Memories of Treatment: The Immediacy of Breast Cancer

Abstract

This article represents one facet of the author’s research on women’s experiences of embodiment after breast cancer. Herein, women’s reliance on and rejection of medicalized understandings of this condition are explored via participants’ descriptions of memories of treatment. Data collection consisted of 24 in-depth interviews with 12 women, using phenomenological and feminist approaches. Five themes emerged: (a) issues of control, (b) suffering, (c) encountering medicine, (d) visible loss, and (e) leaving active treatment. Participants found the medicalization of breast cancer to be problematic, but they were also reluctant to leave the realm of acute care. Although a large volume of breast cancer research now exists, the women’s accounts demonstrate that further research into the experience of breast cancer is necessary.