October's Daily Encounters with "pink stuff"

rachelvk

GramE - Thanks for that post. I forgot about them. It will be a nice treat if I can get out and see them.

mdg

My friend just texted me from downtown Chicago...the Sears Tower is pink too....FYI. 

Lulu22

When I see all this pink junk I wonder what it's like to be a man with BC during BC awareness month.

3jaysmom

my hubs uses pink hair tyes in his pnytail this month, just to p** off his coworkers!!!otherwise, its the only  .color he won't wear!!! yes, orangemat; thats' the shirt. i love it... but, do i have the cahonies to wear it??!!!!its the most accurate i've ever seen!!

   when you want to say "welcome to MY world"...3jays

lago

Oddly enough prostate cancer awareness month is September. I didn't see much bluewashing.

YamahaMama

Oh, lago, I can't even BEGIN to tell you where my inappropriate sense of humor took me at that thought!!!  I had NO idea that ribbon was "blue."  Hahahahaha  

lago

Yamaha please share

shells43

I have accidentally left the house twice this month without my foob. Once to work, and once to get a haircut. Then I deliberately went half-flat to Walmart. I decided if the stores are pushing BC "awareness"  I would help them. No one has said anything to me yet, wonder if they will? Maybe they aren't looking. It feels so good to not wear the prosthesis!

Lifeafter

I never wear my foobs. They are uncomfortable. I have a couple of anecdotes that have happened this month:



1. I was at the checkout at Safeway and I was asked if I wanted to donate to breast cancer. I said...looking down at my chest...I've already donated. The checkout person just froze with a deer in the headlights look. Poor thing, lol, but really...look at your customer before asking something like that instead of blindly just checking items and keeping your head down at your register.



2. I was at Home Depot and this kid was helping me in the garden center and he was doing the 'eye above my head' thing as if I was hovering above him. It was getting quite annoying. So I said...look, it's ok to look here..waving my finger over my chest area. I have breast cancer and they've been lopped off. you don't have to do keep looking above my head. Again the look on his face, hahaha!



Both times, I was light and didn't come across like I was angry at the world. It is what is, I am one of the many looks and faces of breast cancer. I'm not tied up with a pretty pink bow.



Michelle

1Athena1

Michelle, I hope your influence has helped to educate those two people on the fact that behind this pink fluff there is actually "blood sweat and tears."

Luckily, pink month isn't felt in my neck of the woods (or my hangouts - not sure which). My personal experience this month has still only been via television, with those annoying Yoplait commercials and the Jennifer Aniston ones, and that is only because in oder to watch Project Runway I have to tune into the Lifetime channel!

mdj - any more pictures? 

thepinkbirdie

shelley, i never wear my foob.  i used to just wear a loose shirt, but now i don't care.  i went to the grocery store one day in a tight shirt... only one boob.  the poor kid working at the checkout just kept staring at my chest with the most blank expression I've ever seen.

i spent the first half of the October going out in public wearing a tight PINK t-shirt.  i know i've caught quite a few people off guard with it.  at first i was unnerved doing it.  the first time, i came around the corner of the produce section at walmart and a couple of seconds later heard a woman whisper, "oh my God".  i wanted to run out of there crying, but by the time i got back in my car, i couldn't help but giggle thinking of some of the expressions from others.  it's become very liberating.

i'm not comfortable with the foob.  and for the most part, i don't give a damn what people think anymore about "exposing" myself.

thepinkbirdie

"I am one of the many looks and faces of breast cancer. I'm not tied up with a pretty pink bow."

love it! 

shells43

Well I'm glad to know I'm not alone. Maybe I'm starting not to care either.

Lifeafter

You are definitely not alone! :-)



Michelle

mumito

I very seldom bother to wear my foobs as well and really don't care what anyone thinks.As for that Already donated comment I have said the same thing to clerks before.

mdg

I had a trip to downtown Chicago yesterday with a BC friend and here are a few of our pink encouters while shopping:

Gotta love the "awreness bra" at Macy's....complete with breast exam instructions on a card.

The Black/White Store has apparently gone black, white and pink.

1Athena1

In other words the pink marred an otherwise lovely outing - lol. Thanks for this mdg. Hope you found something you liked.

SheChirple

I have a good sense of humor.  I can laugh at the "Save the TaTas" bumper stickers, etc.. I think their cute.  Our local girls softball league umpires are wearing pink jerseys this month..nice.  They even sold some t-shirts that read "Save 2nd Base" with a line about supporting breast cancer research.

I do, however, feel overwhelmed with pink.  I really thought it was because of my very recent diagnosis (10/14) and the waiting I was going through after my biposy (9/29).   It seemed to ramp up just after my mammo, got worse with the biopsy and now with the diagnoses and waiting for surgery, I can't get away from the pink!!!

I am still in the disclosure stages, too.  Sharing my diagnosis, and deciding who needs to know, who doesnt, and realizing that, basically, if you tell one, you tell all.  I bought a journal.  I was going to get something simple, non-descript.  But, I caved and bought a nice pink fluer d lis design cover.  I have kept journals throughout my life during different times.  When I fell in love as a teen I bought a nice heart covered journal.  When I was planning my wedding I bought a lacey white journal. So, I caved and bought a nice pink one.  I passed on the huge pink ribbon cover, though.

I have added a sparkley pink ribbon swarovski crystal encrusted brooch to my collection of ribbon brooches.  I now have 12 in support of different causes.  I just figured that if I can have yellow ribbons for my sons in the military, purple for so many causes, etc...I could certainly wear pink.

Please tell me the pink will hide after October, at least the overwhelming volume of it.

I, too, plan to use the "already donated" line...or, in my case "about to donate"......

lago

I find "Save the TaTas" slogan wrong. It's about saving lives. Some of us have already lost our "TaTas" to this disease. Others still have their "TaTas" but are metastatic. I don't get all angry about it but it is sending an uninformed message.

orangemat

You're right, lago. (btw, is that a lower case "L" or a capital "I" in your username?).

Maybe the saying should be "the TaTas were lost so that I could be saved". But that's not as cute.

So I'm still going with "F*ck Cancer" with the pink ribbon as the missing vowel in the first word.

lago

It's an "L". I'm not that literate to think of  "iago" nor am I that nasty

Anonymous

SHELLEY   I LOVE THE FIRST T SHIRT!!!  Fabulous - the best I've ever seen.  Only one I'd ever wear!

FireKracker

I love love love the shirt WTF is the CURE?I would wear only that one...

3jaysmom

im still wondering if im brave enuff to wear the other one, gonna get it, though.. have it "incase".......3jays

Sassa

Another woman and I were asked to leave Sally's Beauty Supply(a chain here in Florida, I don't know about elsewhere) today.

When I went in, a sales girl followed me to ask if she could help and then said beaming, "If you buy any of the pink items , we will donate to Susan G Komen.  We raise a lot of money for them."

She was shocked when I said,"Absolutely not!!!" and then proceeded to fill her in on what Komen does with the money given to them (big salaries, law suits defending the pink ribbon, scholarships, "Goodwill" tours to the Caribbean in the winter for the exec board, etc. A second woman came over and started adding to the list.

Another woman ready to check out at the cash register with a bunch of pink stuff, looked at us and asked if we were serious about what we were saying.  I said yes and mentioned the recent newspaper article she could look up on line about Susan Brinker and Komen.  That woman put down the stuff and left the store.

At that point, the store manger yelled at us, "Ladies, I can not permit you to have this conversation in this store.  We give a lot of money to Komen."

I replied, "Well, shame on you if you still permit yourself to be taken in by Komen and don't research what we are saying further.  Take the money and give it to Moffitt (our local NCI Cancer affiliate) or Shands (research hospital) or another local group where you know where the money is going."

At this point, the other woman and I were asked to leave the store.  So we both put down our non-pink items and left.

 Yes, the other woman was also a breast cancer patient.

Lifeafter

Sassa - I wish I could have been there!  That makes me deliberately want to go into Sally's in my neighborhood and do the same!

I'm such a trouble-maker...

1Athena1

What a story! Kudos to you and the other lady. Too bad that we have to raise awareness about the awareness.

thepinkbirdie

oooooh i sense a trip to Sally's in my future.

FireKracker

Oh Sassa----how i wish I was there with you...then again if i was there i think we would have gotten arrested!!!!!!I get sooo worked up i could rip someones head off.HATS OFF TO YOU SISTA.

KittyGirl2011

Ok, so are you ready for this.  I wrote to Estee Lauder about their ad for BC and told them how appalled I was that they chose to glamorize it rather then show women with their scars from surgery.  Well here is the lame response I got;

Thank you for taking the time to contact Estée Lauder.

For nearly 20 years, The Estee Lauder Companies' Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign has been raising awareness about the importance of breast health and early detection, and raising funds for research to find a cure.

The intent of the 2011 BCA Campaign, with its bold and inspiring visual, is to raise awareness while emphasizing the collective power of people joining TOGETHER around the world with one voice to spread the all- important message of breast health and that early detection saves lives.

Sincerely,

Mischelle Kristofor
Consumer Care Representative
Global Consumer Communications

They did not even address my specific concerns.  Very, very, sad that a real breast cancer patient is ignored!   Guess I won't be buying any of their junk any more!  Kitty