I
don’t know what it is about the word ‘areola’ that bothers me so much. Though
it’s not an awful word, I can feel my mouth tighten at the sound of it (much in
the same way I react to words like smegma, and menstruation). Perhaps it was
because of my mother’s vocation. She was a nurse, and our dinner conversation
was dotted liberally with the proper terminology for bodily parts, and their
functions. Oh How I longed to be able to practice a common way of speaking! I wanted to be just like the other kids
that talked about about periods, and jizz.
However,
there is no slang for areola. If one wants to talk about the pink area
surrounding the nipple, one muse use the correct terminology. And one might be
able to go through years without ever having to use that word, unless that
person happen to have lost her areolas, and is planning on getting reproductions.
I
lost them, of course, during the reconstruction. They could save the skin
envelope, but the nipples and areolas had to go. Last year the nipples were
rebuilt (in an alarmingly swift procedure) and I was told that my last
procedure would be the ‘tattoo’ that would replicate the colour and shape of the areolas.
I
could have done it months ago, and I don’t know why I kept putting it off. Perhaps it is because I’m a
procrastinator. Or perhaps it is because I consider myself rebuilt, and I don’t
feel like going back to the hospital. (Ever. For anything). Or perhaps it is
because I’ve always hated the word areola, and the longer I avoid the
procedure, the longer I can avoid using the world.
But
recently I visited my plastic surgeon, who asked how I was enjoying my new breasts
and new nipples. ‘I love them!’ I told him enthusiastically.
‘I’m so happy you're happy,’ he said in his gentle Dutch accent. Then, ‘If you love them now, just wait
till you get your areolas.’ Maybe
it was the accent, or maybe it was his, calm kind manner and his big blue eyes.
But whatever it was, he made the word ‘areola’ sound as nonchalant as ‘strawberry’,
or ‘bird’.
So
I made my date for tattoos. It’s my final procedure. And it’s in 27 days.
No comments:
Post a Comment