Really Helpful Breast Cancer Books

They are not just statistics or case studies, nor are they "genetic mishaps." They are everyday modern women struggling to survive breast cancer. They share the same diagnosis but are a crazy-quilt of many patterns and colors, with ages spanning twenty-five years. Some of them are wives and mothers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers; some are single, some are divorced.

Learn more about B.O.O.B.S.: A Bunch of Outrageous Breast-Cancer Survivors Tell Their Stories of Courage, Hope and Healing.

Miller, an oncologist and director of the Yale Cancer Center Survivorship Program, presents a unique and indispensable book for women facing breast cancer, which features individual chapters written by medical experts and breast cancer survivors. Because there are so many potential scenarios, treatment options vary, and women must decide which route to take in a timely fashion while simultaneously confronting their fears.

Learn more about Choices in Breast Cancer Treatment: Medical Specialists and Cancer Survivors Tell You What You Need to Know.

Every step of the way, society tells women that the breast cancer experience can teach them profound lessons and maybe even give them a peek at the meaning of life. But what if it doesn’t? After the long month of treatment ended, Shelley Lewis found that the cancer was gone, but in its place there was no epiphany, no new perspective on life. She discovered that for herself and other women, breast cancer was many things, but it was not necessarily an opportunity for self-improvement.

Learn more about Five Lessons I Didn't Learn From Breast Cancer (And One Big One I Did).

Peltason, an editor and breast cancer survivor, founded an online forum for women facing the disease. Their dialogue provides the content for this book. Survivors may discover that these raw entries churn up disturbing emotions; others will find comfort in these voices, and in the knowledge that they aren't alone—either in their sorrow or in their strength and courage.

Learn more about I Am Not My Breast Cancer: Women Talk Openly About Love and Sex, Hair Loss and Weight Gain, Mothers and Daughters, and Being a Woman with Breast Cancer.

Your Soul's Plan (which was originally published under the title Courageous Souls: Do We Plan Our Life Challenges Before Birth?) explores the provocative premise that we are all eternal souls who plan our lives, including our greatest challenges, before we are born for the purpose of spiritual growth. Through compelling profiles of people who knowingly planned experiences such as AIDS and cancer, parenting handicapped children, deafness, blindness, drug addiction, alcoholism, losing a loved one, and severe accidents, this book shows that suffering is not purposeless, but imbued with deep meaning.

Learn more about Your Soul's Plan: Discovering the Real Meaning of the Life You Planned Before You Were Born.

Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book has been considered the bible of breast-care books since it appeared in 1990. In 1995, Love completely updated the book in a 600-page second edition, including new biopsy and screening methods, implants, the pros and cons of hormone therapy, new discoveries in breast-cancer treatment, and many other topics. Every chapter has been rewritten, with the exception of the anatomy chapter ("The breast, I'm glad to report, is still located on the chest!"). Love presents copious medical information in a simple, welcoming style, and plentiful illustrations make the information even clearer.

Learn more about Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book.

"You've Breast Cancer": you're told. Now what?? You're scared, confused, questions overwhelm you:

• Could my diagnosis, my stage be wrong?
• Could it be a non-cancerous lump?
• How did I get this in the first place? Why me?!
• My mom had it, now me, how about my daughter?
• Do I really need to sacrifice my breast?
• I hate chemo, how about just radiation or a hormone pill?
• Is there a cure for breast cancer?

You have used up all treatments, but your doctor tells you the devastating news that your cancer has spread to other parts of your body. You wonder: What do I do now?Is there any hope for me? Never Give Up Hope.

Learn more about Breast Cancer Breakthroughs: Living Longer.

In this touching, frank and informative memoir, Nicki Boscia Durlester intimately chronicles her transformational journey after being diagnosed with breast cancer. Her story begins with her mother, who was diagnosed with the disease in 1962: a time when breast cancer was only discussed behind closed doors, and long before women took an active role in their diagnosis and treatment. Nicki provides unique insight into being part of a large Italian-American family afflicted with the BRCA2 gene, and shares poignant stories about her mother and aunts who faced breast and ovarian cancer with extraordinary grace and courage.

Learn more about Beyond the Pink Moon: A Memoir of Legacy, Loss and Survival.

Conley, a writing teacher, and her husband, Tony, an IT consultant, relocate from Maine to Beijing with their two young sons. Her compelling and humorous account of the "cultural zeitgeist" in which they are suddenly immersed draws the reader in immediately. It's a travelogue, a cultural history, and a memoir of parenting successes and disasters as she and Tony feel as though they're running a "small overnight camp for American boys in Beijing." As their initially reluctant sons gradually make friends, and Susan slowly learns enough Mandarin to negotiate bargaining at the market and trips with visitors to the Great Wall, their lives seem to be reaching an even keel.

Learn more about The Foremost Good Fortune.

This latest book by Andreas Moritz may rock or even dismantle the very foundation of your beliefs about the body, health and healing. It offers the open-minded reader concerned about cancer a radically different understanding of what cancer really is. According to Andreas Moritz, cancer is a desperate and final attempt by the body to stay alive for as long as circumstances permit - circumstances that are, in fact, in your control.

Learn more about Cancer Is Not A Disease - It's A Survival Mechanism.

You are Not Alone: Life After a Breast Cancer Diagnosis, empowers women with easy to understand, vital information to guide them through their breast cancer experience. It helps women become aware of their options while giving them the confidence, hope, inspiration, and skills to make the right treatment decisions. Along with valuable research, Andrea candidly shares her personal experiences, including her thoughts and feelings, from the time of her breast cancer diagnosis to having her breasts removed and reconstructed.

Learn more about You are Not Alone: Life After a Breast Cancer Diagnosis.

"The Lump" recounts my choice to become a doctor, the experiences that molded my surgical career and the startling discovery in 1998 that led to my own mastectomy, chemotherapy, mammograms, and hot flashes. Not unusual for a woman, but very much so for a gynecologist. My story is told with humor and honesty from my very unique perspective as a male, a gynecologist, and a breast cancer patient.

Learn more about The Lump: A Gynecologist's Journey with Male Breast Cancer.

8 Weeks to Women's Wellness, details the environmental links to women's health conditions and provides a roadmap on how to remove built up stores of toxins from the body. Dr. Marchese describes the various ways women are exposed to chemicals through everyday products and how these toxic chemicals are linked to 10 common women's health problems.

Learn more about 8 Weeks to Women's Wellness: The Detoxification Plan for Breast Cancer, Endometriosis, Infertility and Other Women's Health Conditions.