Photo by Helen Tansey for Mindful Magazine.

Our facilitator Elaine Smookler was recently published in Mindful Magazine.

“Do you know why you’re here?” the efficient orderly asked, looking down at his chart.

“Breast lift and tummy tuck,“ I said without a pause. He stopped writing and searched nervously through papers on his clipboard. “I’m just kidding,” I said. “I’m here for cancer surgery.” He looked surprised, then laughed and said there usually wasn’t a lot of joking around in pre-op. Strange, I thought. I guess not everyone thinks cancer is funny.

Continue reading her story here.