The Assertive Cancer Patient

What I'm Wearing

Yesterday, when I was out having my adventures (ah, hem) with the car, I was beautifully dressed in a gray cotton wrap that Jacqueline of Rebel1in8 made for me.

See the top: The graceful wrap

I'm traveling out to New York (by Amtrak!) with Younger Son to see Jacqueline later this month, and I will take this top along. I need to get Jacqueline to teach me all the ways to wrap it, because it looks quite different depending on how you wrap and tie the long front ends.

I really love this shirt. I wore it yesterday with an olive vest and my gathered Japanese pants (photo to come, soon I hope), and I looked great.

@ Jeanne Sather 2008.

"Red, Red Shoes ... "

Sing the above line to the tune of "Red, red wine ... " (Who sings that song? Anybody know?)

I just noticed as I was unpacking after my trip to Tucson (OK, the trip was three weeks ago, but that's how long it takes me to unpack. Live with it) that I now have three pairs of red shoes. Well, two pairs of red shoes and one of red sandals.

When did this happen? I don't think of myself as a red shoes kind of person, but somewhere along the way I guess I became one.

I also have a red car--the Corvair--and gorgeous red earrings, a one-of-a-kind pair made for me by my friend Jacqueline of Rebel1in8.

Then there are the one-of-a-kind clothes that Jacqueline has made for me. I love having clothes that no one else has. I was never a clothes horse either, and don't think that I'm one now, exactly. I just like being unique.

Read more:

Tucson

The Red Corvair

Rebel Fashion

Here's the link to get Rebel1in8 earrings:

Rebel earrings

@ Jeanne Sather 2008.

Cancer Bloggers Reunion: Jacqueline (Rebel1in8) is Coming!

I am so excited! Jacqueline, the only one of you cancer bloggers that I've met face-to-face, is coming to the Cancer Bloggers Reunion in July.

I visited Jacqueline in New York over the Labor Day weekend, and she made me some fabulous clothes and earrings. I just got another pair of earrings from her in the mail on Friday, which I had ordered through her online store. I will try to put up a photo of these soon.

The turquoise earrings she made for me earlier have become my signature earrings--no one else in Seattle has a pair. The coral ones are very similar, the same length (to the shoulder), which works really well with short hair like mine--although my hair is getting longer. I have abandoned the buzz cut for now. And my hair is curling at the back--which is new. Chemo hair, I guess.

Jacqueline and me on Coney Island, Labor Day 2007.

I'm going to see Jacqueline again in New York in March, this time with Younger Son in tow. I asked him if he wanted to make a trip during his spring break, and he chose New York. We'll also stop off in Ohio to see one of my oldest friends, who is Younger Son's de facto godfather. And see Amorette as well, I hope.

Go to this link to see all my posts about Jacqueline and her great clothes and jewelry: Rebel Fashion.

To order clothing, contact: Jacqueline@rebel1in8.com.

The Roll Call
The Cancer Bloggers Reunion: The YESes: Jacqueline, Amorette, Teri, and Lisa.

The DEFINITE MAYBEs: Sara, Debs, and Carver.

Read more: Cancer Bloggers Reunion.

Support this blog:

@ Jeanne Sather 2008.

Jacqueline of Rebel1in8 on WABC-TV

I've been waiting for this link ever since Saturday, when the program first aired.

The producers call the program "Breast Cancer: New Thinking & New Therapies." I call it Jacqueline's On TV!

To read more about Jacqueline and her fantastic clothing and jewelry, go to Rebel Fashion and scroll down.

The One-Breasted Woman Fashion Show Continues

A package arrived from Jacqueline in yesterday's mail. I was having a bad day, so I set it aside to open today.

Things have been a bit out of whack around here. I'm feeling punk from the radiation therapy, and in pain from the mets, and the weather is rapidly changing from summer to fall, and I'm not ready. My long list of summer projects is nowhere near completed. In addition, the trip to Vancouver and my meeting with JS were a disappointment, and I've been down over that.

But I've been in this kind of funk before, and I know how to deal with it. So I've started painting the living room, doing just one section of wall a day. It will take me close to a week to finish, most likely, since I also need to do the window seats, which are tricky. (Photos to come.)

But it will be worth it. Fresh paint. And warm colors, perfectly suited for fall and winter.

So this morning I painted for an hour or so, then took Connie for a walk. After that, I talked to Jacqueline on the phone for about an hour, which cheered me up.

I opened the box from New York and laid out the two shirts. (Black sweater. Gray rusche.) My mood started to lift.

Then a quick sauna and shower, and I dressed in my new clothes for my radiation therapy appointment.

After radiation, I headed over to see Chez to have him cut my hair. I did an interview with the Seattle Post-Intelligencer last week, and the story is set to run next Monday. The reporter and I discussed photo possibilities and agreed that me getting a haircut would be a good shot.

As you can see, the shirts from Jacqueline look great, and I have cheered up. Chez, of course, did a great job on my hair. He's in Seattle, working out of a little barbershop near Seattle Center. Call him if you need a cut: (206) 283-0842.

@ Jeanne Sather 2007.

The One-Breasted Woman Fashion Show: Rebel1in8 Jeanne's Black Sweater

Here's another one-of-a-kind piece that Jacqueline made for me.

I took the sweater, a black, stretch velvet that I've had for several years, with me when I went to visit Jacqueline in New York a few weeks ago. We looked through the samples she has in the loft, and I chose one similar to this as a model for Jacqueline to follow.

The sweater should be on its way to me as I write this, and I can't wait. It's the perfect weight for the Seattle fall (at least on clear days), and I think the button really makes it.

Of course, my second home is Japan, and the Japanese look of that button really appeals to me.

It's been more than two weeks since I retired Jabba, my right boob, and I don't miss him at all. In fact, I am sitting in the window of a coffee shop in Vancouver, B.C., wearing a sleeveless black top, Jabba-less, and no one is paying any attention. Not a second glance.

Jacqueline designs and makes Rhea Belle clothes, for one-breasted or no-breasted women, like me. Her slogan: Not a statistic. More than fashion. It's a rebellion.

See a similar sweater Jacqueline has on her slide show Bridges and Bows No. 2.

Go to Jacqueline's blog, Rebel1in8.

To order clothing, contact: Jacqueline@rebel1in8.com.

@ Jeanne Sather 2007.

The One-Breasted Woman Fashion Show: Rebel1in8 Comfy Cotton Rusche

It's been more than two weeks since I retired Jabba, my right boob, and I don't miss him at all.

I don't feel embarrassed to go out in public, and, amazingly, no one seems to notice that I don't have a right breast. If people DO stare, I assume they are looking at the great clothes Jacqueline has made for me. Or they are admiring my smile and my sunny attitude!

Talk about coming out of the closet. Another bonus--my back bothers me much less than it did when I wore Jabba. I think because Jabba was uncomfortable, I was fidgeting and fussing and it caused stress and tightness in my upper back.

That's gone now.

Here's the latest of the designs Jacqueline of Rhea Belle has made for me. She e-mailed me the photos, so the shirt isn't in my hands yet. (Wish my waist was anywhere close to as skinny as that of the dressmaker's dummy) When I get it I'll go out and take photos at some good Seattle spot--the Pike Place Market, maybe, or the Space Needle, and e-mail the photos to Jaccqueline for her blog.

Jacqueline designs and makes Rhea Belle clothes, for one breasted or no-breasted women, like me. Her slogan: Not a statistic. More than fashion. It's a rebellion.

See the Comfy Cotton Rusche, and more, on the slide show.

Go to Jacqueline's blog, Rebel1in8.

To order clothing, contact: Jacqueline@rebel1in8.com.

@ Jeanne Sather 2007.

The One-Breasted Woman Fashion Show: The Designer, Jacqueline Skaggs

You say ree-bel, I say reb-el.

No matter how you pronounce it, Rebel1in8 and the Rhea Belle line of clothing and jewelry are revolutionary.

Jacqueline Skaggs and I met through our cancer blogs and our mutual distaste for pink ribbon marketing (See Boycott October). She is a breast cancer survivor, and also an artist, and a jewelry and clothing designer.

Jacqueline's clothing and her jewelry are political. The beading on the jewelry "represents the 2004 statistic 'one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer,'" Jacqueline says. But the message is subtle. You can wear the jewelry because you want to make a political statement about the growing numbers of women diagnosed with breast cancer, or you can wear them because you like the elegant designs, or both.

Jacqueline describes her clothing as "renovated fashion designed to embrace a women's natural architecture."

She writes, "Rhea Belle is a post-mastectomy clothing concept born from a passion to create clothing for women who have had a single or bi-lateral mastectomy and are moving forward without reconstructive surgery or prostheses.

"With a utilitarian approach Rhea Belle garments are created by renovating existing garments and design elements. Rhea Belle invites women to embrace their natural architecture with comfort and peaceful resolve at every dawn."

In other words, throw away that uncomfortable, expensive prosthesis (typically, a breast prosthesis costs $200-$300) and gets some fun, funky clothes that make you feel and look good about the body you have.

Jacqueline does not discriminate: women who have not had breast cancer are welcome to buy and wear her clothes as well as those of us who are breast cancer survivors.

Jacqueline was born in Indiana, and now lives in a loft in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband John, also an artist. She is "number eight" in a family of eight children, and her identical twin sister lives in the loft next door with her husband.

"After my second breast cancer diagnosis at the age of 40, I became a committed crusader--out to rally for dignity in a post-mastectomy world of oppressive conventions that lie deep in the folds of a pink satin ribbon," she says.

Go to her blog to see what Jacqueline has done with the annoying, ubiquitous pink ribbon:

Rebel1in8

See the rest of the One-Breasted Woman Fashion Show

To order clothing, contact: Jacqueline@rebel1in8.com.

@ Jeanne Sather 2007.

The One-Breasted Woman Fashion Show: Rebel1in8 Jeanne's Red Wrap

This is MY shirt.

Jacqueline made it for me Labor Day weekend when I went to visit her in New York. I wore it to Coney Island on Labor Day, and it was my first trip out in public without my prosthesis in the nine years since my mastectomy (except for a couple of times that I accidentally ran out of the house without Jabba, the prosthesis, because I was in a hurry).

I'm wearing this shirt now as I type. I wore it again to head down to Pioneer Square in Seattle last Saturday to get a massage.

It's a great shirt--comfortable to wear and a perfect rosy-red color. You can wrap it four or five different ways, which is fun.

See Jeanne's red wrap, back view.

Jacqueline designs and makes Rhea Belle clothes, for one-breasted or no-breasted women, like me. Her slogan: Not a statistic. More than fashion. It's a rebellion.

Go to the Rhea Belle store.

Go to Jacqueline's blog, Rebel1in8.

To order clothing, contact: Jacqueline@rebel1in8.com.

This photo is Jacqueline and me on Coney Island, Labor Day 2007.

@ Jeanne Sather 2007.

The One-Breasted Woman Fashion Show: Rebel1in8 Cotton Summer Cowl

This great shirt was a custom design Jacqueline made just for me when I was visiting her in New York.

The purpose of my visit was to meet her, as we'd been corresponding by e-mail and through our blogs for almost a year, and to order some clothes, since I had decided to retire Jabba, my prosthesis, and go out in public as a one-breasted woman.

The shirt is large, and with the loose cowl can be worn all sorts of ways. It is a variation of the white Comfy Cotton Summer Cowl that Jacqueline has in her slide show and also in her online store. As you can see from the photo, if you LOOK, you will notice that I don't have a right breast, but with the way the shirt drapes it is not obvious. I feel comfortable in public like this.

See the Comfy Cotton Summer Cowl.

Here's Jacqueline's description of the basic cowl:

This incredibly comfortable T-cowl was created with two men's fruit-of-the-loom cotton T-shirts (size small). While it washes nicely, it shrinks a tad bit as with any cotton garment. This will fit women sizes small to medium and possibly large (of course getting more form fitting). I generally wear a size s/m and this men's small fits just right as it gracefully hangs slightly off of my shoulders in a care-free kind of way.

I made myself one and I have been known to wear it four to five days straight... only to regrettably have to put it in the laundry bag. It is fabulous with a pair of jeans, comfy skirt or over a bathing suit. If you know how a men's T-shirt fits on you and you would prefer a different size I'll be thrilled to make one for you in the size of your choice--simply make a note to me after purchase. Custom orders will take me a few days (3-5) longer to ship.

Note: Mine (Jeanne's) was made from a medium men's T-shirt, and I wear a M size (10-12) in misses' clothing. I'm going to wash it today for the first time, and I expect it will shrink a bit.

You can order the white shirt through the online store, or e-mail Jacqueline if you want a custom shirt or if you have questions.

Jacqueline designs and makes Rhea Belle clothes, for one-breasted or no-breasted women, like me. Her slogan: Not a statistic. More than fashion. It's a rebellion.

Go to the Rhea Belle store.

Go to Jacqueline's blog, Rebel1in8.

To order clothing, contact: Jacqueline@rebel1in8.com.

@ Jeanne Sather 2007.