Greetings From Cancerland

Shortly after Alysa Cummings was diagnosed with breast cancer, she sat down at her laptop computer and began keeping a journal. Over the two years of her cancer treatment, Alysa continued writing as she moved through the healthcare delivery system: I fantasized that I could somehow use my computer to craft a story with an upbeat next chapter or fairy tale happily-ever-after ending. Looking back, thats the only explanation I can come up with, why I felt so compelled to create a record of my day-to-day experiences as a cancer patient. The one thing I could control were these words that crowded each other as they quickly appeared on my computer screen; these stories that flowed through my fingertips in such a manic rush; these traumatic adventures that happened to me in a place I began to call CancerLand. CancerLand: its this parallel universe, I swear, separate and apart from the rest of life as I once knew it. How did I end up in this wacky Bizarro World filled with freaky language and even stranger rituals? Gradually her daily journal entries became vignettes and poems that were published on the OncoLink website. Greetings from CancerLand, a collection of Alysas writing from 2002-2012, charts one breast cancer survivors journey as she discovers the power of writing to move her recovery forward.

Journeys in Cancerland offers two object lessons in patient participation. For a long time, patients barely participated in their own care. Once diagnosed with a disease like cancer, they would enter an all-consuming acute care system that took over their lives until they went into remission or died. That this is no longer the case is due, for the most part, to patients and caregivers like John-Peter Bradford and Lisa Newman who have begun to take charge of their care. Their stories are not merely instructive about cancer -- they are lessons in how to live with life threatening illness and how to face death. John-Peter Bradford is CEO of Bradford Bachinski Limited and a member of the Cancer Care Advisory Committee of the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation. Lisa Newman has over thirty years' experience in the Ontario healthcare system as a clinician, supervisor, and manager. Foreword by Sholom Glouberman, President of the Patients' Association of Canada

Even those who are ordinarily calm and thoughtful find themselves spinning when first diagnosed with cancer. When Your Life Is Touched by Cancer helps sort out the issues involved with a cancer diagnosis, including conversations about cancer with friends, family, and doctors; traditional and nontraditional treatment options; the often-difficult period when treatment ends; and breaking the news to parents and children, including tips on what to say. Sympathetic and clear, this guide is the perfect place to turn to in a moment of crisis, providing both immediate comfort and the tools to move forward.

This volume explores new ground in the area of personal transformation, achieved partly through a person’s volition with a guide or catalyst. The authors research and define the dynamics of paradigmatic-thinking, incorporating a series of case vignettes of personal transitions. They describe impediments to such change, as well as the post-transformation state of mind where vulnerabilities may persist. The resultant need for on going commitment may include guidance or coaching in order to sustain the positive effect of a change in paradigm. An important feature of the book is a case study written by “Rex,” a participant in Dr. Kreuter’s earlier work. Rex has achieved significant change in his thought process, both in how he sees the world (less sinister) and his self-perspective (worthy and connected). An in-depth view of the “new” Rex shows the extent to which change has been possible in one human being. Combined with other evidence of shifting paradigms drawn from a cross-section of therapeutic practice, the authors connect the clinical data with their own developed philosophy on the subject of human behavior and the ability to change with the assistance of a therapist guide to effectuate and sustain such change.

Sitting pretty, or so she thought, Karen Loss prepared to celebrate 16 years of freedom from the ovarian and uterine tumors that had struck, unbidden and unwelcome. She had faced that challenge head-on and come out ahead.Now the cancer had returned--with a sucker punch. In 2012 Karen learned she had Stage IV lung cancer. Her resolve to stand strong, fight back, and inspire others was about to receive its real-life test.Here is the story of an ordinary person facing extraordinary odds and not only surviving, but thriving. It is a story of faith and courage--with some laughs along the way.Karen has written letters to hundreds of family and friends from the day she received her lung cancer diagnosis in November 2012. They describe the emotional ups and downs, frustrations and uncertainties, but also the humor and excitement over good results along the way. She offers plenty of educational information as well as inspiration, making clear that this is a battle that can be fought with an upbeat attitude and an assurance that life is to be lived fully, no matter the challenges in front of us.

"Living with breast cancer can be absurd. Often, though, the absurdities are kept behind the curtain and shared only with other women living in Cancerland--the tactless comment from a co-worker about how attractive we used to be when we still had hair, breast implants that explode or prostheses that are left behind, accidentally, in the vacation house, and a new wig that makes a woman feel more like Tina Turner than herself. You'll never hear more raucous laughter than that coming from a room full of women sharing their breast cancer experiences. And, in a hot second, that room can turn into a puddle full of tears, given the agony of cancer--saying goodbye to parts of ourselves that are taken in the name of treatment, or to our sisters who do not survive this disease. In bringing these stories forward, we share the painful, the profound, and the ridiculous. We heal, too. And, through these stories, we hope to increase the understanding of the young patient and survivor experience, and to illuminate the dark spaces for those who will walk this path in the future."--Page [4] of cover.

Earnest Easley uses his story to share the value of dwelling in the valleys and how valley dwelling can provide a new outlook on life.

An unprecedented constellation of experts—leading cancer doctors, policymakers, cutting-edge researchers, national advocates, and more—explore the legacy and the shortcomings from the fifty-year war on cancer and look ahead to the future. The longest war in the modern era, longer than the Cold War, has been the war on cancer. Cancer is a complex, evasive enemy, and there was no quick victory in the fight against it. But the battle has been a monumental test of medical and scientific research and fundraising acumen, as well as a moral and ethical challenge to the entire system of medicine. In A New Deal for Cancer, some of today’s leading thinkers, activists, and medical visionaries describe the many successes in the long war and the ways in which our deeper failings as a society have held us back from a more complete success. Together they present an unrivaled and nearly complete map of the battlefield across dimensions of science, government, equity, business, the patient provider experience, and more, documenting our emerging understanding of cancer’s many unique dimensions and offering bold new plans to enable the American health care system to deliver progress and hope to all patients.