Surviving After Cancer

There are an estimated 10 million cancer survivors in America, and this number continues to grow every day as more effective treatments become available. Survivors and their families often call this phase of living after cancer the 'new normal.' This phase, however, is fraught with emotion, anxiety, fear, and joy, and many survivors and their families are not equipped to deal with these challenges. This book addresses in lively detail these issues, illustrating each with stories of survivors and current studies about survivorship.

Kevin Murphy's searing and devastatingly honest story, Surviving Cancer after Surviving Cancer, offers a unique perspective on this all too common phenomenon, when cancer (or any life-threatening illness) erodes the foundation of a once happy, thriving relationship. It offers the hard won wisdom of a husband who stood by his cancer stricken wife as she endured immense physical and emotional suffering, and beat the cancer that threatened her life and their unborn child, only to succumb to a painful divorce less than a decade later. Part memoir, part self-help primer, Surviving Cancer after Surviving Cancer is a wakeup call to couples and families whose lives have been decimated by disease. It seeks to bridge the emotional gap that too often isolates citizens of sickness from their spouses, families, and friends.

With the risk of more than one in three getting cancer during a lifetime, each of us is likely to experience cancer, or know someone who has survived cancer. Although some cancer survivors recover with a renewed sense of life and purpose, what has often been ignored is the toll taken by cancer and its treatmentâ€"on health, functioning, sense of security, and well-being. Long lasting effects of treatment may be apparent shortly after its completion or arise years later. The transition from active treatment to post-treatment care is critical to long-term health. From Cancer Patient to Cancer Survivor focuses on survivors of adult cancer during the phase of care that follows primary treatment. The book raises awareness of the medical, functional, and psychosocial consequences of cancer and its treatment. It defines quality health care for cancer survivors and identifies strategies to achieve it. The book also recommends improvements in the quality of life of cancer survivors through policies that ensure their access to psychosocial services, fair employment practices, and health insurance. This book will be of particular interest to cancer patients and their advocates, health care providers and their leadership, health insurers, employers, research sponsors, and the public and their elected representatives.

WINNER OF THE BEST HEALTH BOOK CATEGORY IN THE GUILD OF HEALTH WRITERS HEALTH WRITING AWARDS 2012 HIGHLY COMMENDED IN THE POPULAR MEDICINE CATEGORY AT THE BMA MEDICAL BOOK AWARDS 2012 Coping with life after cancer can be tough. The idea that the end of successful treatment brings relief and peace just isn't true for countless survivors. Many feel unexpectedly alone, worried and adrift. You're supposed to be getting your life 'back on track' but your life has changed. You have changed. With reassurance and understanding, Dr Frances Goodhart and Lucy Atkins help readers deal with the emotional fallout of cancer whether it's days, months or years since the treatment ended. Drawing on Dr Goodhart's extensive experience working in the NHS with cancer survivors, this guide is packed with practical and simple self-help tools to tackle issues such as worry and anxiety, depression and low mood, anger, low self-esteem and body image, relationships and sex, fatigue, sleep and relaxation. If you are a cancer survivor, this book will support you every step of the way. If you are supporting a loved one, friend, colleague or your patient, this is a vital read.

One’s journey through cancer does not end with the last treatment. Cancer affects patients and survivors not only physically, but emotionally and spiritually as well. Living through cancer impacts one’s sense of self, one’s energy level, and one’s ability to move on. The cancer experience calls into question the meaning and purpose of life. It affects one’s relationship with self, others, and God. Moving forward from the shock and trauma of cancer requires that survivors take time to address these inner dimensions of their cancer experience. This book does just that. It is a compelling personal journey through the many challenges faced by survivors as they attempt to reclaim their life after cancer. The author, a ten year cancer survivor, believes that facing and walking through the emotional and spiritual upheaval of the cancer experience can have a transforming effect on one’s life. She describes her own process, focusing on the first two years after diagnosis---a time of intense fear, anxiety, uncertainty, and turmoil. Acknowledging, facing, and walking through this pain brought her to a place of greater emotional and spiritual freedom---to a richer quality of life. Although each story is unique, survivors live through similar emotional and spiritual struggles. Questions included at the end of each chapter invite the reader to reflect upon their personal journey as a way of working through whatever is preventing them from moving forward. This book is a must read for survivors living through the inner struggles surrounding their cancer experience and movement forward. It is a source of support for those feeling alone in their pain. It is a guide for those wishing to heal and grow emotionally and spiritually from the crisis of cancer. It offers hope and encouragement to all cancer survivors.

Introduces an innovative four-phase program, complete with daily practices, designed to assist cancer survivors in picking up the pieces of their lives during the recovery processs, combining the personal experiences of survivors with advice on how to develop a personalized Healing Plan, handle stress and physical side effects, and find essential resources and support services. Original.

Struggling to get back to normal life after breast cancer?You were diagnosed with breast cancer and beat it. Congrats! You counted down until the day you could put the journey behind you and return to your life as you knew it before cancer. That day is here and yet you are still asking yourself, "When will things be normal again?". If you have been feeling like you are struggling emotionally, physically and spiritually in your post cancer life, you are not alone. Here's the good news; You have a second chance at life and you aren't going to let it slip you by. This book is for breast cancer survivors who are truly ready to reconstruct their life and feel normal once again. Author and breast cancer survivor Jen Rozenbaum will teach you her methods to help you: Finally feel normal again after cancerGet rid of the numbness and enjoy life againStop living in fear of the cancer returningFeel sexy and feminine again Grab your copy now and get started on the path to discover and live a normal life again

Life After Cancer I immediately wanted to recommAnd this book to my patients. [It]will serve as a roadmap to help cancer patients anticipate feelingsand stages of the coping process. It will help demystify thecomplex and often baffling set of experiences on the uncertain pathof cancer survivorship. --Elisabeth Targ, M.D., Geraldine Brush Cancer Research Institute,California Pacific Medical Center An intimate and inspiring account of the authors' real-lifeexperiences of surviving cancer. The authors provide astraightforward account of what life is like after the whirlwind ofdoctors' visits and radical treatments comes to an And.