When a woman hears the words, “You need a double mastectomy,” time often seems to stand still. It's more than a medical decision. It's a moment that begins an emotional journey that few women are truly prepared for. A journey filled with fear, loss, and questions about identity, femininity, and the future.

Breasts are more than just a part of the body. For many women, they symbolize motherhood, sensuality, womanhood, and self-expression. The thought of losing them can feel like losing a part of who you are. It’s not vanity, it’s vulnerability. It’s mourning the body you've known, loved, and lived in, and facing a future that looks and feels unfamiliar.

There’s fear of the surgery, fear of complications, fear of recurrence, and fear of how others will react. Will my partner still find me attractive? Will I feel comfortable in my own skin? Will I ever feel “normal” again?  These questions weigh heavily, and often, silently. Many women keep smiling on the outside while battling anxiety, depression, and grief within.

After surgery, looking in the mirror can be jarring. The scars are physical reminders of trauma, but they also tell a story of strength and survival. Still, the mirror can feel cruel in the early days. Clothes may fit differently. Confidence can shatter. Sexual intimacy might feel foreign. It’s not just about what’s gone, it’s about redefining beauty and worth beyond appearance.

It’s common to feel isolated during this time. Friends and family may mean well, but not truly understand. Support groups can help, but many women still feel alone in their experience, especially if they don’t know anyone who’s walked this path before.

True healing from a double mastectomy must include the mind and soul. Counseling, journaling, support groups, and honest conversations can be vital lifelines. Finding ways to reclaim control, through reconstructive surgery, beautiful tattoos over scars, or proudly choosing to remain flat.

There is no right or wrong way to move forward, only what’s right for you.

I personally chose to stay flat. I don't have a man in my life right now, so there was nothing to consider there and was able to chose what I wanted for myself. I did my best to look at the positives of being flat.  I survived a cancer scare, I don't have to tug and pull with the discomfort of a bra anymore and, my personal favorite, all that money I'm going to save not buying bras in the future. 

The freedom I feel by staying flat and not having to wearing a cumbersome bra everyday is so great it's hard to describe. I'm so happy with this decision. 

I did get a sporty and a supportive looking set of bras with prosthetics just in case I need them.  It's been a few years now and the only time I wore the prosthetics was at my late boyfriends funeral. 

If you're preparing for or recovering from a double mastectomy, please hear this:

You are still whole.

You are still beautiful.

 

You are still you, braver and stronger than ever.  Allow yourself to grieve. Be patient with the healing process.  Never be ashamed of the scars that tell your story.

You are not alone. 

You are more than enough.

 

Resources for Support:

BreastCancer.org Forums Flat Closure NOW

FORCE: Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered

Local breast cancer support groups and mental health counselors in your area

 

Presented by Coach Trina at Dragoyle.com

 

6 Emergency Water Sources Hidden in Your Home

Water is the most crucial resource to have in an emergency situation. In times of crisis, access to clean and safe drinking water can mean the difference between life and death. Here are a few reasons why water should be your top priority in any emergency preparedness plan:

The human body can survive for weeks without food, but only a few days without water. Water is not only essential for drinking but also for cleaning and sanitation purposes. Water is also necessary for food preparation, especially in situations where access to ready-to-eat meals is limited. In emergencies, water is crucial for medical purposes, such as cleaning wounds, diluting medications, and maintaining proper hygiene in medical facilities. 

Overall, water is the most important resource to have in an emergency due to its critical role in hydration, sanitation, food preparation, and medical care. It is essential to have a sufficient supply of clean water stored in your emergency kit to ensure your safety and well-being during unexpected situations, but what if you didn't prepare or have your emergency water stored? You'll need to know how to find water sources in your home.

 

Emergency water sources that you can find in your home

Do you know where to look? Do you know how to access these hidden sources?

Some types of emergencies are:

No Stored Water: If you haven’t purposely prepped some stored water dedicated for emergencies, and if you suddenly find yourself in need of water.

Used Up Your Stored Water: If you have used up your stored water and still need more water.

No Electricity: If the electricity in your town is out for more than 24-48 hours, the pumping stations will be out of order and free flowing running water will cease. 

Public Water At Risk: There might be times where the public water you have access to is at risk. Maybe it’s contaminated or has been compromised in some way!

These are just a few examples of many types of emergency situations where you would need to access to hidden sources of water in your home. Is there another type of emergency that you can think of? Leave a comment below and let us know.

 

6 Hidden Emergency Water Sources in Your Home

1. Water Heaters: This is one reason why I’ll never have a tankless water heater, because I wouldn’t have access to 30 gallons or more of stored water that I access when I need it!

Caution:  If your public water supply has been contaminated, be sure to turn off your main water valve that comes into your home to keep your water heater tank contaminate free!

Follow these steps to safely and efficiently access the hot water you need:

Step 1: Locate Your Water Heater

Step 2: Turn Off the Power by flipping the appropriate breaker in your electrical panel.  Make sure the correct breaker is marked  before hand. 

Step 3: Identify the Hot Water Outlet. It is typically located near the top of the unit and is connected to the hot water pipes in your home.

Step 4: Turn on the drain valve and let it fill your water container

 

2. Toilet Tank: I’m not talking about actual toilet water, but the tank on the back of the toilet can hold several gallons of water and is clean enough for you to use to drink if desperate.

If you’re concerned about the cleanliness of the tank water, keep in mind that each time you flush fresh water refills the tank. It wouldn’t hurt to go in and clean the inside the tank and all of its components every six months to ensure you won’t be drinking bad water.

Caution:  Don’t use a static cleaning products in your toilet tank that disperses chemicals like bleach with every flush. This will automatically make the water unsafe to drink.

 3. Bath Tubs: If there is any risk of not having access to running water due to some type of emergency where you live, using the bath tub to store water can add up to 100 gallons per bathtub!

4. Ice Cube Reserve: This won’t provide a ton of water, but your refrigerator that has an automatic ice cube maker is one of those hidden emergency water sources that most don’t think about. Just put the ice in a pitcher and let it melt.

5. Greywater System: You can install a greywater system in your home to capture all of the water that we use on a daily basis that ultimately gets wasted and literally just goes down the drain.

6. Build an Air Water Fountain: An air fountain system, which is also known as an atmospheric water generator (AWG). An AWG is a device that generates water by collecting moisture from the air. The system works by drawing in air, cooling it to condense the moisture, and then filtering and collecting the resulting water.

7. Collect & Store Rainwater: Another option is “harvesting” and collecting the natural resource of rain. There are many ways to do this, but most commonly preppers set up 55-gallon water drums that will collect rain from their gutters (like the picture below). Be sure it is legal to harvest water in your town or county.  My town will fine you a pretty hefty fee if you harvest water. 

Caution:  Some towns and cities may have ordinances in place that prevents its residents from harvesting rainwater! Be sure to check before you start harvesting your water.

Take the necessary steps to properly prepare yourself in times of need. It’s better to have it and not use it than not to have it and need it.

Did you enjoy topic and find it helpful? If so, please leave a comment below and share it with your friends on social media.

Presented by Coach Trina at dragoyle.com

Creating a Human

Feb. 16th, 2019

Testing Testing ... A Catfish Created, Boyfriend Caught on Accident!

Creating a new person is much easier than I thought.

I have been scammed and harassed by so many guys/non-humanoids, that I thought I would see how difficult it would be to create a person, someone completely made up and present him/her as a real human from somewhere made up. Watching the TV show "Catfish" got me thinking that there are so many fake profiles out there. No wonder I've been hurt, threatened, stalked and harassed by people that I find out are fake! 

First, I made up a name.  Thought I would be from another country, so I looked up common names in Germany.  Found a few fun choices and created a new fake name. Then I looked up German women, found a few that looked pretty close to the same and downloaded them.

Next was the profile.  I needed a fake email address in order to make a Facebook page.  So I searched free German email.  Only a few seconds later, I had an email address and a Facebook page.  I added a few photos, background pic and profile pic.  Now to see if I can attract a few new friends.

It wasn't hard to get new friend requests.  I thought about a popular subject and decided to go with Paul McCartney.  Joined a few groups and within no time had several friends and several options to share on my page.  I choose this subject because my boyfriend is always talking about Paul McCartney and that he supposedly died in 1966 and was replaced by Billy Shears.  Since he talks about this daily, I figured I had some content to use on her Facebook page.  A little easier I suppose?

Now to check in a few times a week, write a few posts, share other posts from the groups I joined and see what happens.  It shocked me how easy it was to create a human being, from nothing.

April 22nd, 2019

It's been a few weeks, I have a pretty nice looking timeline happening now.  Weird thing is that my boyfriend showed up as a friend.  He also Loved one of my face profile photos, one that portrayed her as a German Model.  Why is my boyfriend Loving another woman's photo?  Hummm ... So, this fake lady, send my boyfriend a simple personal message.  Hi.  Guess what, he replied.  Hi.

What a surprising development.  Is it disgusting of me to see if he'll flirt with this woman or even more?  My boyfriend currently lives with me, he says he is totally devoted and in love with me.  Yet he was dating a ton of women, having sex and doing drugs.  I dumped him several times over this, but he claimed he has changed.  Now this. Could be absolutely innocent, nothing at all, but maybe he's wondering and I don't know about it?  This could be the tell all.

April 22nd, 2019

Over the last several weeks I've uploaded a few photos of my new human creation on Facebook, posted some links and joined a few additional groups and made a few friends.  Interesting enough, my boyfriend accepted her friend request and has liked a few posts that I posted.

One of these posts was about a group on Facebook about one of my boyfriends books that he wrote.  Memoirs of Billy Shears. A fictitious book that he uses to scam the gullible. 

We were both looking at our computers, my boyfriend suddenly sits up straight, makes a little moaning sound and stretches his arms out and around his body.  Then he says that he just got invited to a new group on Facebook.  Which was a lie, he found the group on my new females page, because he posted a Heart on it.  I also noticed that he liked a bunch of her pretty photos.  Isn't this usually the behavior if someone trying to get her attention to flirt with? Yet, here I am, sitting right across from him, watching all of his reactions to this fake person. 

This little project just became interesting.

I decided to send him a personal message, just saying "Hi".  My boyfriend claims that he is totally devoted to me, is extremely happy and loves me.  That he would never stray because he loves me so deeply.

Guess what, he replied, "Hi" back.  I'm not assuming anything at this point. He could just be being nice.  Although, the pictures I posted about this new fictitious woman were of a Russian model.  I suppose it would be hard for any man not to at least be friendly to her.

Just to make things interesting, I navigated over to my boyfriends Facebook page and liked a few of his posts too. Just to make it fair.  I wonder what is going to happen now.

April 26th, 2019

I check my fake profile today.  I found that my boyfriend has started a conversation with this fake lady that I created.  Playing along.  I got a few more friend requests and accepted them.  Added myself to a few more groups and liked more posts.  This is crazy to me how fast a fake profile had attracted so much attention.

April 30th, 2019

My boyfriend asked to see some personal photos of this non-existent person a few days ago, so I looked up a black & white photo of the curves of a body.  He went for it immediately, said that he loves the photo and asked for more.  He then downloaded the photo, adjusted it and added his own personal poem to it and signed it.  Then he sent it back to her and sent her some photos of himself.  I'm in shock, he claimed total devotion to me and yet he just proved, without knowing, that he lied to me.  I supposed I deserve this, but I certainly didn't set out to prove him a cheater, but this seems to be going that way. I'm trying to decide if I should tell him now or play his game a little longer and see how far he is willing to take this.  I certainly don't trust him, actually I never really have as he has cheated on me several times in the past.  I went ahead and sent him what he asked for, another photo of this black and white profile I found on Google.  I'm so disappointed in his actions.

No surprise, my boyfriend replied back immediately and again asking to see more personal photos of this non existent fake person. I'm sitting right across from him, I can tell when he's replying because he suddenly sits up straight and smiles in a child like wonderment.  I'm breaking my own heart here, but I wonder ... if he is reacting this way to my fake profile, how many other real profiles is he reacting to?

May 26th, 2019

My boyfriend responded several more times, asking for photos, but I decided to not play the game any longer.  I figured that he was doing this with several other women as well.  If my fake profile somehow showed up in his view, I'm sure many other profiles show up daily.  I do see a lot of women that he is talking to online.  He always has a good excuse why he's talking to them.  I would rather not know what untrustworthy things he is doing behind my back.  Less stressful.  I know he is lying to me, I've caught him red handed over and over.  I never called him out on it, because I don't like conflict.  I think it gives him a feeling of triumph to know that he is still talking to many women, that he still feels desired by many women, that he has a back up plan for when we break up.  

My fake profile is still getting many friend requests and has been invited to several discussion groups now. There are tons of men trying to get into conversations with her, most are from dating sites, I believe some are also fake profiles trying to catfish others.  I'm trying to weed out the fakes, starting a few conversations with those I feel are real, but not giving it as much effort as I did before my boyfriend chatted with this fake lady behind my back.


June 27th, 2019

Been accepting friend requests, comments have been made on my fake multiple posts and have been invited to groups.  It seems like my fake profile has been accepted as a real person.  My boyfriend went to Vegas, said he didn't want me to go, because he didn't want to feel uncomfortable with me. That seems weird.  I know he does illegal drugs, likes group sex, so I wonder if he is planning on doing some activities that he knows I would be offended by.  I also wonder if he's going to try to contact my fake profile lady, to try and hook up with her.  They had talked about meeting in Vegas when he was asking for naked photos.


June 29th, 2019

I had my fake profile lady ask my boyfriend if he was in a serious relationship. He actually said yes, but was inviting her to be in a open relationship with him. Wow. I have never cheated on him and always stayed faithful. Time to let this big fish off the hook and kick him out of my house. 

July 30th, 2019

I finally got the nerve up to kick out my boyfriend. I confronted him on what he did, but of course he manipulated the situation to seem innocent and if I wasn't the other woman that he had been flirting with, I would have believed him!  Women beware. Men can convince you of anything. Since I knew better, I got him out of my house.  He broke in last night, so I replaced all of the locks. Good riddance you cheating manipulative less-than-a-human.