PAULA VOGEL
Actor JESSICA LANGE and playwright PAULA VOGEL on their new BROADWAY PRODUCTION, MOTHER PLAY, creating and portraying COMPLICATED WOMEN, and the FUTURE of THEATER
What PADMA Wants
After almost two decades of TOP CHEF, the beloved HOST and cookbook AUTHOR is figuring out WHAT COMES NEXT
GUIDO Palau
Over the past three decades, GUIDO PALAU has SHAPED how the WORLD perceives HAIR, with his STYLES seen at Givenchy (1) and Valentino (4), among so many others. Now he's bringing ZARA HAIR to life. Here, the renowned artist lets us in on his CREATIVE PROCESS.
CAVE Dwelling
Accommodations nestled in natural or man-made GROTTOES provide an UNFORGETTABLE ESCAPE
What WOMEN Want
BEFORE THERE WAS \"quiet luxury,\" there was Donna Karan.
CRAFTING the FUTURE
SPEAKING BACKSTAGE just after he wrapped his Spring 2024 show in Milan this past September, Bottega Veneta creative director Matthieu Blazy waxed enthusiastically about craft. His collection was a showcase for the Italian house's tradition of handwork and tailoring, punctuated by pieces like a crochet dress decorated with raffia pom-poms individually knotted to its surface.
Whatever HAPPENED to FUN?
So much of COMEDY TODAY is about making the AUDIENCE CRINGE. CAROL BURNETT still BELIEVES it should make you FEEL GOOD.
I THINK This WILL FIX Me
WELLNESS is EVERYWHERE. Melissa Broder questions just HOW WELL we NEED TO BE.