Flat and Fabulous Flasher

Superheroes almost always have pseudonyms.

I’m the ‘Flat and Fabulous Flasher’!

AND I’m going to keep on flashing! From the moment my surgeon and oncologist both said that I would be having a mastectomy as part of my treatment, I knew that it would be a double, and I knew that I would choose to be flat and fabulous. I don’t recall any other options ever being discussed except for being told that I could take up to 5 years to change my mind.

I didn’t waiver from my decision, not once. “Going flat” is a valid, beautiful, healthy surgical option after mastectomy.

Although, a normal reaction, I think it is wrongly assumed that a woman should do everything to save her breasts when she is given a breast cancer diagnosis. I’m still very much a woman without mine. My breasts do not define me. I just knew that I couldn’t face more procedures, surgeries, pain, the thought of what could go wrong, and having it all taken away again if I were to have a recurrence.

Of course, I was sad, and I grieved after my operation. I questioned in that moment if I had made the right choice. But it’s not a ‘one size fits all’ world and today I very much embrace my scars and the choices I made for ME. I’m so proud of myself and all that I endured.

I’m a FLAT and FABULOUS SURVIVOR of a rare cancer called Triple Negative Metaplastic Breast Carcinoma Squamous Cell Differentiation (MpBC) .

If I could offer any advice, it would be to make sure you ask for an ‘aesthetic flat closure’, show pictures of the outcome you expect, and accept nothing less if you choose flat and fabulous. It is YOUR body, YOUR choice, and YOUR decision, no matter where you are in the world.

—LISA, Australia