Cancervive diary
The Big Ca good read....!
There are lots of books out there specifically about cancer, all the various types, the symptoms, living with - and dying with - cancer, coping with the side effects. The list is endless. I'll be adding to this list endlessly too of course.
I have not read all of these books, so cannot vouch for all their contents. Everyone will want to read about different things in relation to themselves. The choice as they say, is yours!
This list is only intended as a guide to the ones available. Check out your local library before purchase if you want to make sure it is the right book for you (assuming they have it in their stock of course!).
If you've found a book really useful, let me know and I'll add it to this list for you (and the benefit of others too!).
More will be following of course....it's a never ending list!
Cancer Specific Books - click on the link for more details
Complete Guide to Cancer Pain & Suffering by Richard B Patt M.D. and Susan S Lang 
Before I Die by Jenny Downham
Bone Marrow Transplants: a guide
for cancer patients and their families
Cancer: A Positive Approach
Cancer and it's Management (3rd Ed)
Cancer at your Fingertips (3rd Ed)
Cancer: The Facts
Cancer: What Every Patient Needs To Know (Rev Ed)
The British Medical Association Family Doctor Guide to Cancer
The Chemotherapy Survival Guide
Non-Hodgkin's Lymphomas: Making Sense of Diagnosis, Treatment,
and Options
Understanding Leukaemia and Related Cancers
What You Really Need To Know About Cancer (Rev Ed)
Last Chance Salon
I've Got A Curable One
Managing the Stress of Cancer
Taking Control of Cancer
Having Cancer and How To Live With It by Angela Wilkie
The Journey by Brandon Bays
The Red Devil (To Hell With Cancer....And Back)
Dancing In Limbo - Making Sense Of Life After Cancer by
Glenna Halvorson-Boyd and Lisa K. Hunter
Bone Marrow Transplants:
a guide for cancer patients and their families.
Marianne L Shaffer Taylor, 1994 ISBN 0878338543
A guide covering bone marrow transplants, side effects, and the psychological
and social aspects of cancer treatments.
Cancer
and Its Management (3rd Ed)
Robert Souhami, Jeffrey Tobias, 1998, Blackwell Science Inc
The second edition of Cancer and its Management has been extensively rewritten
to reflect the many changes in our understanding of cancer and its management.
Cancer: A
Positive Approach
Hilary Thomas and Karol Sikora Harper Collins, 1995 ISBN 072253132X
Information about all aspects of cancer and the treatments available.
Also looks at the controversies in cancer, and includes checklists of questions
to ask your doctor.
Cancer
at your Fingertips (3rd Ed)
Val Speechley and Maxine Rosenfield Class Publishing, 2001 ISBN 1859590365
Written by two experts in the field, this manual answers over 450 real
questions that people most commonly ask about cancer. It deals thoroughly
with common concerns regarding the causes of cancer, the treatment options
available and ways of living with - and after - treatment for cancer.
Cancer: The Facts
Michael Whitehouse and Maurice Slevin Oxford University Press, 1996 ISBN
0192616951
Information on diagnosis and treatment of different types of cancer.
Also considers the emotional needs of cancer patients, living with advanced
cancer, and the role of complementary medicine.
Cancer: What
Every Patient Needs To Know (Rev Ed)
Jeffrey Tobias Bloomsbury, 1999 ISBN 0747545650
Thorough and up-to-date (well it was in 1999!) coverage by a cancer doctor.
The British Medical
Association Family Doctor Guide to Cancer
Rees, Gareth J G Dorling Kindersley, 2000 ISBN 0751308161
Clearly written and well illustrated providing information on what cancer
is, how the diagnosis is made and treatments that can be given. Diagnostic
tests are explained and illustrated. Also touches briefly on symptom control,
clinical trials and complementary treatments.
The Chemotherapy
Survival Guide
Judith McKay and Nancee Hirano New Harbinger, 1993, ISBN 1879237571
Information, suggestions and support to help you get through chemotherapy.
Non-Hodgkin's Lymphomas:
Making Sense of Diagnosis, Treatment, and Options
by Lorraine Johnston, copyright 1999 by O'Reilly & Associates
A very informative book from the US by Lorraine Johnston - every NHL
patient and even family and carers, should read this to get an insight into
how we feel and all the options available to us. At the time I was diagnosed
I didn't know about this book, which is a real shame as it would've answered
a lot of my questions straight away. I would like to thank Cindy from
O'Reilly & Associates for all her help and a BIG thankyou too!
Understanding
Leukaemia and Related Cancers
Tariq Mughal, John Goldman Blackwell Science, 1999 ISBN 0632053461
A useful book for people seeking more detailed information.
What You Really Need
To Know About Cancer (Rev Ed)
Robert Buckman Pan, 1997 ISBN 0330336282
A comprehensive guide for patients and their families. Covers the nature
and causes of cancer, overviews the commonest forms of the disease and describes
methods of detection, treatment and prevention.
"Last Chance Salon"
by Marian Keyes
published by Pengiun Books
Not your normal read, but it features a cancer patient and Debra Cooper
(who sent me the details) thinks most cancer sufferers would appreciate
the funny side of the situation. She quotes from the book. This is spoken
by Fintan, the cancer sufferer "My immune system is done in, white blood
cells completely flattened." He threw his eyes to heaven. "A side effect
of the chemo. Though they say everything is a side effect of the chemo.
If I fell off a ladder and broke my leg it'd be a side effect of the chemo."
"I've
Got a Curable One" by Katie Barton
published by Bookpress
"I've got a curable one" takes you through the journey of
Katie Barton and her battle with cancer, namely Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma.
Follow her story from first pains to diagnosis and treatment. A bit like
my own diary!
www.katiebarton.com
"Managing
the Stress of Cancer" by Dr James Brennan
Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Bristol Haematology & Oncology Centre
"All experience is an arch to build upon" so says Dr James
Brennan in the first page of his booklet. His aim is to understand what
it was like for his patients to have had cancer. He has also read and conducted
research in the field of cancer care. Perhaps other Oncology Doctors should
also try to understand their patients more in this respect. Being diagnosed
with cancer is one of the toughest experiences you will ever have to face.
It can be a time of many changes in not only the patients life but also
friends and family too.
Although this booklet is in use now, it will be appearing
(as an appendix) in his forthcoming book "Cancer in Context" -
a practical guide to supportive care (Oxford University Press).
© James Brennan, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Bristol Haematology & Oncology Centre
"Taking
Control of Cancer" by Beverley van der Molen
Published by Class Publishing, ISBN 1-85959-091
Everything you want to know about cancer, getting information, treatment
options, choices, self help. It does not condescend or hide facts that must
be faced. It gives strength and support to all affected by cancer. I'm hoping
to get a copy of this from the local library so will let you all know what
it is like. If you've already read it, please let
me know what it's like and if it was helpful to you.
"Having Cancer
and How To Live With It" by Angela Wilkie
This book is perfect for every one with or caring for, someone with
cancer. It explains not only how she felt through her treatments but also
exactly how her thoughts are in her head. Everyone who is touched by cancer
should read this to get a better understanding of how we, the patients,
feel.
The
Journey by Brandon Bays
ISBN 0-7225-3839-1
In this book Brandon takes us through her journey of heaing from the
momet she was first diagnosed to her check-up six and a half weeks later
when she was told she was disease free. She advocates among other things,
counselling, psychotherapy, healthy eating and meditation as invaluable
tools. It is described as book which is "food for thought".
The
Red Devil (To Hell With Cancer....And Back) by Katherine Russell Rich
ISBN 0-413-77010-9
The story of Katherine age 32, a newly divorced magzine editor living
in New York City. This tells of her 10 year cancer ordeal. She lived in
two worlds (as all us cancer patients do) the world of the ill, of treatments,
exhaustion and doctors focused on avoiding malpractice suits; and the "normal"
world - where lovers, career, vacations and health plans still mattered.
It is alternately wise and wise-cracking - the story of a woman who has
been brought to her knees several times, only to get up and learn to dance.
Dancing
In Limbo, Making Sense Of Life After Cancer by Glenna Halvorson-Boyd and
Lisa K Hunter
Life After Cancer I immediately wanted to recommend this book to my
patients. [It] will serve as a roadmap to help cancer patients anticipate
feelings and stages of the coping process. It will help demystify the complex
and often baffling set of experiences on the uncertain path of cancer survivorship.--Elisabeth
Targ, M.D., Geraldine Brush Cancer Research Institute, California Pacific
Medical Center
An intimate and inspiring account of the authors' real-life experiences
of surviving cancer. The authors provide a straightforward account of what
life is like after the whirlwind of doctors' visits and radical treatments
comes to an end.
Two health-care professionals who have survived cancer offer frank advice,
inspiration, and positive reinforcement for those who face the difficult
times after the cancer is gone, but for whom life is still hanging in limbo.
From the Back Cover Dancing in Limbo is the intimate and inspiring account
of authors Glenna Halvorson-Boyd and Lisa K. Hunter's real-life experiences
of surviving cancer. They are straightforward about what life is like after
the whirlwind of doctors' visits and radical treatments comes to an end.
In the aftermath of this intensely focused period, survivors are often unprepared
for their feelings of confusion and disorientation. Questions such as "If
I am one of the lucky ones, why am I feeling so blue?" are surprisingly
common. As this thoughtful book reveals, for those who survive cancer, life
is never the same again. Dancing in Limbo weaves the authors' stories with
those of other survivors who tackle the difficult question of what it means
to really live. To recreate lives of meaning and purpose, survivors face
a myriad of emotional issues. The book shows how survivors deal with loss,
fear, anger, hope, and grief. Using personal examples, the authors offer
down-to-earth advice on topics including: *Loneliness of survival. *How
to live with uncertainty without going crazy. *Fears of reoccurrence and
the wisdom of those worries. *The losses that must be grieved in order to
move forward. *The courage to live with fear and uncertainty without falling
into despair. *The effect of survivor issues on our most intimate relationships.
*and much more. Dancing in Limbo is written for the more than eight million
people who have survived cancer, their families, friends, and caregivers.
About the Author GLENNA HALVORSON-BOYD is a national consultant to health
care organizations and has a doctorate in Human Development. She lives in
Santa Fe, New Mexico, with her husband. She survived oral cancer over ten
years ago. LISA K. HUNTER is a partner in Health and Education Communication
Consultants, Berkeley, California. She earned her doctorate in Human Development.
She lives in Healdsburg, California. She is a three-year survivor of melanoma.
Before I Die by Jenny Downham
An intense story narrated by Tessa, who is 16 and has only a few months left to live. This book could have been too painful to read but Tessa has a good sense of humour and it is that which keeps her going. I will admit to crying reading the last few pages of the book. What can I say, the Furry Monkey is human and I find I'm more emotional reading things now like this.
Complete Guide to Cancer Pain and Suffering by Richard B Patt M.D. and Susan S Lang
Although this book is primarily for a US based audience, there is a LOT of information that you will find useful here in the UK. Not all cancer patients get pain, they are lucky, but for those of us that do, and continue to do so - this book can help you learn to deal with it in many different ways.