The Checkup: Breast-Cancer Survivor Allowed to Swim Topless at Public Pool

• A woman name Jodi Jaecks will swim topless in a Seattle public pool on Monday. A breast-cancer survivor whose breasts were surgically removed, she was granted special permission by the city’s parks department after requesting that the clothes-on policy be reversed earlier this year. Apparently, bathing suit tops became uncomfortable after her surgery, as the nerves on her chest were very sensitive. But she wanted to swim as part of her recovery, so she asked the pool supervisor if she could do so topless; she was turned down. When she found out she’d finally been approved by the Parks Department superintendent this week, she was elated—until she learned that the exception only extended to herself. Now Jaecks is on a mission to change the policy to be inclusive of all breast-cancer survivors, saying “cancer patients shouldn’t be made to feel self-conscious by asking for special permission,” the AP reports. What do you think? Tops on or off for breast-cancer survivors at Philly pools?

• Yoga was a hot topic at a recent meeting of the American Society for Clinical Oncology, where new research on yoga and cancer were discussed. Here’s why.

• There are so many things about this story on eating disorders in women over age 50 that make me sad—mainly that body issues don’t magically dissolve as you age. And that 70 percent say they’re actively trying to lose weight, and that 4 percent report purging at least once a week. I’m all for people maintaining healthy weight, but not like that. One nugget to take away: “A message to the women is, if they can look in a mirror every day and say something positive about themselves that has nothing to do with their physical appearance, that’s going to really help break through how stuck we are in this negative body image. Those wonderful characteristics will persist long after traditional adolescent female beauty fades with age.”