Wear Your Scars with Pride

Purchasing clothes post-mastectomy is often a trial. It always seems that the necklines plunge too deep and either show the scars from my port, or worse, the slight gap between my chest wall and prothesis. If I find something which isn't too deep, then it is black (in which I look like I've been dead for about three months), or WAY too matronly....although I'm going over the edge into matronlyness.

It is also made worse by the fact that I don't look good in jewel, boat, or crew necklines. Turtlenecks and v-necks are what I prefer.

The other day I bought a kelly green/cream striped v-neck sweater. My daughter, ever the fashionista, loves it. The "v" does go a little deep, so I wore it with a turtleneck underneath.

She didn't like that.

I mumbled something about not having the chamosole bra I have (which has a lace part which goes up higher) clean and not having an appropriate chami I could wear with it. She snarled "WEAR your SCARS WITH PRIDE!" She noted that I had gone through the tunnel and out the other side, and if she had been through what I had been through, she'd show those scars. They were decorations of honor---bravery at it's best.

Hmmm. While my daughter is sometimes cold and lacking in empathy....maybe she has something there. Is the world ready for port scars and mastectomy gaps? The comforting thing is that the new generation, or at least a portion of it, evidently IS ready for it.