Books about surviving breast cancer and recovering from breast cancer treatment.

This inspiring book by Musa Mayer explores the subject of metastatic breast cancer (cancer that has spread past the breast and underarm lymph nodes). Topics include definitions of medical terms such as local recurrence, regional and distant recurrence, bone and liver metastasis, and the possible risks and benefits of researching one’s own disease. Mayer discusses all of the standard approaches to treating metastatic breast cancer as well as a number of alternative therapies. In addition to informational content, Mayer’s book also examines the emotional difficulties for breast cancer patients and their loved ones.

Published September 1998, ISBN: 156592522X
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In After Cancer: A Guide to Your New Life, cancer survivor and physician Wendy Schlessel Harpham, MD addresses the medical, psychological, and practical issues of recovery after cancer treatment. Dr. Harpham’s message is that survivors should pursue new lives rather than attempt to recover past ones. In addition to explaining this philosophy, she also addresses a variety of cancer issues in a question-and-answer format.

Published in August 1995, ISBN 0060976780
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Published October 1997, ISBN: 1575870630
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Olmstead’s book helps women diagnosed with breast cancer to face the disease and walk through the experience with courage. The book touches on the physical, emotional, and spiritual struggles women face with breast cancer and is helpful to breast cancer patients and their loved ones.

Published in October 1996, ISBN: 0875096867
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This revised, updated edition of The Breast Cancer Handbook is an invaluable resource that offers up-to-date, supportive information on all aspects of breast cancer. It is a step-by-step guide that explores the complex process of discovery and treatment -- including getting a diagnosis and second opinion, insurance, and living as a cancer survivor.

Published August 1998, ISBN: 1888315059
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This is an honest account of metastatic breast cancer (breast cancer that has spread) from those who have lived through it, including the author. The book explains how to find information and make decisions about treatment. Musa Mayer also wrote Advanced Breast Cancer: A Guide to Living With Metastatic Disease and Examining Myself: One Woman's Story of Breast Cancer Treatment and Recovery.

Published January 1997, ISBN: 1565922549
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This book guides women through the emotional and physical aspects of breast cancer. According to the American Cancer Society, A Breast Cancer Journey supplies women with invaluable, up-to-date information about diagnosis, treatment options, and insurance, legal, and financial issues, empowering them to take control of the disease. The book includes quotes, insights, and practical tips for managing breast cancer, treatment regimens, and side effects of treatment.

Published in January 2001, ISBN: 094423528X
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This book is a collection of 10 personal stories from women who were diagnosed with breast cancer. Each step of their diagnosis, treatment, recovery, and survival is discussed. The book is designed to help women with breast cancer identify with others.

Published in October 1997, ISBN: 0813333938
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Suzannah Olivier, a qualified nutritionist and long-term survivor of breast cancer, reveals how eating the right foods can give women essential support by building the immune system, re-balancing hormones, and encouraging detoxification to keep the body well nourished and in fighting form.

Published in October 2001, ISBN: 1580543278
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Designed for exercise specialists working with women following breast cancer diagnosis and surgery, this workbook focuses on the concerns and needs of breast cancer survivors with an emphasis on individualized exercise design during the recovery process. The workbook comes with the complete course, Breast Cancer Recovery Exercise Program, Course #4144.

Published January 2000
This book is available at: http://www.dswfitness.com/

In her powerful book, Lillie Shockney explores the topic of breast cancer from three perspectives: as a child whose best friend’s mother had breast cancer, as a nurse who has cared for dozens of women with the disease, and as a patient who has had a lumpectomy and two mastectomies since 1992. Written for the average woman who is not familiar with the complicated medical terminology associated with breast cancer, this book offers a supportive and sensitive look at a potentially devastating disease.

Published October 1999, ISBN: 1881636224
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Published August 1996, ISBN: 0887376541
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Cancer Doesn't Have to Hurt: How to Conquer the Pain Caused by Cancer and Cancer Treatment by Pamela J. Haylock and Carol P. Curtiss (Contributor)

Cancer patients do not need to suffer from needless pain during treatment. This book explains how to manage cancer pain through various medical options and explores the emotional effects of cancer on sufferers and caregivers. The authors help patients to describe their pain in specific terms that their doctors can understand, how to read prescriptions, how to understand the administration of medications, and adjust dosages when necessary. Haylock and Curtiss also offer practical tips on how to find and afford effective cancer treatment.

Published June 1997, ISBN: 0897932137
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This collection of journal entries, letters, and essays records the intensely personal, painful, and powerful journey Butler and Rosenblum took when Rosenblum was diagnosed with breast cancer. In writing about how they dealt with the disease, they describe both what it is like to be a dying person and what it is like to live with and love a dying person. They also recount how they learned to live each moment to the fullest. Rosenblum writes, ``Moments are very important because there may not be any after that . . . . Cancer exquisitely places you in the moment.'' They express their anger and anguish at the public health system that initially misdiagnosed Rosenblum's cancer as fibrocystic disease.

Published September 1996, ISBN: 1883523168
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Cancer: Increasing Your Odds for Survival: A Resource Guide for Integrating Mainstream, Alternative and Complementary Therapies by David Bognar, Preface by O. Carl Simonton, PhD

Devastated by the 1990 death of his partner from breast cancer, Bognar spent the next eight years doing research on the subject. The result is this resource guide (and a companion four-hour video) for cancer patients and their families, covering the emotional shock and disorientation at diagnosis, the choice of a healing program, and the emotional, spiritual, and psychological issues of a life-threatening and often terminal disease. Eight of nine thematic chapters end with in-depth interviews with leaders in conventional and alternative healing approaches (e.g., Dr. Bernie Siegel, Lawrence LeShan, and Bruce Chabner of the National Cancer Institute). Bognar looks at all research and therapies with a balanced, critical eye. Short discussions of tests and treatments are clearly written and immediately followed by lists of resources, including books, institutions, telephone numbers, and websites. Appendixes include lists of cancer-care centers, organizations and support groups, and cancer-related seminars. This book is a balanced, highly recommended guide to help the cancer patient be a well-informed consumer.

Published August 1998, ISBN: 0897932471
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This book contains inspirational words from African American women who have fought breast cancer.

Published September 1995, ISBN: 0964321149
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This inspiring documentary video outlines the expedition of twelve breast cancer survivors as they climbed Alaska's Mount McKinley.  The soundtrack is also available featuring such artists as Celine Dion, Paula Cole and K.D. Lang.  Proceeds go to the support of breast cancer research, education and support to raise awareness.

Released August 1999, ASIN: 0767022505
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Released August 1999, ISBN: 6305555400
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In Conversations with My Healers, Ploski takes the reader through her battle with breast cancer and treatment with traditional and non-traditional medicines. The book includes in-depth interviews with some of the individuals who helped Ploski survive breast cancer: her surgeon, oncologist, herbalist and shamanic healer. Ploski discusses chemotherapy, radiation, color therapy, nutrition therapy, acupuncture, massage, herbal treatments, faith healing, and even shamanic journeying. The book serves as a personal account of breast cancer as well as an informative source of information on treatment options.

Published in November 1997, ISBN: 1571780270
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This book provides essential information and advice for women who have recently been diagnosed with breast cancer. Authors Phillips and Goldstein have devoted equal time to medical questions, emotional issues, and financial difficulties women with breast cancer might face. Topics include stages of breast cancer, survival rates, and treatment options.

Published in October 1998, ISBN: 0895298589
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Lymphedema is a side effect of cancer surgery, radiation treatments, or traumatic accident and causes the painful, chronic, extreme swelling of a limb or other part of the body. This book provides comprehensive, current information on this condition and its treatment, including diet and exercise, lifestyle modifications, and finding qualified therapists. More than 100 million people around the world suffer from lymphedema and at least five percent of women who undergo lymph-node surgery for breast cancer treatment will experience it. Written by a breast cancer survivor and a nurse, Coping with Lymphedema fills a definite need, with facts about diagnostic tests; manual lymph drainage and complete decongestive physiotherapy (CDP); medications, including antibiotics, steroids, and benzopyrones; compression garments; and experimental treatments, including acupuncture, biofeedback, meditation, and herbal medicine. The authors also debate the merits of various lymphedema therapists, from chiropractors and physiatrists to osteopaths. There is also information about natural diuretics, important nutrients, helpful exercises for reducing pain and increasing mobility, and methods for handling depression and self-image troubles. More than 100 resources and lists of phone numbers for support groups in most states further the usefulness of this clearly written, comprehensive reference.

Published January 1998, ISBN: 0895298562
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The 5th edition of A Dietitian's Cancer Story's 60 pages are crammed with informative and useful recommendations for developing a healthy diet that can also reduce the risk of cancer. This is an ideal book for anybody wanting to start "eating right," but who has no idea where to begin. Dyer provides specific diet recommendations such as the amount of fat and fiber to include daily and then gives information on how to achieve these goals with sample menus, realistic suggestions for incorporating nontraditional foods and ways to integrate the diet into family meals. She even provides a grocery list of healthy items to stock, most of which are available at regular grocery stores.

Published in September 2000, ISBN: 0966723813
Spanish edition also available, ISBN: 0966723821
*All proceeds from this book are donated to a research endowment at The American Institute for Cancer Research.

5th edition, 60 pages

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Mayer shares her own experiences with breast cancer in this deeply personal book about cancer diagnosis and survival. A large section of the book is devoted to Mayer’s difficulties with breast reconstruction. Mayer feels her surgeon pressured her into having breast reconstruction shortly after her mastectomy and consequently, she experienced several complications from breast implants. Although the book is more personal than factual, Mayer does conclude with a brief summary of the different treatment options available to women with breast cancer.

Published October 1994, ISBN: 0571198457
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This book is designed for mates of breast cancer patients to help them face the changes and challenges of meeting the vast support needs of the patient and themselves. The book provides guidance in dealing with the emotional pain of a mate's diagnosis, understanding how to help the patient cope, talking with the children, understanding breast cancer treatment options, dealing with insurance and financial issues, what to say about her scar and body image, dealing with the side effects of treatment, protecting the sexual relationship, monitoring her emotional recovery, managing the fear of recurrence, and how to take care of his own needs.

Published June 1995, ISBN: 1886665028
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When she was diagnosed with the disease at age 34, Margit Porter vowed to help others through similar circumstances. As a part of her efforts, she circulated a questionnaire; the result is Hope is Contagious, a compilation of responses, advice, insights, and tips for coping with breast cancer. This book discusses many experiences associated with breast cancer, including   diagnosis, surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, prostheses, and reconstruction.  It is also an excellent resource for mail-order products and educational networks.

Published in October 1997, ISBN: 0684842181
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This book chronicles Dr. Jerri Nielsen�s amazing struggle with breast cancer at the South Pole. Dr. Nielsen first discovered the breast lump in June 1999 while working at the United States Amundsen-Scott South Pole Research Station in Antarctica. In July, an Air Force plane air-dropped an ultrasound machine, digital microscope, medicines, and video-conferencing equipment that Dr. Nielsen used to consult with doctors in the United States. After performing a breast biopsy on herself, Dr. Nielsen was able to diagnose a malignant tumor in her breast with the assistance from doctors in the U.S. After self-administering chemotherapy with air-dropped medicines, she was finally rescued in a daring mission by the Air National Guard. Publishers Weekly calls Dr. Nielsen�s book, "on par with the best of the popular survival genre. This excellent book is about life, work, and the depth of human resiliency and love."

Published in January 2001, ISBN: 0786866845
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Journal of a Living Lady is an inspirational journey of a vibrant lady facing the challenges of terminal breast cancer as chronicled in her weekly newspaper column. The columns began as "Journal of a Dying Lady." However, as the author kept surpassing her doctor’s time schedule for expected death, readers suggested she change the title. Kelly’s writing has been described as witty and inspirational.

Published in June 2001 (paperback), ISBN: 0970850204
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Cohen’s book is the “how to” guide for a woman coping with the diagnosis of breast cancer. Just Get Me Through This is a “roadmap” for patients and their families/friends to help manage all of the day-in, day-out decisions and ups-and-downs of breast cancer. The book is simultaneously practical, emotional, clinical and inspirational.

Published in May 2000, ISBN: 1575665514
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If you are one of the 2.6 million women in the U.S. living beyond breast cancer, these may be some of the questions troubling you. You have been through diagnosis and treatment; now you are ready to move from "I have breast cancer" back to "I am leading a normal life." Living Beyond Breast Cancer will help you understand and manage the tough issues you face as you go on beyond treatment, and well into the future.

Published October 1998, ISBN: 0812930665
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This informative, eye-opening book focuses on what life is like after a woman’s breast has been removed. Written from both a professional and personal perspective, Rebecca Zuckweiler covers the practical, physical, psychological, social aspects of life after mastectomy. Zuckweiler provides women with advice about buying and altering clothes, choosing a prosthesis, treatments for phantom pain, and new exercises to deal with the pain and special needs of mastectomy patients. Interested readers should be aware that Zuckweiler considers breast reconstruction immediately following mastectomy a poor choice. Her own implants failed and had to be removed 13 years later. Zuckweiler prefers instead to discuss a variety of external breast forms.

Published in April 1998, ISBN: 0881791520
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Published January 1997, ISBN: 0965581705
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Lymphedema: A Breast Cancer Patient's Guide to Prevention and Healing by Jeannie Burt, Gwen White, and Judith R. Casley-Smith

Written for patients, this book provides clear information on what lymphedema is and how it can occur. The authors describe treatment procedures to suit a range of needs, emphasizing that lymphedema can be treated successfully. Other topics include preventing lymphedema, reducing lymphedema through professional therapy, reducing lymphedema through self-massage, and more.

Published March 2000, ISBN: 0897932641
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This book is one of the few available to help children understand and accept a breast cancer diagnosis in the family. A story of hope, Michael’s Mommy Has Breast Cancer is a sensitively woven tale that gently encourages essential parent and child discussion. Torrey is the daughter of a breast cancer survivor and developed the story after interviews with health care professionals and families experiencing the impact of breast cancer. For ages five to 10.

Published September 1999, ISBN: 0964776367
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After her breast cancer diagnosis in 1991, Joyce Wadler, a smart, savvy, forty-something New York writer, fought back with a grounded,
roll-with-the-punches outlook. She took charge of her treatments, her options, her life and her disease. My Breast is her irreverently witty, fiercely personal story of facing cancer's obstacles and uncertainties with feisty courage. Read it for the first time, or read it again. In a new epilogue, meet Joyce Wadler as she is today. My Breast isn't the end of her journey, but a beginning!

Published October 1997, ISBN: 0671017756
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Award-winning journalist Laurie Tarkan (whose mother died of a liver disorder when Tarkan was 11 years old) shares the stories of 16 women whose mothers had been diagnosed with breast cancer in this emotional book. Each woman Tarkan chose to interview has dealt differently with her mother’s diagnosis: one daughter became self-destructive, another developed an eating disorder, and another was forced to take care of her alcoholic father. In between interviews, Tarkan interjects her own commentary and advice from psychologists. Readers call Tarkan’s book a well-written testament to the anxieties, emotions, and issues daughters of breast cancer patients face.

Published April 1999, ISBN: 0878332278
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Not Just One in Eight shares the stories of 18 women and one man, all of whom have had different experiences dealing with breast cancer. Each story takes an intimate look at the survivor and his or her family and addresses questions, such as how each person handled the diagnosis, what medical decisions were made, what fears were confronted, how relationships were strengthened or weakened, and how their children coped with their diagnosis of breast cancer.

Published October 2000, ISBN: 1558748326
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Through firsthand accounts of ten survivors of breast cancer, the author offers support and advice concerning such issues as telling family about ones diagnosis, maintaining intimacy with a partner, and adjusting to a new body image. Breast cancer challenges not only a woman’s health but also her identity and self-worth. Appendices include fully annotated reading and resource lists as well as information about mammography and breast self-exams.

Published January 1995, ISBN: 0897931874
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In her inspiration book, Gabbard tells the story of 17 women who battled breast cancer and then took on the challenge of climbing Mount Aconcagua, the highest peak in the Western Hemisphere, to raise money for breast cancer research and education programs. The mountain climb was the first of three climbs sponsored by the Breast Cancer Fund, a non-profit organization devoted to raising breast cancer awareness.

Published July 1998, ISBN: 1580050085
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Two sisters who are diagnosed with breast cancer offer guidance to other women who are battling the disease in this sensitive and emotionally supportive book.  Illustrations accompany the sisters’ story.  There is no medical jargon or explanation of diagnostic or treatment options.  Rather, this book is meant to serve as a positive, uplifting story for women who are facing breast cancer.

Published in October 1999, ISBN: 1886230293
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In this compelling account written from within an illness, Kathlyn Conway gives us a deeply honest description of her own struggle with breast cancer and its many reverberations through her everyday life. Conway brings the reader to the heart of the experience of illness without preaching or being sentimental.

Published December 1996, ISBN: 0716730367
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Our Mom Has Breast Cancer is written by two young girls, Adrienne Ackermann, 9, and Abigail Ackermann, 11, and is meant to help other children understand the impact of cancer on a family. According to the American Cancer Society, who published the book, the tone is upbeat, but Abigail and Adrienne do not shrink from honestly sharing their feelings. They write about the fear that their mother would die and the effects of chemotherapy, especially fatigue and nausea. The book ends with Adrienne and Abigail reflecting on their experience and how it has brought their family closer together.

Published February 2001, ISBN: 094423531X
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Pink Ribbon Quilts: A Book Because of Breast Cancer by Mimi Dietrich, Robin Strobel (Illustrator), Brent Kane (Photographer)

Now that author Mimi Dietrich has six cancer-free years behind her, she has combined her quilt-making talents and her experience with breast cancer to create an inspiring book of quilt projects especially for women (and the people who love quilts) struggling with breast cancer. Quilters of all skill levels can create a quilt to brighten a day in the life of a breast cancer patient, survivor, or caregiver, and join Dietrich and thousands of other women in the enduring fight to find a cure for breast cancer. Eleven step-by-step projects include a comfort pillow, friendship quilts, and large raffle quilts. All of the designs use a pink-ribbon theme or pink fabric. Dietrich’s personal story reveals how quilting helped in her recovery, and she shares her tips on what friends of women with breast cancer can do to help. A portion of the proceeds from Pink Ribbon Quilts will benefit the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

Published October 1999, ISBN: 1564772799
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Breast cancer is the leading killer of women over 30, but its victims too often know too little about it. Nancy Brinker's sister Susan died of the disease at the age of 36. Nancy Brinker established The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation in 1982 to honor the memory of her sister and to help other women learn about and beat breast cancer. When Brinker herself developed breast cancer, she became even more involved into learning about how to beat the dreaded killer. The book contains Nancy's personal story; however, the longer part of the book is devoted to guiding other women through the medical side of their breast cancer. The advice is sound but portions of it may be dated. Nonetheless, this book will appeal greatly to breast cancer survivors who seek other stories of courage and wish to widen their acquaintance with the cause.

Published September 1995, ISBN: 156530182X
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The author is a clinician who specializes in medical psychology and who herself has had breast cancer, twice. This is an unusually aware and supportive book that recognizes and addresses cancer's assault on one's senses of self, femininity, and womanhood. It speaks with equal resonance to women with (or worried about) cancer and to those who love them, as well as to the professionals in mental, physical, and spiritual health who work with them. Kristine Falco leavens the hard parts with her unshakable assurance that the experience of cancer can lead to a "choiceful, redecided life based on new and amended definitions of womanhood and humanness." She shares her understanding of the physiology of gynecologic and breast cancers, and knowledgeably confronts the differential challenges of surviving both the diagnosis and the treatments.

Published January 1997, ISBN: 0765700999
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The author is a physical therapist who has worked almost exclusively with breast cancer patients for nearly 30 years. Stumm writes a warm and understanding book that uses the stories of real women as examples to discuss the best exercises and therapies for relieving pain after breast cancer surgery.

Published January 1995, ISBN: 0897931807
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Critics call Katherine Russell Rich's account of her struggle with breast cancer “a roller coaster of emotions: fear, panic, depression, hysteria, elation. It is funny, painful, touching, and finally triumphant.”   Rich recounts a powerful and emotional battle with advanced breast cancer with unique matter-of-factness.  

Published in October 1999, ISBN: