Look Good…Feel Better Again

Last week was officially Look Good…Feel Better Week. In honor of this program which helped me so much, I’m rerunning a post I wrote exactly a year ago on my experience. My one piece of advice: If you have the opportunity to be a part of this program, sign up now. You will be very glad you did.

As a graduate of Look Good … Feel Better, I want to share this with you because I’ve experienced the power of LGFB. Initially, I didn’t think it would help me feel better because I didn’t have chemotherapy or radiation. I felt ugly when I looked at my naked body, which no amount of make-up would fix. I was about to be proven wrong.

Sitting in a room with other women, many wearing scarves and wigs, I felt out of place. My survivor’s guilt really kicked in when it was assumed I had chemotherapy because of the length of my hair, which has been short since high school. As a Stage 0, DCIS cancer patient, I didn’t want anyone to think I suffered more than I had. Despite my mastectomy and TRAM flap reconstruction, without the chemotherapy and hair loss experience, I felt like an outsider.

The instructor walked us through make-up application and the conversation flowed freely. As we talked and shared, we became girls enjoying girly things. I fit right in. Then the group encouraged the woman sitting next to me to take off her wig for the first time in public. Because I genuinely liked short hair, I was very sincere when I assured her how chic she looked.

Sharing such an intense moment drew us all into a sacred, caring circle – to which I definitely belonged. It was one of the first experiences that taught me I was not alone. It also was the first time I used my cancer experience in order to help someone else. For more on that part of the story, read my earlier post about that day here.

If you or someone you know is going through treatment, let them know about the Look Good .. Feel Better program. Do you have a Look Good … Feel Better story to share?

Survival > Existence,