October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month

             Mammography and Early Breast Cancer Detection: How Screening Saves Lives, is written by Alan B. Hollingsworth, M.D. He is the director of the Mercy Breast Center, a screening and diagnostic facility at Mercy Hospital, Oklahoma City and his practice is limited to risk assessment, genetic testing, and multimodality screening for high-risk patients. In his book, Hollingsworth discusses the history of breast cancer screening, from its beginnings to today’s latest technology. He presents both sides of the mammography effectiveness controversy – he supports the use of mammography on an annual basis.

            Breast Cancer Clear & Simple: All Your Questions Answered is published by the American Cancer Society. This is a comprehensive guide to coping with breast cancer and includes information in a question and answer format, beginning with diagnostic tests and finding a doctor to treatment options -- radiation, chemotherapy, and more, and surgery options of lumpectomy and mastectomy. It continues with details on the side effects of treatments, clinical trials, cancer stages, and psychological aspects of the disease. References, a resource guide, and a glossary are included.   

            Breast Cancer Surgery and Reconstruction: What’s Right for You is a guide to the options available through breast reconstruction surgery after both single and double mastectomies. It is written by Patricia Anstett, a medical journalist, with photographs by Kathleen Galligan. Choices available include silicone or saline implants, liposuction and tissue reconstruction, delayed reconstruction, revisions and lifts, and more. There also is information on health insurance and doctor selection. A glossary, bibliography, and index are provided.  

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

                Share some of the stories presented by these authors; they or their loved ones were diagnosed with breast cancer.

            Promise Me: how a Sister’s Love Launched the Global Movement to End Breast Cancer, is written by Nancy Brinker, the founder and CEO of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure, one of the most powerful health charities in the world. Susan is Nancy’s sister and a casualty of breast cancer. Before her death, she made Nancy promise to bring the disease out into the open and help fund a cure. This is the story of how Nancy does this and more. Also featured are the stories of other sufferers, those famous as well as those ordinary.  

            Eating Pomegranates: a Memoir of Mothers, Daughters, and the BRCA Gene, is written by Sarah Gabriel. A journalist by trade, Gabriel’s focus is on her genetic legacy – a mutation on the BRCA1 gene that caused the death of her mother from breast cancer when Sarah was still a teen – and later strikes her with the same disease. She bravely showcases the physical and emotional toll taken by the disease on her and on her family. 

             Most of Me: Surviving my Medical Meltdown, is written by Robyn Michele Levy, who experienced a double whammy – diagnoses of Parkinson’s disease and breast cancer, for which she underwent a double mastectomy. She was able to cope with these two serious diseases through the support of her friends and family and by finding humor in her circumstances and joy in her life.

            Everybody’s Got Something is written by Robin Roberts, well-known newswoman and anchor of Good Morning, America. Five years after achieving remission from breast cancer, Roberts was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome, a rare condition that affects blood and bone marrow, and is potentially fatal. Fortunately, Roberts was able to accept a bone marrow transplant from her sister. Her survival also is sustained by the support of her family and friends and by her deep faith and inner strength.

            The Dog Lived (and so Will I): a Memoir, is written by Teresa J. Rhyne. She has a lot of new things in her life, a boyfriend, a beagle, house, and more. But then they discover a lump on her dog Seamus and he is diagnosed with an aggressive, one-year-to-live cancer. She fights his cancer through surgery and chemotherapy. Then Teresa herself is diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer, and faces her own struggle. Humor and faith help win the battle for both.

 

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Share the experiences of breast cancer patients and survivors by reading these books.

Cancer Is a Bitch: (Or, I'd Rather Be Having a Midlife Crisis)
Written by Gail Konop Baker, who is a forty-six-year-old mother of three, doctor's wife, runner, and writer. She describes her fight against breast cancer, relating how she spent a year in treatment in her struggle to get back to the life she loved.

Choices in Breast Cancer Treatment: Medical Specialists and Cancer Survivors Tell You What You Need to Know
Edited by Kenneth D. Miller, this is an authoritative resource for women everywhere. After a lengthy description of breast cancer and its treatments, the remainder of the book deals with the personal experiences of breast cancer as shared by several women.

Lopsided: How Having Breast Cancer Can Be Really Distracting
A memoir by Meredith Norton, an African-American woman, married to a Frenchman, whose disease is misdiagnosed in France. Returning to California, she describes her experiences with chemotherapy, double mastectomy and radiation treatments, and her fight against self-pity.

I Am Not My Breast Cancer : Women Talk Openly About Love & Sex, Hair Loss & Weight Gain, Mothers & Daughters, and Being a Woman With Breast Cancer
Ruth Peltason, an editor and breast cancer survivor, founded and hosted the “First Person Plural” Web site project, an online forum for women facing the disease. Their dialogue provides the content for this book, culled from the entries of 800 women across the U.S. and around the world.