Hey there, my name is Kathleen. I live in NW Oregon with my husband and 22 year old step son. I started getting biopsies a little over three years ago, and had breast ultrasounds every six months for seven or eight years before that. I finally got the clear and unanimous signal from those I’d found and grown to trust, that it was time to say goodbye to one of my breasts two years ago, just after returning from a wonderful road trip that took most of the month of April. I drove through the southwest of the US, with my husband and our new puppy. We drove through California and Nevada, all over southern Utah and into Arizona, where we spent Easter Day kayaking into The Narrows of Antelope Canyon from Lake Powell. It was closed for Covid from the normal entrance, so we and a few other kayakers had it all to ourselves. I still felt very hopeful that I’d be able to avoid surgery on that trip, but since then things have been a lot different. I like my new body way more than I expected but I’m seeing more and more how difficult it was for my spirit when I relinquished my body to conventional medical folks before getting the chance to trust them. I’m working on reclaiming my body from that relinquishment now. That’s why I do things like sharing photos like this, that are outside the standards of social norms. I’m willing to be seen as an exhibitionist and attention seeker, because my #autonomy and sense of #wholeness and #freedomofchoice are more important to me. This is me asserting ownership of my body—taking it back from those who needed to fix it. This is me standing in solidarity with all of those who are stuck in “relinquishment mode” after breast cancer. This is me being proud of my #scars and #shapes because they show my courage. I’m working hard in every way I can to make the system better for those who come after me. Thanks for your interest in my story and my #strangelybeautiful way of showing it.