Goodbye letter to my breasts...

So here it finally is, the night before my double mastectomy surgery. Tomorrow I will go to Riverview Medical Center and have both my breasts and nipples removed. THIS is NOT a sentence I Ever thought I would be saying. Because as I have said before I'm NOT supposed to have cancer. Part of me is ready and part of me will never be ready. So as I sit here and try to mentally prepare for this journey to begin just a few hours from now, I feel I need to say goodbye and thank you to my breasts.

Dear Breasts,

We have been together for 42 years, from utero to this present moment. You changed me from a little girl into a woman, and from a woman into a mother. Thank you for showing me how incredible the female body is and what it can do. Thank you for the breastfeeding cleavage. I apologize for not taking enough photos of that gravity defying beauty. Thank you for creating the milk needed to feed both of my children, and providing me we so much extra milk that I was able to donate it to help feed 4 other babies. Thank you for giving me the passion to learn all about breastfeeding and become a breastfeeding counselor to other mothers. It's because of what you did for me that I became an advocate for normalizing breastfeeding, especially in my office. Together we made sure that everyone was (whether they liked it or not) comfortable with pumping breaks in the office and breast milk in the refrigerator. It became the norm for the breastfeeding co-worker mothers that came after me. So thank you. You were the catalyst that inspired the original name Mama on Tap.

Since your job is now done and I don't need your milk anymore, it's time to say goodbye. I'm sorry we are ending in a fight. But maybe this is the way it needed to be. Sometimes relationships have to end abruptly and our time has come. I think your sacrifice tomorrow will give me a new found passion. Not the passion I was expecting but the passion that is needed for someone, somewhere. Your sacrifice ignited Pink Mama on Tap. You are giving me a Voice, that I didn't know I had. Strength that I didn't know I was capable of, and a Community that has given me faith in the beauty of humanity.

So as we say goodbye tomorrow and we go our separate ways, I am very thankful for what you have given me and our time together. We part as Breast Friends and I toast you with a glass of wine and a goodbye buttery nipple shot!

Love,

Annie

💗