In reindeer, 60 women who are fighting against female cancer meet twice a week to participate in a course adapted to their pathology, thanks to the Eau de Rose association.
Excellent initiative in Rennes, in the new Nordic basin of Bréquigny. 200 people gathered for a giant water aerobics class to raise money for the fight against breast cancer.
The aim of the operation was also to publicize the action of the Eau de Rose association, created in 2017: “today 60 women are fighting against female cancer who meet twice a week to participate in a course adapted to their pathology. We are doing everything to offer these women 20 free sessions in order to restore their confidence and enable them to better fight against disease and recurrence. ” Aquagym and aquabike lessons are also offered.
“Cancer reaches femininity”
“Cancer affects femininity, it’s silly, but you feel less like a woman”, says Mina, currently in remission. Many breast cancer patients experience this loss. You have to learn to accept yourself and show yourself with a scar, with or without prosthesis. The most important and difficult to reclaim, is to remember that femininity is not limited to the chest. The legs, the hands, the smile, etc… are all signs of femininity.
In France, more than 70,000 partial or total breast ablations are performed each year. The treatments following the operation are heavy and sometimes lifelong. A disease that turns the sexual life of women upside down. During the first days after the operation, to compensate for the ablation, patients can put on a postoperative bra with fiber filling. Once healing is complete, the doctor offers external breast prostheses, permanent or temporary. They restore the appearance and shape of the breast. Finally, patients can opt for breast reconstruction: placement of a prosthesis or tissues (skin and muscles) under the skin.
This operation can be performed at the same time as the mastectomy or after the end of the treatments. Recently, women have also been able to make 3d tattoos which identically recreate nipples and nipples. A site now makes it possible to answer all questions related to breast cancer.
Arouse excitement again
“I had a breast quadrantectomy, that is to say a quarter of the breast removed. In addition to the physical appearance, the breast loses its sensitivity with the treatments,” says Mina. The operation effectively cuts off the nerve endings, which impairs the pleasure, and the treatments do not help by reducing the sensation as well. So after the announcement of cancer and much more after an ablation, many women experience a break in their sex life. “Advanced breast cancer is a chronic disease, there will be times when sexuality will be harmed, when the urge will be less present”, explains Catherine Adler Tal, onco-psychologist and onco-sexologist.
To rekindle arousal, patients can use sex toys, imagine new positions, new caresses, or even use lubricants recommended by doctors. Indeed, treatments often also interfere with vaginal lubrication.
Spouse reactions: from denial to infantilization
“After the diagnosis of advanced breast cancer, there is often and for a while, a psychological unavailability to intercourse. You have to learn slowly, with or without your partner, to want”, explains Catherine Adler Tal. If the patient is in a relationship, it is important that each respects the rhythm of the other. For example, if the partner does not want to see his wife’s scar, it is not necessarily because she rejects him, but simply because he does not accept the disease.
“There is a whole range of possible reactions of the spouse to the disease, ranging from denial to infantilization. You have to find the right balance and remain a lover.” In any case, the most important thing is to talk, to expose to the other his desires, his problems, his fears. “You have to try as much as possible to keep physical contact with your partner and learn together to tame the other erogenous zones of the body”, concludes Catherine Adler Tal.
Find our show: Breast cancer, giving quality of life
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