I do not recognize my body any more.

Hair, weight, scars, swelling, a port under the skin. These are not small things, and grieving how you looked is a real loss that deserves to be treated as one.

Some of it comes back and some of it does not, and you are allowed to ask us honestly which is which. Ask too about what help exists here, because there usually is some.

Written by two physicians. Checked against patient information from the US National Cancer Institute and Cancer Research UK.