Comprehensive and informative.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
Having lived through this illness with my wife, as both a husband and carer, I can thoroughly recommend this book to anyone associated in any way with someone suffering from breast cancer. It wasn't around at the time we needed it most, it is ,now, thankfully. The authors, a sufferer , herself, and her breast care nurse, approach the illness from two different directions. One from a purely human and personal angle, dealing with how people feel about and cope with the disease in daily life, the other from the more unfamiliar, detached, medical factual direction, which many, including myself, feel needs a lot of fine tuning in order to actually give patients hope. Without hope, any human will struggle to come to terms with this illness, and the medical profession must learn not to treat patients with detachment and indifference, and to remember that although for them its just a job, to the patient the situation is dramatically catastrophic. Terms such as 'terminal' this 'unfortunate lady' , or the famous ' this patient presents with' should be scrapped completely. No illness is terminal. Historically it may indicate a poor prognosis, but individuals survive against the greatest odds, and many pull through and live a longer than expected and happy life. How many clinical examination rooms look like the last hope corral (all thee that pass through here are doomed)when a splash of colour and a picture would create a homely atmosphere instead of feeling like you are in the boarding room for your last journey in this world. Where's the soft , relaxing music (or is it too much hassle getting legalities sorted with copyright, etc?). Really, what artiste is going to complain that their records being played in hospitals and clinics where they don't receive royalties, not many, I bet. Anyway, I digress, I found this book warmly comforting, with a sometimes humorous yet practical approach to the subject. I wanted to re-familiarise myself with how it felt to be a carer, again, in order that I can truly understand what it means to sufferers whom I meet now, many years later. I wanted something to help me empathise from the heart, not pity, which is the worst thing you can do, but show an understanding, based on previous experience.This book helped me relive those times, giving me confidence to reach out to sufferers with love,and understanding.You may ask, why would anyone want to buy a book about breast cancer, when feeling s&*@ after the last course of chemo? The answer lies simply in the question, why , when you already cook, do you buy so many recipe books? Why,when you are sick and tired of idle gossip about the stars do you buy another 'Hello' magazine? Why, when you have already got your home as you want it, you go out and buy a magazine that suggests you change it all? So why not buy a book about your illness, not a clinical expose about what is not being done, but a positive approach, showing you not only a well trodden path but all the beauty of the tree's and plants beside it that make this unusual world the wonder that it is. Laugh with the author (she's met the illness twice), respect the guidance and practical, no nonsense background detail from the breast care nurse. Husbands, partners, lovers and carers of patients, often forgotten, there's useful guidance for you, too, and for friends, 'what do you say to someone with breast cancer?' Thoroughly recommended, a well thought out, practical and thought provoking book.Read full review
My mum just got breast Cancer and I purchased this book for her after reading good reviews. She found it very useful and is written from the viewpoint of persons going thru breats cancer rather than reading a book written as tho you are a victim.
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