Lessons from a Hot Tub
From Chicken Soup for the Soul: Hope & Healing for Your Breast Cancer Journey
By Anne Marie Bennett

A few years ago, when I was recovering from nine months of surgeries and treatments for breast cancer, I attended a four-day retreat at Kripalu in Lenox, Massachusetts specifically for women living with breast cancer. My life had gotten somewhat back to “normal.” I was working and writing again, my hair was growing back, the lumpectomy scars were fading, and my recent mammograms were clear. But I was still feeling scarred on the inside. There was an indefinable dreary haze hovering over me and I longed to be rid of it.

In addition, I was feeling far from beautiful. My scarred and slightly deformed left breast had totally disrupted any good feelings I’d once had about my body, not to mention the weight I’d gained from comfort eating during the treatments. (Keep reading)