Vulvar Cancer: how I stayed Sane through my Medical Drama

The Cancer No One Talks About, by Darci Picoult

A New Lesson in Intimacy
Personal Stories

” …A day before the operation you will need to do a bowel cleanse…nothing to eat or drink after noon….after the operation, you will be in the hospital for a few days. Since a small piece of your urethra will be removed, you will have a catheter. Once you prove you can pee on your own, you will be sent home. You may be peeing on an angle for a while but that can be corrected.
No cardio exercise till you are healed.
…”

Continue reading: How I Stayed Sane Through My Medical Drama From the Author Who Had The Cancer No One Talks About
by Darci Picoult, journalist, DES daughter and author of My Virginia

About DES and Cancer:

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Vulvar Cancer: the Cancer no One talks about

A new Lesson in Intimacy on RedBookMag

A New Lesson in Intimacy
Personal Stories

” …It was five weeks after surgery to remove and reconstruct my vulva — and life in the Picoult-Ford household was back to normal except for one tiny fact. A large elephant had taken residency in our bed and was snoring loudly…”

Continue reading: A New Lesson in Intimacy From the Author Who Had The Cancer No One Talks About
by Darci Picoult, journalist, DES daughter and author of My Virginia

More DES DiEthylStilbestrol Resources

Vulvar Cancer: the Cancer no One talks about

Author Darci Picoult personal Essay

I Had the Cancer No One Talks About
Personal Stories

” …Sensation is returning! Slowly but surely my nerves are regenerating. A cause for celebration, the human body reviving itself. Some get a new heart and it beats, a new limb and it moves. In my case, a new vulva and it feels. Am I excited? You bet. My doctor? Ditto. And my husband, Larry? Did you hear trombones playing all the way from our house in Brooklyn?…”

Continue reading: An Exciting Update From the Author Who Had The Cancer No One Talks About
by Darci Picoult, journalist, DES daughter and author of My Virginia

More DES DiEthylStilbestrol Resources

Vulvar Cancer: the Cancer no One talks about

Author Darci Picoult personal Essay

I Had the Cancer No One Talks About
Personal Stories

” …So there I sit, watching a former stripper sing, moments before having my vulva removed. Thoughts boomerang inside me: Every story line on TV revolves around sex. But what about those of us who can’t make love? What if your sex drive is in reverse because in a place that should be divinely pleasurable, you feel pain? Isn’t there anything that defines intimacy beyond throbbing bodies? Everywhere I look makes me feel less like a woman. And yet. I know there is something bigger, something more. My “womanhood” has nothing to do with my vagina, it is in me…”

Continue reading: Vulvar Cancer Personal Essay, “I Had the Cancer No One Talks About“, by Darci Picoult, journalist, DES daughter and author of My Virginia.

DES DiEthylStilbestrol Resources

Vulvar Cancer: the Cancer no One talks about

Darci Picoult personal Essay

I Had the Cancer No One Talks About
Darci Picoult, journalist, DES daughter and author of My Virginia

After a devastating diagnosis and major gynecological surgery transformed author Darci Picoult’s body, she wondered whether anything — her marriage, her sex life, her relationship with her daughters — would ever be the same. It wasn’t. She came through stronger, more outspoken, and more intimately connected to the people she loves.

Read more: Vulvar Cancer Personal Essay, “I Had the Cancer No One Talks About
by Darci Picoult, journalist, DES daughter and author of My Virginia

About DES and Cancer:

More DES DiEthylStilbestrol Resources

My Virginia, deeply affecting and genuinely funny Journey

Darci Picoult is a Journalist and DES Daughter

My Virginia, by Darci Picoult, on Flickr
My Virginia, Darci childhood name for “my vagina”

A deeply affecting and genuinely funny journey through the medical juggernaut of DES, and anti-miscarriage drug given to millions of pregnant women and later discovered to cause cancer and reproductive problems in their children.
Darci Picoult as journalist and DES daughter reveals the strength of mothers and daughters fighting together for their lives with guts, humor and love.
A one-woman performance featuring Darci Picoult.

More DES DiEthylStilbestrol Resources