[quote=Judy L]How do I cope with the way I look? I am struggling with swelling in my face that makes me look freaky and disfigured. I am embarrassed to go out sometimes. Sometimes I don't care, but sometimes I don't even want my family to see me. I know I don't feel this way about other people, eg., don't care what they look like. I would appreciate any advice or if there is a smaller group dealing this issue.
Thanks,
Judy [/quote]
I know exactly how you feel. One side of my face is slightly more big than the other after everything simply because my lymph nodes on that side don't drain the same way anymore. I think I notice it a lot more than others.
But especially during treatment when my neck was peeling and scab covered and oozing I didn't want to go out in public at all. But then I looked at myself in the mirror and thought to myself "who cares?!"
See I'm gay so my whole life I've been stared at, gawked at, made fun of. So in a way I was use to it. But I just thought to myself "I'm alive and I'm not going to let other people take away how I spend my days based on my war wounds.