Unfortunately, cancer treatment often alters the way someone looks … even though a lot of those changes are temporary, it can be really hard to live with during treatment. “My confidence was gone,” says Jaclyn Kaczynski, who was diagnosed with breast cancer at 37 years old and found it really threw her body image off track. “My confidence was destroyed. I was always vain about my appearance and my weight, let alone losing a breast, or both.”
Jaclyn says that she gained a lot of weight during treatment, and that, combined with losing her breasts, really did a number on how she felt about her own body. A lot of women struggle to feel like themselves again after breast cancer treatment. Members of the SurvivorNet community also tell us that deciding between reconstruction or embracing a life without breasts is a really tough decision. While many women decide to “go flat,” others simply don’t feel like themselves after surgery.
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