Navigating Your Cancer Journey

Navigating your Cancer Journey is a book that dares to understand the unique challenges that exist for cancer patients and caregivers at home, during treatment. This book was written by an oncology nurse navigator to empower cancer patients and caregivers with knowledge on topics like: • Financial Resources • Exercise and the Cancer Patient • Nutrition • Complementary and Alternative Therapies • Clinical Trials • Self Help • Cancer Medications • Medical Insurance • What is Cancer Anyway? • Cancer and Sexuality • End of Life Counseling • Care for the Caregivers • How to travel with cancer • Survivorship and more… The compassion and understanding with which Marais writes feels like a warm, calming hug from a beloved best friend. Her obvious and refreshing belief in the power of the patient takes center stage and is solidified through eloquently penned patient stories that bring home the message: You are not alone. Marais is a natural writer whose descriptions gently move the reader from one vivid landscape to another with ease and grace. We sincerely hope she continues to put pen to paper! Angela Wade Dog Ear Publishing Editor

"You have cancer." The words hit M. A. Levings hard. She later wondered if the nurse could perhaps have couched the news in gentler language. But no-there is no good way to deliver a cancer diagnosis. For Levings, her diagnosis launched a frightening journey that is familiar to all cancer patients. Fear and denial dominated her early emotions, coupled with a deep need for a second opinion. As these feelings began to subside, she realized she was about to make the most important decisions of her life. The medical options she chose-and her attitude-would determine her treatment outcome. She had to decide what mattered most to her and focus on that. What Matters Most: Navigating Your Cancer Diagnosis and Beyond is a short, honest, ultimately uplifting account of the author's experiences as a cancer patient, describing how she answered the questions all cancer patients must ask-from selecting the appropriate cancer treatment facility to determining therapy options that are right for you. Taking an active role in your own treatment gives you the focus you need to get through your personal cancer journey. With sensitivity and insight, Levings shows you how she handled this deeply personal process.

No one should have to face cancer alone. Each year, 1.8 million people are diagnosed with cancer in the United States. Upon learning this difficult news, individuals also have a minefield of complex information to navigate regarding treatment plans, insurance coverage, clinical trials, and more. Your Cancer Road Map: Navigating Life with Resilience is a compassionate, comprehensive guide for cancer patients, their families, and caregivers, designed to take the guesswork out of these crucial decisions every step of the way. For more than 35 years, the Cancer Support Community (CSC) has been a trusted resource, demystifying the emotional, physical, financial, and logistical challenges related to cancer. From CSC CEO Kim Thiboldeaux, Your Cancer Road Map is a comprehensive guidebook, providing advice and comfort at every point on the cancer journey, from the moment of diagnosis to survivorship and beyond. Your Cancer Road Map covers hard-to-talk-about topics such as treatment options, finances, how cancer can affect your fertility or sexuality, survivor care, hospice care, and end-of-life planning. In the CSC tradition, the book ensures that people impacted by cancer can live their lives to the fullest and enables them to gain a sense of control during what can be an overwhelming and chaotic time. Now more than ever, patients need the tools to participate fully in their healthcare, and communicate their preferences and priorities to their healthcare team so that they can make the best decisions for themselves and their loved ones while living with the highest possible quality of life. Filled with incredible personal stories from people who could be your friends or neighbors, as well as celebrities and influencers, plus workbook pages, checklists, recommended resources, and more, Your Cancer Road Map will be a powerful companion for anyone with questions about cancer.

Kelley Skoloda was the healthiest person she knew—until the day she became a cancer patient. During her first, routine colonoscopy—without having experienced any symptoms—Kelley received a shocking diagnosis: colon cancer. Based on the true story of her subsequent cancer journey, A Way Back to Health reveals how surprising lessons paved the way for her recovery, shares helpful action steps for those who find themselves in a similar situation, and illuminates how personal stories can powerfully motivate and heal. In addition to telling her own story, Kelley also features examples of how other, amazing survivors have learned to manage, survive and thrive in the face of cancer. She also explores how often overlooked actions, such as trusting your instincts, speaking up, getting a second opinion, and watching for miracles, can have a profound impact on recovery—lessons meant to help patients advocate for themselves and help friends, family, and caregivers as they wrestle with cancer and its treatment. Much more prevalent than COVID-19, cancer will affect one in three people directly, and many more indirectly, in their lifetime. A Way Back to Health, with its real-life stories and unexpected lessons, is a helpful and relatable guide to the most important information you need to know about cancer—for the time you need it most.

Forget about your cancer for a moment and imagine your life without it. Now, ask yourself the question: does cancer have to consume my whole life? The answer lies dormant inside your mind and you urgently need to let it out, but you need help. Whether your hope is escaping the emotional pain, reducing the burden on your family, searching for remission, or just finding a new normal to cope peacefully, Cancer Survivorship: How to Navigate the Turbulent Journey is your roadmap. This step-by-step strategy to self-management teaches: · How to learn about your diagnosis and staging to help you make informed decisions about treatment choices · How to establish effective communication channels with your oncologist to allow for collaboration and to participate in making health decisions · How to categorize your health status at any moment on the cancer continuum and how to proceed with progress from that point forward · How to adapt to new lifestyle adjustments to help you find your new normal and what to do to reduce the chances of recurrence and the emergence of second primary cancers · How to navigate your survivorship journey during and after cancer to minimize side and late effects of treatment and sustain a healthy mind and body In this book, Hasan dives into what it means to enact a follow-up survivorship plan, why you should implement it, and then deeply explains how this can be done. If you think that cancer is treatable and can be controlled as a chronic condition, or you can’t find a reason not to hope and wish for remission or recovery, this is the book for you. Cancer is a complex system of complex diseases making the road to recovery or remission not easy, but possible. It is your turn to join the millions of cancer survivors who are living with cancer just fine. This book gives you the tools to enable you to join those millions, now get out there and use them.

The Cancer Experience instructs doctors, medical students, and health care workers involved in cancer care on the proper role of medicine, the role of doctors, and the opportunities for connecting with patients as they make treatment and end of life decisions. It helps patients understand the issues facing doctors as they assist and care for them.

The essential guide to navigating your cancer journey--from a five-time survivorEvery year, 18 million people worldwide are diagnosed with cancer. If you, or your loved one, is one of them, you know exactly how overwhelming, scary, and confusing it is to navigate the journey through diagnosis, treatment, prognoses, and all their accompanying emotions.Entrepreneur, business leader, IRONMAN triathlete, and five-time cancer survivor Bill C. Potts has waged a 20-year battle against the disease. In this valuable patient and caregiver guide, he shares his personal cancer story, and those of others, outlining everything you need to know to take on this fight.With empathy and honesty, Potts explains exactly what to expect, and shares lessons and important tips you can put into action all the way from diagnosis, to treatment, to remission, to cure--and how to face setbacks on your road to recovery.You'll learn how to advocate for yourself, how to pick and manage your care team, and how to care for yourself emotionally and mentally. You'll find out how to make your treatment days more comfortable, manage side effects, and understand test results. You'll also find important information on diet, exercise, wellness, and staying active, as well as insights on how treatment and disease affects your immune system.With special sections for people wanting to support a loved one with cancer, facing and making peace with death, and recalibrating your priorities to get the most out of the life you have now, you'll gain the knowledge and tools you need to manage this journey--from someone who is walking the path alongside you.