A Breast Cancer Notebook: My Story in Paper and Glue

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How breast cancer changed me, and didn't

I am a content, happy person by nature, so I adjusted well at every stage. My husband and I get along better, perhaps because I’ve relaxed more about life. I’m closer to my older sister, Joan, in St. Louis; we talk four times a week and she is taking Glenn and me to Paris in the spring.

It was also a perfect chance to sever relationships that sucked the energy out me. During treatment, we rarely had people over, which was a drastic change from the four-course authentic Roman meals I used to cook, or the 75 people we had for one Christmas party. Now I cook less, or at least more simply, and only the people I really enjoy come over.

About the approach and materials: Before cancer I spent every summer for seven years in San Cristobal de las Casas, a small colonial town founded in the 1500s, in the mountains of southern Mexico. I painted, drew, printed, daydreamed. Friends sent me this handmade book from Vietnam. I used tissue and varnish for the images.

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