Intercourse is a bit less spontaneous since Joanne needs to prepare herself.
Written testimony
When you were talking about the physical changes everything is dry. Everything is dry. We were, well we both were fairly intimate people, and very spur of the moment. Now it’s like… you’ve got to plan to have sex and it’s really…
Interviewer: To kind of prepare yourself?
Because I had to prepare, yeah! So that’s a bit frustrating and my husband is so sensitive. He’s always afraid he’s going to hurt me. That’s… it just changes everything, but we’re still working on it 4 years later. We’re still dealing with it, it’s like “Honey it’s okay. I don’t want to hurt you.” I had went through those, the ectopic pregnancies as well, which was… that was a little off for sex. But oh yeah! it’s definitely affecting us that way. I don’t think it’ll, well not that I don’t think they’ve told me nothing’s going to change. This is the new you and you’re going to learn to live it. You’re going to have to learn to live with it. It’s not the breast thing, that intimacy, that’s not what I’m talking about at all. It’s the effects of the drugs on lubrication.
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- Endocrine (hormone) therapy -Joanne (B)Joanne changed hormone therapy after a hysterectomy, including the removal of the ovaries, and it is a bit better now but has had strong doubts about continuing.
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- Surgery -Joanne (B)Joanne describes how it was to see her chest for the first time after surgery
- Managing within the health care system – Joanne (B)After her mastectomy Joanne was asked about her breast complaints during screening, Joanne responded with humour.
- First symptoms – Joanne (B)Due to her recent ectopic pregnancy, Joanne's doctor was not overly concerned about her breast tissue changes.
- Sexuality, femininity and intimacy -Joanne (B)Intercourse is a bit less spontaneous since Joanne needs to prepare herself.
- Work and finances – Joanne (B)Initially Joanne thought she would be the type that continues working but realized she needed some time to think.
- Follow-up care and the risk of recurrence -Joanne (B)Joanne stayed on hormone therapy longer than she would have liked because she wanted to feel that she had done all she could to avoid a recurrence.