Karen E H Skinazi

My silicon implants feel like two permanent ice packs

When I had reconstructive surgery I didn’t think my gel bags would feel like real boobs, but neither did I think winter would be with me at all times

How I got to give a Shoah lecture on January 27

I was in a hospital bed on Holocaust Memorial Day so couldn’t join in any official commemorations. Instead, I talked to my physiotherapst about Jewish loss and it felt meaningful

‘Here’s why I need to be fatter ’

Send ice cream – I’m short on fat after my mastectomy

‘I feel self-conscious about my post-masectomy body, but no one raised an eyebrow’

How I broadened my horizons by going ‘textile free’ in a German bath house

My mother insists that I’m hot

Has the woman who brought me into the world really forgotten about my breast cancer and early menopause?

Why I’d rather tough it out than take painkillers

After visiting Ottawa and seeing the opioid crisis up close, I’m more anti-pills than ever

Why we need a month dedicated to Britain’s Jewry

It’s of course good that the government supports our security but there is more to Jewish life

My reminder that life is not a rehearsal

Women mentors backed off until I got the big C

I

Dreaming of retirement in the Shtetl-by-the-Sea

etc etc

100 days since October 7: I just wish this ‘match’ would end

In Birmingham and Miami, Karen E H Skinazi’s experience is very different – or is it?

How I turned to blue-sky thinking

As I lie under the radiation machine and look up at its blue and white tiles, I have a lot of time to think, says Karen Skinazi