b'The best advice I can give you on this journey is to do what YOU need."I tell people that cancer forces you to make theI have a complicated medical history and have had best decisions out of many unwanted choices. Andnumerous major surgeries in my life. Because of you have to make those decisions while in the midstthis and my background as a physical therapist, I of confusion, sadness, and a lot of fear. I didnt wanthave had the chance to build up the mental and a lumpectomy or a mastectomy. I didnt want tophysical tools I need around my body and how I have to choose between flat incisions or implants.move through the world.I didnt want my daughter to face a new medical history of breast cancer from me. But life doesntWhile breast cancer was entirely foreign and always let us decide what choices we need to make. shocking to me, my body was not. My body was the same partner I had had for 45 years.So I decided to have a double mastectomy. My tumor was so large that my surgeon said aI knew her and trusted her, and we made the lumpectomy wasnt an option for me. They neededdecision together.to take the entire breast in order to remove the cancer. My only choice became, did I want them toI am now writing this six months after my double take one or both. mastectomy with reconstruction. I am healing. I am moving. I am working. I am mom-ing. I am trail So I listened to women who came before me. Onerunning and planking and teaser-ing and filming of them emailed and said, The best advice I canworkouts. I am not doing push-ups. I experience give you on this journey is to do what YOU need. Wenumbness and pain. I cant lie on my stomach. But I are all different, so make the choices you need foram here. And I am so grateful, as I absolutely know I yourself along the way. am one of the lucky ones.There was no right or wrong here. There wasI thank every woman who shared their story with only what was best for me. me, sent me drain holders, watched our kids, brought me homemade blankets, or cooked my That was taking both breasts. family meals. Being reminded of the power of community was the greatest thing to come out of I personally didnt want to worry aboutthis for me. So now I hope I can offer the same to mammograms or a recurrence of breast cancer onothers out there. You arent alone. You are stronger the other side. I knew I would always be wonderingthan you know. You can do this.what if. This was a decision I made knowing myselfI promise.and my personality. It was the right thing for me. And the reason I knew that is because I had taken the time in the past to get to know myself and You can learn more at JessicaValantPilates.commy body.@jessicavalantpilates More stories at thecore.pilates.com 85'