Chemo Style: A Survivor's Archive

See my Chemo Style photo gallery: A Breast Cancer Survivor's Archive

I was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 44 on November 19, 2004, six days before Thanksgiving. Two weeks later I had my breast removed and immediately reconstructed with a temporary implant. At the time I wasn’t sure what those two weeks represented but I began to document each and every appointment: the barium drink, the chest x-ray, the bone scan, the cancer surgeon, the oncologist, the plastic surgeon, and even the signing of the surgery papers.

Every technician, doctor, nurse and patient in the waiting room seemed more than willing to be a part of the documentation process. Three days before the mastectomy I finally had the time to post an image of “Mr. Spots,” who marked the spot on my breast during the MRI. Mr. Spots denoted where my cancer lived.

Surely for most the initial shock turns into bravado, where one must put on their game face and fight the fight. For me fighting the fight meant walking around with a camera and documenting everything that happened to me. And in the process I created an archive documentation of the process of survivorship. I also published a book, "Archive of a Breast Cancer Survivor."

Now, two plus years out, I am a healthy woman with some aches and pains due to menopause and tamoxifen. But I eat well and work out 5 days a week. I have to. It is necessary not only for my body, but for my mental wellbeing. Everything I do I do for myself. My motivation to live is to live my own future. So here I am. I have become my own archive of what it means to survive.