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Reconstructing Aphrodite
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Average customer rating:

beautiful and helpful, yet what about those women who still need help, and can't find it?
A must for survivors
Transcendent beauty
Making a difference
Heartfelt and inspiring

Reconstructing Aphrodite

Manufacturer: Syracuse University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Collections, Catalogues & Exhibitions | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Photo Essays | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Self-Help | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

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Similar Items:

The Breast Reconstruction Guidebook, Second Edition
Winged Victory: Altered Images : Transcending Breast Cancer
Art.Rage.Us.: Art and Writing by Women with Breast Cancer
A Woman's Decision: Breast Care, Treatment & Reconstruction (Quality Medical Home Health Library)
Living Beyond Breast Cancer: A Survivor's Guide for When Treatment Ends and the Rest of Your Life Begins

ASIN: 0966035232

Book Description

Each woman who is diagnosed with breast cancer is faced with her worst fears and a sense of hopelessness that pervades her every waking moment. Often, her anguish comes from the belief that she will no longer be attractive, or look or feel normal again. This brave and honest, groundbreaking book offers an answer to the confusion that arises from this diagnosis.

An astonishingly beautiful, life-affirming and hopeful book, Reconstructing Aphrodite tells the stories of twenty-one women -- all of whom, facing breast cancer and mastectomy, chose simultaneous reconstruction. Through intimate first-person narrative, wedded to startlingly frank and revealing photographs, the women exude courage and confidence in the face of life-threatening disease. The stories these women tell will serve as the inspiration and solace for countless others whose lives are touched by this tragic illness.

In her moving photographs, Terry Lorant has captured the spirit of beauty and wholeness each of these women possesses. Working in concert with Dr. Loren Eskenazi, one of the foremost breast reconstruction surgeons, Reconstructing Aphrodite is a unique combination of photographic and surgical artistry and the courageous stories of women whose lives have been transformed.

The book was born out of the realization that combining reconstruction with the tragedy of mastectomy would all but eliminate the psychological trauma of breast cancer surgery. Dr. Eskenazi and her surgical partner and team have perfected the surgical techniques for these parallel operations.

Reconstructing Aphrodite also contains detailed information about breast reconstruction, and resources to guide you, your mother, sister, wife or friend through the maze of medical decisions that must be made if one's life has been touched by breast cancer.

The women portrayed in Reconstructing Aphrodite have offered their most intimate stories as a gift so that no woman will ever have to face this illness alone.

Customer Reviews:

beautiful and helpful, yet what about those women who still need help, and can't find it?.......2005-11-24

sometimes, the reconstruction goes well, the surgeon was kindly and skilled, and the women go on "to live fully"....what is missing everywhere i search, are the stories, the pictures, and the advice for women whose after-reconstruction stories aren't as graceful as what we find inside the covers of this book.....i wanted to write this review, as i am one of the unlucky women...one who suffers, and is fighting the medical and insurance establishments while in pain 24/7, and still waiting for my own healing after the nightmare of a drive-through bilateral mastectomy....i feel like any woman who sees this book should know there is another, darker side to this process....and very little assistance if things go wrong.

kathie larsyn M.Ed., M.C.

A must for survivors.......2003-11-19

I was diagnosed this past May, at age 41, with breast cancer. I had a mastectomy and immediately began the reconstruction process of tissue expander and silicone implant. I saw this book in my reconstructive surgeon's office and it just floored me. The women presented are simply beautiful, and their joy leaps out of each photograph. I'm hoping someone gives me this book for Christmas (hint, hint).

Transcendent beauty.......2003-07-04

As a woman who has had breast cancer and is looking at bilateral reconstruction, I found "Reconstructing Aphrodite" to be a book of hope, life, and beauty. The beauty is not in reconstruction without scars but is in the very scars themselves, scars that speak of courage, determination and, above all else, the choice to live life to the fullest. The reflections accompanying each photo communicate the pain of living with cancer. But the stories do not stop with pain; they continue with love, laughter, celebration, joy and delight in bodies that have more to say now than when they were flawless. A truly exquisite book in all ways, one that I will share with many other women because it is so real. The scars are not airbrushed; the pain is not denied. I came away from this book uplifted and encouraged by the lived experience of my sisters on the journey with breast cancer. Forget "Playboy"; the women who have lasting beauty are the ones in this book.

Making a difference.......2002-11-23

As the interviewer and compiler of the text profiles in Reconstructing Aphrodite, I think often about the work I do and what kind of a difference it makes in the lives of others.
Last night, I attended a spiritual healing ceremony for a friend who was just diagnosed with breast cancer. A small group of us recited and sang prayers for healing, held hands in a circle, and watched our stricken friend gather hope, strength, optimism and faith from our shared energy and love.
The cancer is small, self contained and the prognosis for recovery good. But it's comforting to know that if my friend needs more inspiration and information, this book is available for her and the millions of other women who may need it in the future.

Heartfelt and inspiring.......2002-10-08

You might think that because you haven't had breast cancer, or because you're a man, that you have nothing to learn from the aptly named book Reconstructing Aphrodite. But you'd be wrong.

This collection of photographs and stories of women who've had reconstructive breast surgery following diagnoses of cancer is mesmerizing and inspiring. Each woman tells her own story, sensitively edited by Helga Hayse, revealing her fears, apprehension, decisiveness, and courage. Each story resonates with everyone who encounters this book.

The stories they tell-of genetic testing, of tumors missed in mammograms, of watching mothers and aunts die painful deaths-speak to all of us. They are funny and brave, practical and spiritual. These are mothers and daughters and sisters, young and old, and they are all the women we know. They are sharing a life-shattering experience with us and to read their words is to be a witness to their strength.

And as much as the stories move us, the photographs shock and amaze. The photographs, from photographer Terry Lorant, feel like personal notes from each woman to the reader. As if she were a friend, sending you her proud news. The pictures are sweet and sexy and honest and very emotional.

I read this entire book, including the detailed information about breast reconstruction at the end. Because, though I don't have breast cancer now, that doesn't mean my sisters or I won't be diagnosed in the future and I'd like to have both the practical resource information that this book provides and the inspiration of these amazing women.

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