Ariba aRIBA! Go Maggie's Go!

So, a few months or so ago now, I visited the Maggie Centre at Gartnavel to discuss post mastectomy bras and other underwear concerns breast cancer patients have. The meeting actually occured because a member of their press team found my first blogpost: the power of blogging! Anyway, I read yesterday that the centre had won a RIBA award. I can completely understand. Now, in terms of architectural knowledge, I am limited at best. But the Maggie Centre at Gartnavel is the most appropriate building I have ever been in.

'Appropriate', makes it sound boring and lack-lustre, which it most definitely isn't. So I'm going to explain. The Maggie Centre is a place where patients can go after or before treatment, or just because they need to get out of their own house. There are classes, on everything from scarf tying to cooking, talks and evening activities. There is no reception, or front desk; you enter and find yourself in the kitchen, like you would in a home, The kitchen has a huge table which could easily (and I'm sure on many occasions does) sit 12 and every tea you could dream of.

The building is set out as one big space that can be divided into smaller rooms where necessary. So if you want to go in and talk to a group of people about your treatment, you can. If you want to have a one-to-one with one of the centre staff, you can. The middle houses a sunny courtyard and the whole building just basks in natural light. It's a place to feel calm, to feel hope. I felt so comfortable here, so welcomed.

So yes, the building is perfectly appropriate, but it is so much more than that, too.

It deserves this award, more than I could ever convey.

Ninja, xx

Marks and Spencers, I'm pissed at you.

I have been meaning to start this blog for a while but wasn't entirely sure when or how to start. I wanted to start with an upbeat tale of fitting. Which I suppose could be my own...in short I was 'fitted' at a 36A/34B for years. Then I got a job in lingerie store and was promptly fitted, correctly, at a 32E. WHOOP. But that's not the story I've brought you here to read. "I was fitted at Marks and Spencers" has long been a phrase qualified bra-fitters loathe to hear. It's like saying Macbeth in the theatre. It's met with a sympathetic smile and an encouragement to get in the fitting room. It's a situation we make light of. "It's okay, we've all done it!" And then proceed to inform the customer after an in-depth and informative consultation that they are, in fact, a 32F. "Silly M&S!" Yes, silly, but no harm done.

Something happened yesterday that made me see past red, onto purple. I felt so angry I had to go sit in my stockroom to calm down. And I felt powerless to do anything. Then I remembered I needed a story to open my underwear blog with. Read, and share it. Not for me, but for the thousands of women affected by this. A customer wandered into my department and asked if we stocked any 40 backs. She was between a 14/16 I could see so I knew immediately the back size was wrong. She proceeded to tell me she needed a 40A. 'Hmmm' I thought, 'she doesn't look sizes with Mike Tindall but we'll roll with it'. "I have a prosthesis; Marks and Spencers fitted me at a 40A". I felt rage gnawing at me. A 40A?? A 40A!? I asked the customer her dress size and, as suspected, she was a 14/16.

"They sold me one a while ago but it hurt me" More rage. "I went up a size in my prosthesis but I still couldn't make it work" Deep breaths. I managed to get her into the fitting room and into a 36. The back was fine but on this occasion I didn't have any non-wired bras. I could see clearly that the customer was a 38E/ 36F. I showed her what she was looking for in a fit and listed on paper brands she should look out for. I advised her on her size and made and appointment for her at the nearest Bravissimo. They are, like me, fully trained in dealing with post-mastectomy patients and know exactly how to fit and advise according to the stage they are at in their recovery. And, if a sales assistant didn't know what to do, I have no doubt that they would've asked for help.

She told me that the Glasgow Western Infirmary had advised she go there (three cheers for the GWI!). She told me she'd just 'always gone' to M&S and trusted them to know what they were doing. Even now, I feel enraged by this. This woman has gone through something traumatic. She has physically LOST part of her body. And by proceeding to fit her badly M&S are literally hurting her further.

Marks and Spencers should not be allowed to fit post-surgery customers if they are not properly trained and equipped to do so. It's not fair. It's adding to her trauma. It's inhumane if you consider she has to expose herself to a stranger, trust that stranger, and be fitted into something that doesn't support her, doesn't aid with recovery and instead HURTS.
REALLY?

If you, or someone you know has gone through this surgery and needs advice on what to look for in aftercare bras, please get in touch. It's a part of my job I have also really enjoyed. Getting women back to being comfortable in their own skin. In their own underwear! Making bra shopping something to be enjoyed and not feared! There are plenty of bra fitters out there who know what to do in these situations. But those that don't, need to be honest, hold their hands up and say 'I'm going to get a more experience bra fitter to help you, but may I watch so I can learn?'

Furthermore, if you have had bad experiences after surgery with a bra fitter, please let me know! Similarly, if you felt well cared for tell me who they are too!

So that's the first post. I'm still mad, but we're at a low simmer now.
Back soon, Ninja x