Another bathing suit/swimming dilemma

I've heard the same thing about Radiant Impressions and heat. But on the plus side, they are quite light. A fitter showed me one and let me handle it. It was surprisingly light. However, she never even mentioned that they're available as NON-custom forms. I think that one reason we can be so helpful to one another is that we're not in the business. I suspect that the fitter was hoping to get me to order a custom pair of Radiant Impressions, which are very costly. And a fitter certainly isn't likely to recommend the 126's, except as an extra pair, since they're so inexpensive and don't require fitting. But we can recommend them, or bath scrubbies, or whatever works, to one another, which is why this board is so wonderful.

Which brings me to a question. I've been thinking that, along with this forum, there might be a place for a separate website devoted to women who choose not to reconstruct and those are trying to decide whether or not to reconstruct. The idea would be to put all the knowledge I've accumulated from this board and elsewhere onto a permanent site. I've created a homepage and would love your feedback.

I wouldn't want to compete with bc.org. Far from it, I love this site and these Discussion Boards. I wouldn't envision my site having discussion boards, but would focus on information and perhaps personal stories of women who've chosen not to reconstruct. Of course, I would welcome contributions and ideas from all of you. If you want to check out the homepage (none of the links to other pages are operative yet), here's the url: http://breastfree.org/

There are precedents for this. FORCE is one (for women with BRCA), DIEP Sisters is another. Given the many sites dealing with reconstructive surgery, I thought there might be a place for one dealing with NON-reconstruction. I look forward to any and all reactions.

Barbara

Dawn,
Thanks for adding your support for the idea. I'm working right now to create other web pages for the site. I want the site to address the variety of options available to women who don't reconstruct--so this certainly includes going flat. As I'm a small woman with bilaterals who wears breast forms, I know a lot about options for someone like me. But I hope to get lots of input from the women on these boards about the different choices and challenges we face. So, there would be a section about going flat, about the clothing choices when going flat, etc. And I know the challenges of a single mastectomy are different from those faced by those of us with bilaterals. Also, larger women definitely face different issues, both in going flat and in wearing prostheses.

And another section I plan to include is individual stories (I just wrote my own yesterday). I think people newly facing mastectomies hunger for a sense of what the experience will be like. These boards certainly help in that regard, but I've always enjoyed reading stories, so I'm thinking maybe others will, too. So, I'd welcome stories, of a thousand words or less, about your personal experiences.

I'm thrilled that so far people seem enthusiastic about the project. SusaninSF asked whether I'm a writer--yes, I've written poetry, fiction, and a newspaper column, plus the blog I currently write. I also am fortunate that my DH is a website developer, so he's helping me with that.

Also, my thinking is not to have any discussion board on my site. Rather, I would refer women to this site, so that we can keep the dialog going here.

So, any feedback welcome. If anyone is interested in contributing and wants to PM me (and maybe include an email address), that would be great.

I would love your help, Carol. You're so knowledgeable about bras. Also, I plan to have a "personal stories" section (anonymous, of course), so hope you and others would be willing to post yours. I'm still working on constructing the site and writing basic copy. Once I'm ready for input (hopefully within the next month), I'll let you know.