This practical, science-based book focuses on helping partners, family, and friends understand breast cancer. It guides them in how to provide the best emotional and practical support when helping someone with breast cancer to cope, recover, and thrive, while maintaining their own physical and psychological health. The authors translate psychological evidence into concrete, practical advice for caregivers, validated through their first-hand experience. It also suggests ways to help someone with breast cancer make the best decisions in consultation with oncology professionals. The authors draw on well-established psychological principles relevant to social attitudes, how decisions are made, good communication skills, empathy, and how to better understand the ideas and worries experienced by women who have, or may have, breast cancer and those close to them. Each chapter includes ‘How you can Help’ sections that give specific and concrete suggestions, as well as a chapter summary of the main points along with recommendations and additional resources. It is essential reading for all those who want to help and support a loved one with breast cancer. It is also useful for training healthcare professionals in how to support partners.
A guide for men whose wives contract breast cancer offers emotional support and advice every husband needs, including guidance from breast cancer doctors and the shared experiences of those who have gone through the same ordeal. Original. 30,000 first printing.
This practical, science-based book focuses on helping partners, family and friends understand breast cancer. It guides them in how to provide the best emotional and practical support when helping someone with breast cancer to cope, recover and thrive, while maintaining their own physical and psychological health. The authors translate psychological evidence into concrete, practical advice for caregivers, validated through their first-hand experience. It also suggests ways to help someone with breast cancer make the best decisions in consultation with oncology professionals. The authors draw on well-established psychological principles relevant to social attitudes, how decisions are made, good communication skills, empathy, and how to better understand the ideas and worries experienced by women who have, or may have, breast cancer and those close to them. Each chapter includes 'How you can Help' sections that give specific and concrete suggestions, as well as a chapter summary of the main points along with recommendations and additional resources. It is essential reading for all those who want to help and support a loved one with breast cancer. It is also useful for training healthcare professionals in how to support partners.
Here are engaging and digestible lessons for couples navigating the life changes brought about by a cancer diagnosis. Dan Shapiro draws on his more than twenty-five years of clinical work as a health psychologist who has researched and worked with couples facing cancer, and on his own experiences of being both the patient (having and beating Hodgkin’s lymphoma in his twenties) and the supporter/advocate (when his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer) to weave together insights on facing cancer while maintaining a strong relationship. And in Health gives advice in short lessons on the main areas of concern or conflict that can come from life with cancer—from diagnosis to treatment and life post-treatment. Topics include: • How to forge yourselves into a powerful team and avoid common conflict points • Dealing with physicians and getting the best care possible, along with tips for navigating the medical world • Strategies for coping with the emotions that can interfere with your relationship—anger, mood swings, spouse fears, and depression • Distinguishing between supportive and draining people in your lives, and learning to invite and accept help • Opening to new types of intimacy and making peace with dependence
As women quickly discover, their life when treatment ends is very different from what it was before their diagnosis. Often exhausted, anxious, and emotionally volatile, they are beset by physical discomforts, fearful of intimacy, afraid for their children, worried about recurrence. Anticipating a return to “normalcy,” they discover that the old version of normal no longer applies. There could be no more knowledgeable guide for women embarking on this complicated journey than Hester Hill Schnipper, who is herself both an experienced oncology social worker and a breast cancer survivor. This comprehensive handbook provides jargon-free information on the wide range of practical issues women face as they navigate the journey back to health, including: •Managing physical problems such as fatigue, hot flashes, and aches and pains •Handling relationships: your children, your partner, your parents, your friends. •How to regain emotional and sexual intimacy •Coping with financial and workplace issues •Genetic testing: why, whether, when •How to move beyond the fear of recurrence •And much more This indispensable book will help you rediscover your capacity for joy as you move forward into the future—as a survivor.
Let's face it, cancer sucks. This book provides real-life advice from real-life teens designed to help teens live with a parent who is fighting cancer. One million American teenagers live with a parent who is fighting cancer. It's a hard blow for those already navigating high school, preparing for college, and becoming increasingly independent. Author Maya Silver was 15 when her mom was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2001. She and her dad, Marc, have combined their family's personal experience with advice from dozens of medical professionals and real stories from 100 teens—all going through the same thing Maya did. The topic of cancer can be difficult to approach, but in a highly designed, engaging style, this book gives practical guidance that includes: How to talk about the diagnosis (and what does diagnosis even mean, anyway?) The best outlets for stress (punching a wall is not a great one, but should it happen, there are instructions for a patch job) How to deal with friends (especially one the ones with 'pity eyes') Whether to tell the teachers and guidance counselors and what they should know (how not to get embarrassed in class) What happens in a therapy session and how to find a support group if you want one A special section for parents also gives tips on strategies for sharing the news and explaining cancer to a child, making sure your child doesn't become the parent, what to do if the outlook is grim, and tips for how to live life after cancer. My Parent Has Cancer and It Really Sucks allows teens to see that they are not alone. That no matter how rough things get, they will get through this difficult time. That everything they're feeling is ok. Essays from Gilda Radner's "Gilda's Club" annual contest are an especially poignant and moving testimony of how other teens dealt with their family's situation. Praise for My Parent Has Cancer and It Really Sucks: "Wisely crafted into a wonderfully warm, engaging and informative book that reads like a chat with a group of friends with helpful advice from the experts." —Paula K. Rauch MD, Director of the Marjorie E. Korff Parenting At a Challenging Time Program "A must read for parents, kids, teachers and medical staff who know anyone with cancer. You will learn something on every page." —Anna Gottlieb, MPA, Founder and CEO Gilda's Club Seattle "This book is a 'must have' for oncologists, cancer treatment centers and families with teenagers." —Kathleen McCue, MA, LSW, CCLS, Director of the Children's Program at The Gathering Place, Cleveland, OH "My Parent Has Cancer and It Really Sucks provides a much-needed toolkit for teens coping with a parent's cancer." —Jane Saccaro, CEO of Camp Kesem, a camp for children who have a parent with cancer
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER As a healthy, happy thirty-nine-year-old mother with no family history of breast cancer, being diagnosed with the disease rocked Hollye Jacobs’s world. Having worked as a nurse, social worker, and child development specialist for fifteen years, she suddenly found herself in the position of moving into the hospital bed. She was trained as a clinician to heal. In her role as patient, the healing process became personal. Exquisitely illustrated with full-color photographs by Hollye’s close friend, award-winning photographer Elizabeth Messina, The Silver Lining is both Hollye’s memoir and a practical, supportive resource for anyone whose life has been touched by breast cancer. In the first section of each chapter, she describes with humor and wisdom her personal experience and gives details about her diagnosis, treatment, side effects, and recovery. The second section of each chapter is told from Hollye’s point of view as a medical expert. In addition to providing a glossary of important terms and resources, she addresses the physical and emotional aspects of treatment, highlights what patients can expect, and provides action steps, including: What to do when facing a diagnosis How to find the best and most supportive medical team What questions to ask What to expect at medical tests How to talk with and support children How to relieve or avoid side effects How to be a supportive friend or family member How to find Silver Linings Looking for and finding Silver Linings buoyed Hollye from the time of her diagnosis throughout her double mastectomy, chemotherapy, radiation, and recovery. They gave her the balance and perspective to get her through the worst days, and they compose the soul of the book. The Silver Lining of Hollye’s illness is that she can now use the knowledge gleaned from her experience to try to make it better for those who have to follow her down this difficult path. This is why she is sharing her story. Hollye is the experienced girlfriend who wants to help shed some light in the darkness, provide guidance through the confusion, and hold your hand every step of the way. At once comforting and instructive, realistic and inspiring, The Silver Lining is a visually beautiful, poignant must-read for everyone who has been touched by cancer.
A Champion's Guide To Thriving Beyond Breast Cancer focuses on positive mindset, faith and belief and why this is needed for dealing with all life's challenges. The metaphor of an athlete is used to demonstrate a 'Springboard Spirit'. A Champion's Guide To Thriving Beyond Breast Cancer reveals stories of challenge courage and triumph that inspire, give hope, belief and encourage others they too can rise up and thrive beyond their life circumstances.
