Although health care facilities are rarely designed to ensure patients' privacy, there is no reason why you and your partner can't have time for intimate physical contact in the hospital. With a little friendly intervention doctors might be able to arrange for a special room where you and a loved one can spend some time alone. Or you can always make a sign reading "Do Not Disturb Until _ o'clock" or "Please knock" and hang it on the door to your room. The nurses will respect your wishes.
If this sounds important to you, ask your doctor to speak to the hospital staff and help foster a caring and respectful attitude toward your need to express your sexuality with guaranteed privacy. It takes some education and maybe a change in the "way things are always done around here," but it's well worth the effort.
Developing Helpful Attitudes and Practices Whenever you are ready to become sexually active again, there are a few things you should keep in mind.
• You are loved for who you are, not just for your appearance. If you were considered lovable or
sexually desirable before you got cancer, chances are that you will be afterward too. Your partner, your family
and your friends will still love you and value you, as long as you let them.
• We are all sexual beings. Whether we are sexually active or not, sexuality is part of who we are. It is not
defined just by what we do or how often we do it.
• Survival overshadows sexuality. If you've lost your good health, it is normal and natural for stress,
depression, worry and fatigue to lower your interest in sex. Just coping with basic everyday decisions
