Mastectomy ke baad khud ko pehchan na paana? Kaise wapas apni body mein aayein?

I don’t know if it’s just me, but ever since the mastectomy, I feel like I’ve lost a part of my identity. Like, who am I now? I look in the mirror and I don’t recognize the person staring back. Yesterday I was trying on an old blouse—the one I used to wear for Diwali parties—and it just hung wrong. I broke down right there in the store.

My mom says I should be grateful I’m alive, and I am, but she doesn’t understand this hollow feeling. My friends from before diagnosis? They’ve gone quiet. One even said, “At least you don’t have to wear a bra anymore,” like it’s a joke. I haven’t gone on a date in two years. Who would want someone with scars and no breasts?

I’m on tamoxifen now, and the hot flashes are killing me. But the real struggle is this emptiness. How do you find yourself again after your body changes so much? Has anyone else felt like this? How do you stop feeling like a ghost in your own skin?