This second edition is a concise guide that contains up-to-date information on tamoxifen and herceptin

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Product Description

The updated edition of an essential resource needed by the 250,000 women diagnosed with breast cancer each year. Breast cancer is the leading cause of death in women from thirty-five to fifty-four years of age, and few things are as terrifying and confusing as a diagnosis of this disease. The second edition of The Breast Cancer Survival Manual is a concise, information-packed guide that is newly revised to contain all of the latest findings to help the woman facing treatment feel informed and empowered. John Link, M.D., the director of the Memorial Breast Center in Long Beach-ranked by Self magazine as one of America's top ten breast cancer centers-includes the most current medical advice on: o Tamoxifen, Herceptin, and other chemotherapy options o The growing importance of Her-2 oncogene testing o Clinical research trials under way that could broaden treatment options o The role of preventative drugs and prophylactic mastectomy for those with high genetic risk o Sentinel lymph node sampling, a method of local control soon to become standard Of course, all of the basic information included in the first edition- the nature and biology of breast cancer, choosing a treatment team, managing side effects, and optimizing medication-are here as well, making this the best book of its kind on the market.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1144225 in Books
• Published on: 2000-08-17
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Review
Reassuring and realistic, this guide offers basic, immediate information for women newly diagnosed with breast cancer. Physician Link conveys a sense of urgency in the second edition of his guide: in a most frightening and confusing time, women must gather their strength and seize the moment to understand the physiology of their particular situation and its ramifications for treatment then aggressively seek out the resources that will optimize their chances of cure. Questions of why and how this has happened usually have no answer, counsels Link. But he can offer the reassurance that most women today are cured of breast cancer. They undergo treatment, become survivors, and go on. Link first explains that, while breast cancer is urgent, there is time (usually several weeks) to confirm a diagnosis, investigate treatment possibilities and resources, and formulate a plan. Treatment, he points out, is no longer sequential (first surgery, then radiation, then chemo); rather, it will more likely involve multiple specialists working in concert. Furthermore, Link emphasizes the importance of making sure that the treatment team acknowledges the tremendous variability of breast cancer as it acts within each individual woman, and designing the therapy accordingly. Help with physical, emotional, psychological, and social issues abounds hereina well-rounded, authoritative resource. (Kirkus Reviews)

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Customer Reviews

This should be REQUIRED reading for women.
A breast cancer diagnosis puts a woman's life into a free-fall. Dr. Link explains how to take charge of a situation over which you feel you have no control. He has offered a concise, up-to-date compilation of information necessary for a pro-active role in breast cancer treatment. He lets women know in understandable language that there are options available and helps sort throught the facts in order to make intelligent, informed decisions.

I discovered Dr. Link's book AFTER I had been diagnosed and had already received a second opinion on my own. He helped me sort throught the maze of chemotherapy treatments, and gave me the confidence I needed to make the right choices for me. I was so impressed with his book that I have donated copies to our local hospital to be given to women at the time of initial diagnosis.

If you are facing this nightmare of a journey, take this book with you...

handy-dandy guide
Some people may be daunted by the size and detail of Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book, the current bible on breast cancer, and want instead a quick, clear, handy-dandy smaller guide to the issues. This may well be the book for them. John Link is an oncologist at the Memorial Care Breast Centers at Long Beach Memorial and there's a touch of boosterism for his clinic, but that's OK. I'm more bothered by the fact that he deals in authoritative pronouncements without a single reference to the underlying research. These things aside, there's a lot to like. A better explanation of your pathologist's report than I found in Love, an excellent chapter on Diet, Exercise, Herbs and Vitamins, and the only explanation I've encountered so far as to why chemo makes your hair fall out. A warning, which also applies to Love's book: those tumors depicted in the chapter on staging (p. 46) are not drawn to scale - they're tinier. But there is an earlier figure on p.23 that shows the true size of a "1 centimeter" tumor. Remember too, this book is for beginning breast cancer; it has relatively little to say about recurrences and metastases.

Will appeal to: most patients and family supporters, either those with little patience for protracted reading, or those who just want to hear a second voice.

The 1st book to pick up for anyone who is newly diagnosed
I bought this book recently after my girlfriend was diagnosed with breast cancer. THE BREAST CANCER SURVIVAL MANUAL is informative and easy to read. I feel empowered understanding the disease as well as the options my friend has with the up-to-date method of treatment.

I highly recommend this book to anyone, including friends or family members of those who have just been diagnosed with breast cancer. It also should be the first book to read for anyone who wants to be informed about breast cancer and the current treatment.