The Breast Cancer Survival Manual: A Step-By-Step Guide for the Woman With Newly Diagnosed Breast Cancer [Paperback]

John S. Link (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1998

This Is the First Book the 250,000 women each year who are diagnosed with breast cancer will buy to help them make informed, intelligent choices on the course of treatment that lies ahead. Dr. Link provides authoritative, hard-hitting medical advice on:
-- whether mastectomy or breast conservation and radiation is the right choice
-- when the systematic spread is sufficient to justify chemotherapy
-- getting a second opinion without offending treating doctors
-- how to interpret a pathology report
-- weighing risk factors
-- managing side effects
-- optimizing diet and medication
-- using nonconventional treatment methods such as herbs and the mind/body connection
-- how to get the best overall care from healthcare providers

Written by one of the foremost breast cancer experts in the country, this guide provides the most up-to-date information available on the disease and its treatment, and is a must-have for all women recently diagnosed.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In a valuable guide for women who have just been diagnosed with breast cancer, Dr. John Link helps sort through the confusion and the fear, by explaining such things as how to get a second opinion and how to understand a pathology report.

Particularly valuable is Link's step-by-step description of how breast cancer is characterized, or staged, according to tumor size, hormone receptors, and other factors--and how that affects prognosis. As a breast cancer specialist at Long Beach and Orange Coast Memorial hospitals in Southern California, Link knows the medical jargon and what it means. Although his writing style is at times a bit jargony and difficult to read, a breast cancer patient will willingly read and reread every word. The book also includes useful chapters on diet, exercise, herbs, and vitamins; managing the side effects of treatment; healing's mind-body connection; and organizing medical records and keeping a personal journal or log.

Ending on an encouraging note, Link writes, "You should know that most women today are cured of breast cancer. They undergo treatment, become survivors, and go on with their lives. But having breast cancer is certainly a wake-up call to many and may be for you. Life now has added uncertainty." This step-by-step manual helps you navigate the uncertainty and become a survivor, both physically and psychologically.

From Library Journal

Upon hearing a diagnosis of breast cancer, many women feel devastated, confused, and totally alone. Link, a practicing internist and oncologist and founder/medical director of the Breast Center in Long Beach, CA, intends to provide the newly diagnosed woman with all the information she needs to make informed decisions about her care. After arguing that a second opinion is absolutely required, he goes on to discuss the types of cancer, surgeries, reconstruction, and adjuvant therapies, all the while stressing that the best prognosis involves the creation of a surgical/oncological team of specialists whom the informed patient is advised to quarterback. Link also provides chapters on post-treatment health and nutrition. The most useful parts of the book are checklists at the end of each chapter that provide specific questions to be asked of physicians at each step of the process and the suggestion to keep a log/calendar of all appointments and record sessions with doctors. Link presents breast cancer patients with valuable information and hope, two vital parts of a successful treatment/recovery process. Recommended for all public libraries.?Bette-Lee Fox, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 190 pages
• Publisher: Owl Books; 1st edition (June 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805055150
• ISBN-13: 978-0805055153
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,571,134 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

59 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For women with newly-diagnosed breast cancer, February 4, 2002

By 

E. A. Lovitt "starmoth" (Gladwin, MI USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Breast Cancer Survival Manual: A Step-by-Step Guide for the Woman with Newly Diagnosed Breast Cancer (Paperback)

Dr. Link has written exactly what his title promises: a manual that will educate women on how to survive a diagnosis of breast cancer. He teaches us how to pick a team of specialists, how to make adjuvant therapy choices, management of side effects, diet. etc. Dr. Link is a practicing internist and oncologist, founder of the Breast Center in Long Beach, California, and also director of the Pacific Coast Breast Center in Torrance, California.

The author treats women with breast cancer, rather than having survived the disease himself, so the `Survival Manual' is a less personalized account than, say, "The Breast Cancer Companion" by Kathy Latour. It is written with one degree of separation, and teaches rather than consoles.

For example, he writes, "I think it is helpful to understand the mechanism of hair loss with these drugs so you realize its true temporary quality," rather than, "When our hair starts to fall out, it is yet another violation of our bodies and one that most women felt was much more visible and hard to conceal than the loss of a breast." (quoted from "The Breast Cancer Companion" by Kathy Latour.)

Dr. Link's writing style is very much exemplified by his introductory quotation: "Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood---Marie Curie."

This is a very direct, honest book that can help women with newly-diagnosed breast cancer, "understand their situation and develop a plan to optimize a cure." It contains questions at the end of each chapter (called `checkpoints') that women should ask themselves during each stage of diagnosis and treatment, e.g. "Who is in charge of my surveillance after the end of treatment?" at the end of the chapter entitled, "Fear of Recurrence."

There is a good list of further breast cancer resources at book's end, including an Internet site with Dr. Link's continuing updates to this manual (breastlinkcare).

39 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars handy-dandy guide, November 2, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Breast Cancer Survival Manual: A Step-By-Step Guide for the Woman With Newly Diagnosed Breast Cancer (Paperback)

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.

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The 1st book to pick up for anyone who is newly diagnosed, August 23, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Hampton, VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Breast Cancer Survival Manual: A Step-By-Step Guide for the Woman With Newly Diagnosed Breast Cancer (Paperback)

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.