Nothing is wrong with Delphine: big sparkling eyes, a direct and bright smile, a mischievous little nose framed by long hair, professional competence and always on the lookout humor (which earned her five years as a columnist at the ” Fou du roi ”, on France Inter). Better yet: the art of being positive and coming out of it with your head held high in the face of the cruelties of life.
“I tried to continue living normally”
“Fortunately, I started mammograms at age 34, my mother having had breast cancer at a very young age,” says Delphine. It is during such a check that a tumor is discovered early on.
The operation, which removes “only” a large end of the breast, is completed by radiotherapy and hormonal treatment to be followed at home. However, it is not easy to be sick when you live alone, if only to go shopping. “After the operation, I couldn’t carry more than one apple at a time, I had to go back and forth three times in a row,” recalls Delphine. She also discovers, well in advance, the joys of menopause. She barely got used to it and, 18 months later, she was scheduled for a hysterectomy. Delphine holds up.
“The recurrence is really terrifying”
But, less than two years later, a check-up revealed a recurrence of her breast cancer, requiring total mastectomy and reconstruction. “I thought I was healed, it was the blow of a hammer, admits Delphine.
It took me a year to recover and I feel like I will never consider myself cured from now on. The proof: during a lung check, I was in the waiting room when the radiologist told me: “Can I see you for 5 minutes?”, I immediately thought of the worst, I was incapable to get up. Doctors should always start by saying that everything is fine! A few months ago, I felt a lump in my breast, I was already resigned … but it was only the scar that had moved. “
All is not dark After her relapse, Delphine was prescribed a more dosed hormone therapy, which painfully blocks her joints. “You get used to everything,” she says. The illness forced her to give up definitively the nagging desire for a child that still tormented her. At the same time, it was a form of relief, she said, the chapter was closed. She had been fondling the idea of writing a book for some time, cancer was a “trigger”. And still boost new projects.
I used to have two breasts
Delphine Apiou’s book is released on October 5. No in-depth account of the disease and its treatments, but a description of their impact on daily life, and in particular on femininity. What does it mean to be a woman when you no longer have breasts or a uterus? How to envision his love life after that? Especially if you have been educated to be self-reliant and you find yourself single because independent women scare men. Really funny pages, which speak to all women.
“Before, I had two breasts”, Delphine Apiou, Robert Laffont editions, € 10.90.
