Amazon.com Review
In a valuable guide for women who have just been diagnosed with breast cancer, Dr. John Link helps sort through the confusion and the fear, by explaining such things as how to get a second opinion and how to understand a pathology report.
Particularly valuable is Link's step-by-step description of how breast cancer is characterized, or staged, according to tumor size, hormone receptors, and other factors--and how that affects prognosis. As a breast cancer specialist at Long Beach and Orange Coast Memorial hospitals in Southern California, Link knows the medical jargon and what it means. Although his writing style is at times a bit jargony and difficult to read, a breast cancer patient will willingly read and reread every word. The book also includes useful chapters on diet, exercise, herbs, and vitamins; managing the side effects of treatment; healing's mind-body connection; and organizing medical records and keeping a personal journal or log.
Ending on an encouraging note, Link writes, "You should know that most women today are cured of breast cancer. They undergo treatment, become survivors, and go on with their lives. But having breast cancer is certainly a wake-up call to many and may be for you. Life now has added uncertainty." This step-by-step manual helps you navigate the uncertainty and become a survivor, both physically and psychologically.
Review: By E. A. Lovitt "starmoth"
Dr. Link has written exactly what his title promises: a manual that will educate women on how to survive a diagnosis of breast cancer. He teaches us how to pick a team of specialists, how to make adjuvant therapy choices, management of side effects, diet. etc. Dr. Link is a practicing internist and oncologist, founder of the Breast Center in Long Beach, California, and also director of the Pacific Coast Breast Center in Torrance, California.
The author treats women with breast cancer, rather than having survived the disease himself, so the `Survival Manual' is a less personalized account than, say, "The Breast Cancer Companion" by Kathy Latour. It is written with one degree of separation, and teaches rather than consoles.
For example, he writes, "I think it is helpful to understand the mechanism of hair loss with these drugs so you realize its true temporary quality," rather than, "When our hair starts to fall out, it is yet another violation of our bodies and one that most women felt was much more visible and hard to conceal than the loss of a breast." (quoted from "The Breast Cancer Companion" by Kathy Latour.)
Dr. Link's writing style is very much exemplified by his introductory quotation: "Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood---Marie Curie."
This is a very direct, honest book that can help women with newly-diagnosed breast cancer, "understand their situation and develop a plan to optimize a cure." It contains questions at the end of each chapter (called `checkpoints') that women should ask themselves during each stage of diagnosis and treatment, e.g. "Who is in charge of my surveillance after the end of treatment?" at the end of the chapter entitled, "Fear of Recurrence."
There is a good list of further breast cancer resources at book's end, including an Internet site with Dr. Link's continuing updates to this manual (breastlinkcare).
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