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Lorde's story of going through a mastectomy to fight her breast cancer portrays why humanities must be further studied with medicine. Throughout Lorde's experience with breast cancer, there were many difficult decisions that she needed to battle her way through. Many of Audre's battles were not physical but psychological, some induced by the healthcare providers she worked with. Lorde struggled day in and out, fighting her battles in her head; she wrote, "I think I was fighting the devil of despair within myself for my own soul" (Lorde pg. 68). This is a prime example of why humanities need to be more integrated within medicine because if patients are not getting good mental care their physical well-being will be affected.
At the end of this passage, there was a large emphasis on prostheses after mastectomy. Audre experienced many healthcare professionals who shamed her for not wearing a prosthesis even though having one has no real function. These workers would even convince women to endure getting implants that could potentially bring their cancer back so that they can look "normal." Humanities brought into this situation could help healthcare workers not place stigmas on those who do not want to pretend to look like everyone else after fighting and winning a battle against breast cancer. Expanding the relationship between medicine and the humanities will cause a drastic increase in the mental and physical well-being of patients.

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Reading Audre Lorde's experience of going through the American Healthcare system as a marginalized person was a surreal and depressing introduction to the realities of the humanities in medicine, or the lack thereof. Lorde's book, titled the "Cancer Journals", creates discourse on a myriad of topics including the systematic societal pressures of conforming post-mastectomy women by instutional forces (i.e. the American Cancer Society's Reach for Recovery program) rather than prioritizing funding for increased medical research into cancer prevention. Her book was also a masterclass on intersectionality, as it helped bring to light how interconnected different socio-political issues are with one another. For example the conformation of post-mastectomy women's identity, to fit beauty standards, is an issue of misogyny and capitalism at play. Lorde sums this up brilliantly saying, " We live in a profit economy and there is no profit in the prevention of cancer; there is only profit in the treatment of cancer" (Lorde 64).
The Cancer Journals is also an important piece of Literature, as it gives us firsthand insight from the perspective of the patient rather than the medical provider. Some of Lorde's emotional struggles were correlated to the lack of support from the doctors that surrounded her, on her choice to not wear lambswool or go through breast reconstructive surgery. It gives us a clear example of how projecting morality and personal beliefs onto patients can have a fundamental affect on them and their agency- something that is critical for a patient to have when fighting a life-threatening illness- and shows us a situation where the humanities could have made a difference.
Audre Lorde's entire post-mastectomy seemed to also be motivated by the idea that silence is deadly, especially for those in marginalized communities. Something that is articulated when she writes, " My silence had not protected me. Your silence will not protect you" (Lorde 13). Whether intentional or not, her ability to advocate, and trust herself was a critical part of her experience navigating the health system during her cancer treatments.
Her narrative helps contribute to our understanding of the relationship between the medical sciences and humanities, because it shows us the necessity of empowering patients and their decisions in regards to their body, while being able to share accurate medical information without shaming them. Reading her story is also critical for future doctors, nurses and other medical providers, in better understanding the history of black women and other marginalized communities in this country, and their difficult relationship to healthcare institutions, as it can help cultivate understanding and dispersing medical information while also actively listening to the patients needs.

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On The Subject Of Femininity, Breast Cancer, and Storytelling

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On The Subject Of Femininity, Breast Cancer, and Storytelling

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Through storytelling, Audre Lorde truthfully portrays her experience with breast cancer beyond its surface level scars. By turning her experience into a story, she brings to light the forgotten, misunderstood, and stigmatized associations of the disease and its intersectionality with womanhood, femininity, mental health, and social perception.

A major component of Lorde’s experience revolves around the social “concentration upon breast cancer as a cosmetic problem” and not the life-threatening disease which it truly is. (Lorde 48) Due to the sexualization of women’s bodies as “essentially decorative machines of consumer function”, the primary objective of breast cancer recovery in medical settings is often focused on a patient’s aesthetic and the “normality” of the female body. (Lorde 57) By highlighting the intersection of medicine and the hyper-sexual perception of women, Lorde offers an insight which is ignored in a traditional understanding of breast cancer. “A woman's perception of her own body and the strengths that come from that perception are discouraged, trivialized, and ignored” due to the impending sexualization and social conventions of the female image. (Lorde, 57) Given the stigma of the de-feminization that breast cancer imposes on women, it pushes them into a perceived protective silence. This silence is not specific to experiences of breast cancer alone since all people “share a war against the tyrannies of silence” in some way. (Lorde, 13) Yet, when people are silent about their experiences, it only adds to the misunderstanding and foreignness of the experience itself. Lorde’s near-death experience allowed her to “put fear into a perspective” and use it as a strength. (Lorde, 13) Realizing that death was not a question of “if”, but “when” Lorde broke the silence on the realities of breast cancer in its psychological, mental, and social senses. Not only was this done as a form of retaliation on the perception of the illness, but also as a method of self-healing and adjustment to her new self and a reminder to other survivors that they are not alone in their experience.

The Health Humanities offer a voice to the underestimated forces that play into one’s experience of health. Lorde’s work is a prime example of how the humanities can offer insight to the social and psychological factors that impact health which corporate medicine has ignored.

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Nearing the end of the second chapter, Lorde poetically states a belief that she’s been touching on throughout the reading. For women, breast cancer includes more than the elimination of the cancer. Women are faced with the additional stressor of cosmetics. Lorde continues about the unfair expectation for women to shape, adjust, and view their bodies with the intent of approval from outside viewers, an experience known to Lorde. She explains the pressure she felt from the time she got her cancer diagnoses, to the mastectomy, and especially during the recovery process. “The emphasis upon wearing a prosthesis is a way of avoiding having women come to terms with their own pain and loss, and thereby, with their own strength.” (Lorde, 49) The nurses, doctors, and aides openly air their belief in the need for prosthesis. This in turn, leaves mastectomy survivors with a sense of shame or embarrassment if they do not share the same belief.

I think that her experience of pressure and dismissal from doctors and nurses displays the disconnect between medicine and the humanities. The trauma of experiencing a cancer diagnosis, treatment, and recovery is one that requires immense support. However, women face the least humane support. There is an avoidant behavior specifically when discussing the psychological toll mastectomies have on their survivors. Most notably, there is a sense of loneliness and isolation. Women, doctors, and nurses are not willing to openly discuss normalizing living without breasts because it is stigmatized. Without the normalization of mastectomies and the open support of survivors that prefer to stay natural, how are medical communities truly fulfilling the treatment of patients. For women to heal, mentally and physically, they must be given the space and support by medical professionals to come to terms with their new form of natural.

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Audre Lorde's narrative offers a deeply personal and first-hand perspective on her journey with breast cancer, intertwining her experiences with broader societal and cultural issues. The poetic writing style she uses, including personal accounts while actively battling the cancer, shines light on the a patient perspective that is often kept behind closed doors. She gives raw details of not only the physical pain experienced by the cancer, but the unforeseen dehumanizing aspects that came with her medical treatment.

Specifically for breast cancer, the emphasis on cosmetic looks and reconstruction right after the surgery seems to be emphasizing the wrong type of suffering that is experienced post-op. Lorde recalls her return to the hospital after a painful ten days, where she was shockingly faced with judgment for not wearing the silicone breast. Her worries at this time were not for cosmetics, but "...about my chances for survival, the effects of a possibly shortened life upon my work and my priorities. Could this cancer have been prevented, and what could I do in the future to prevent its recurrence?" (Lorde 49) While she recognized that these people were just trying to help, they were doing more harm than good for her. The abundance of breast reconstruction plans thrown at her days after surgery did not help her with the concerns she was really facing, but rather made her feel ashamed. This shed light on the over-sexualization of women and the power dynamics inherent in the medical system and how they intersect with race, gender, and sexuality. Her writing underscores the role of the humanities in advocating for more compassionate and patient-centered care. While it is true that some women would care greatly about the physical changes that come with a mastectomy, every patient is different and should be cared for accordingly. Lorde's work is a poignant reminder that the humanities are not separate from medicine but rather an integral part of it. The profound impact that empathy, and personalized human connection can have in the realm of healthcare is indispensable.

Lorde, Audre. The Cancer Journals. 1980. San Francisco, Ca Aunt Lute Books, 2020.

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Life always presents itself with a few unavoidable challenges, meaning, the only option is to confront them and accept them. Audre Lorde’s Cancer Journal makes it abundantly clear the challenges she faces as a poet who identifies as a “black lesbian feminist,” who is also battling the war of breast cancer. However, despite the challenges, she manages them with her strong, powerful, resilient words. Through the narrative, Lorde repeatedly drills this concept into our minds, letting us know the main points: silence wasn’t something she would ever accept; only the truth. Truth provides us with the ability to tell our story and make us distinguishable from each other. Lorde made it very clear that her breasts were a story, a story she would like to share not only with the vast collection of science and medicine, but with the world as well.

Something that Lorde said that made me stop and think was, breast reconstruction is the only medical procedure that serves no purpose other than improving one’s appearance and how conforming to these social norms would only depersonalize those who do so. Many of us would find ourselves gasping for air as we submit to fear rather than standing tall shouting out our stories, because of our immense horror of fear. Fear of being different, therefore resulting in our loud silence. Throughout the story Lorde talks about this idea, which is the idea that "It is not difference which immobilizes us, but silence," (Lorde 23).

The value of a story is one of the major topics we have been discussing in class when it comes to global health and humanities. Frequently, we hear the single story of a patient who experiences difficulties but nearly makes a perfect recovery. We hear a story in which discomfort is not actually excruciating, where lies are made, and a perfect bow to wraps up the story. However, Lorde articulates that isn’t always the reality, and often times it isn’t. Rather than hiding behind her words, she uses them to share her truth and embrace the story she has to offer. She shares about how she felt transparent and misunderstood. At this time, she required support not only from her doctors, but also her nurses who often failed at that as well. While she was hit with the "icy sensations of that frigid room," (Lorde 27) she was met with empty hands. When she was in pain, she was met with the stern voices of the nurse telling her to be quiet as there were other patients, completely ignoring the fact that she was one as well.

No one ever really talked about the entire story, and for this reason, Lorde’s story is so important in the fields of not only medicine but also humanities. Her story adds to the field of health humanities, and provides others who are experiencing similar difficulties, a sense of understanding. It offers a more realistic representation of the world we live in, which is a world with various views, procedures, and experiences.

Citation:
Lorde, Andre. The Cancer Journals. Penguin Books, 2020.

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Audre Lorde describes her experience of having breast cancer in her book The Cancer Journals not only as a woman but also as a black feminist lesbian poet. Lorde puts particular emphasis on fear and how being afraid of what will happen makes the experience even more horrifying. The way she narrates her story has an informative purpose and takes a relatable approach. She uses fairly simple language that makes her points easy to digest and clear.
Her story relates to Global Health Humanities as she discusses the care she was given and how it shaped her experience. For instance, after she came out of the biopsy and felt cold as a result of the medical procedures and shock, nobody brought her extra blankets. Instead of being shown compassion and care by the staff, "the nurses were very put out by my ruckus and sent me back to the floor early" (p. 35). It was her friends and family - the loving community of women she had - that cared for her and helped her get through it by not only being there emotionally but also putting their coats on her as there were no blankets available. Later, when Lorde was screaming in pain she says: "I remember a disgusted nurse giving me a shot" (p. 43). Her experiences with nurses were not all bad as she says "...a nurse rubbed my back again, helped me get up and go to the bathroom ... and then helped me into a chair. She made me a cup of tea and some fruit juice because I was parched. The pain had subsided a good deal." (p.43) It is evident through other research that offering patients care alongside the treatment is crucial to ensure a good recovery process and to encourage vulnerability and strength. Having these sources of emotional support helped Lorde get through this experience of loss, and helped her digest and accept this change in her life.
She also addresses the importance of recognizing the emotional and physical pain of having breast cancer. That the care that needs to be offered post-mastectomy (if that is the path a person chooses to follow) includes making the patient feel less alone and seen. Women's voices are not heard enough and in addition to being a woman, Lorde is also black and a lesbian. This changes her experience to focus less on men's perception of herself and how her body can still be loved by a woman. However, just because she is not bothered by the male expectations and standards for an aesthetically pleasing woman does not mean that those around her in the healthcare system do not see her through the lens of a male fantasy. We can see that she is being pressured to wear a prosthetic which she reiterates does not feel right for her and her process of acceptance.
Hence, Audre Lorde emphasizes the importance of health humanities as the bridge between treatment and care as a humane aspect helps the patient be seen as more than their illness and gives them the strength to get through their fear. Still, it is important to acknowledge that this looks different for everybody, especially when intersectionality comes into play, so being free from judgment looks different for people part of different marginalized groups.

Audre Lorde, and Tracy K Smith. The Cancer Journals. New York City, Penguin Books, 2020.

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Audre Lorde’s Cancer Journals is a heartbreaking narrative describing the struggle of recovering from the loss of a mastectomy. It is a story that shows how critical intersectionality is to a patient’s experience battling a disease and how much worse silence can make the problem. She shows the struggle that she feels between her race, sexuality, and profession as a feminist poet. Fitting into one category is impossible for her. She expresses that she is “defined as other in every group I’m a part of”(12). Her narrative highlights how much loneliness can depend on being able to relate to someone you would be able to bond with even if you were not ill. A charity worker visits her after surgery and Lorde finds that even her kindness and shared experience with a mastectomy cannot comfort her because she could not fully connect with the woman as she is a straight white woman who chose to use prosthetics to conceal her loss of a breast. Audre says, “I needed to talk with women who shared at least some of my major concerns and beliefs and visions”(42).

Silence is addressed as a harmful possible side effect of a near-death experience like cancer. It is hesitantly portrayed as the easier option that many opt to take, although she clarifies, “It is not my intention to judge the woman who has chosen the path of prosthesis, of silence and invisibility, the woman who wishes to be 'the same as before”(7). After recovery, Lorde could have chosen to use the lambswool to stuff her breast to welcome the silence that the doctors and even women she spoke to encouraged her to embrace. She explains that silence is rooted in fear and apprehension of what people’s reactions might be. The worst part about silence is not the very act of silence but what is lost from not sharing their stories. The act of Audre Lorde sharing her journals with the world enables more people to relate to or sympathize with issues within the medical field and intersectionality. In a powerful summary of her thoughts on silence she says, “We can be silent but it will not make us less afraid”, which shows her profound relationship with breaking silence and showing the raw truth that many find comfort in hiding, which–as she notes– is understandably so.

Lorde, Audre. The Cancer Journals. Penguin Books, 2020.

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Audre Lorde’s The Cancer Journals focuses on her recovery from her mastectomy. Her first issue is getting the surgery in itself. She makes no note of the difficulty in finding a surgeon, and in deciding to trust them. The issue was deciding to get a mastectomy. She boils it down to something very simple, her breast or her life. That is a simple choice; a part of your body, or your whole self. Most people would choose to preserve their lives at any cost. But then she moves into the next dilemma, recovery. In transitioning, I had a fairly similar–yet distinctly different–procedure. Medically, we went through the same surgery, but mine was a happy choice and hers was a bitter fight for survival. However, I can recognize her feelings as similar to my own. She went through extreme pain, even after the pain of the physical amputation subsided. In the introduction, a journal entry she wrote states:

But fear and anxiety are not the same at all. One is an appropriate response to a real situation which I can accept and learn to work through just as I work through semi-blindness. But the other, anxiety, is an immobilizing yield to things that go bump in the night, a surrender to namelessness, formlessness, voicelessness, and silence. (Lorde 7).

A forgotten fact of breast removal is the amount of hormones produced there. Despite your feelings for your chest–I felt repulsion for mine, while she felt love–its removal will negatively impact your emotional state for weeks. I was a mess for a long time after, I can only begin to imagine her depth of sorrow post-mastectomy.

Then to add to that pain is society’s view of having one breast. It was assumed that Lorde would want a replacement, and she was judged harshly for not. The idea that a woman could want to exist without two breasts is repulsive and brings down the morale of a breast cancer office. How dare she not look on the bright side of things. But why was she not given the right to be sad? To mourn the loss of an important part of herself? And further, be blamed for her own cancer. Lorde read in a newsletter that happy people do not get cancer. Her response was only human, “Despite my knowing better … for a moment this letter hit my guilt button. Had I really been guilty of the crime of not being happy in this best of all possible infernos?” (66). Everyone gets cancer. Being good, happy, and otherwise healthy will not save someone’s cells from going haywire. No one, especially doctors, should turn illness into a moral issue. Doctors owe their patients, and their readers, help free from judgment. Even silent judgment.

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After reading "The Cancer Journals", I can say that I was fascinated by her story and the way she tells it. While reading it, I could feel her emotions and try to understand her feelings during those difficult times. She talked a lot about silence and how women are raised to fear. I believe that the message that she wanted to share throughout her book was that "feelings need voice in order to be recognized, respected, and of use." We can definitely understand the relationship between medicine and the humanities through her book because she offers a space in which many women can relate to her story and be inspired by her mindset and her experience with breast cancer. For me, she is "a warrior with an honorable wound" and she is not afraid to hide the fact that she lost a piece of herself, but gained so much wisdom from it. Another inspiring quote was "I need to remind myself of the joy, the lightness, the laughter so vital to my living and my health", a quote that shows the obvious relationship between our mental health and our physical health. She reminds herself of the fact that she is alive and despite the fact that she experiences a great loss, she can still enjoy life without letting the disease define it. In the end, Audre Lorde gives women a ray of sunshine and a perspective that each of us should try to approach: "fighter resisting rather than as a passive victim suffering". Thinking in retrospect about our lives helps us understand how important it is to love and cherish every little moment of it because we never know how long we will be alive.

Citation: "The Cancer Journals" by Audre Lorde

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Throughout "The Cancer Journals," Lorde not only documents her personal journey but also becomes an advocate for herself and others facing similar challenges. Her narrative style conveys a sense of action and empowerment, inspiring readers to question the norms of our society and demand better healthcare practices. She fights to make health care a topic of discussion not a hushed subject in day-to-day lives, saying that just talking about it will have the power to unite people in ways humanity has rarely felt before. Emphasizing the role of the humanities in healthcare by advocating for change and social justice within the medical system. A message I found to speak to me was in her introduction when she said; “... the imposed silence about any area of our lives is a tool for separation and powerlessness and for myself I have tried to voice some of my feelings and thoughts about the travesty of prosthesis the pain of amputation the function of cancer and profit economy my confrontation with mortality the strength of woman loving and the power and rewards of self-consciousness of living.” (Lorde 1). This passage made me reflect about all the feelings I watch myself and my friends go through that we are too afraid to show the world. A place where feelings are normalized and talked about would lead to a more empathetic society; I’d imagine a place where even if you didn’t share those thoughts or feelings you would still feel accepted and a sense of community in knowing you are not alone. These ideas can easily be translated into health care by not only treating the body but treating the mind as it deals with finding a new normal after whatever happened to the body during treatment. “The terror and silent loneliness of women attempting to replace the ghost of a breast leads to yet another victimization.”(Lorde 59). This feeling is as Lorde describes felt in some way by every woman who goes through this operation and coming to terms with losing a part of yourself is not easy especially if you try to do it alone. Healthcare needs to address the whole person, and recognize that healing goes beyond physical recovery.  I believe this was a goal of the journals, it was in part to spread the message that no one is alone in their feelings and trials, and no matter what those feelings and challenges are, people crave commonality, to know that you are not alone even at your darkest times.

Citation
Lorde, Audre. The Cancer Journals. Penguin Books, 2020.

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Audre Lorde’s narrative contributes to the understanding of the relationship between medicine/science and the humanities because she shows us a different perspective, her perspective, of the way that breast cancer should be dealt with. Being from America, it is pushed upon women to hide from facing breast cancer and be a “mere victim” as Lorde says, rather than a “warrior” (Lorde 53). The US shames and alienates women that have one breast. This is the sole perspective that is advertised to others and prevents them from seeing alternative options. However, Lorde’s journals are that different perspective: one that is more supportive to those with breast cancer. She writes how she fought hard to not let her breast cancer consume her, which is something that we read in our other articles. Lorde mentions in her book that she “also began to feel that in the process of losing a breast [she] had become a more whole person” (Lorde 48). This is the idea that once having suffered with an illness, one realizes that death is inevitable and that you must live life to your fullest potentially, rather than the minimal energy you were putting into life before being ill. Lorde’s journals are an example of what the humanities tries to integrate into science, which is that you are not only a “patient” or “ill,” she shows us how she struggled, but fought to regain control of her life and how she was able to live fully with these new circumstances and not hid away from the truth, because in the end death is inevitable so it is best to present yourselves as a whole.

Lorde, Audre. The Cancer Journals. Penguin Books, 2020.