Customer Reviews

Cancer Schmancer

5 star:		(62)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I have been a big fan of the TV series "The Nanny" for many years. I recently picked up a copy of this book, "Cancer Schmancer" from Amazon.com's website -- and read the book in its entirety in 3 evenings. I could not put it down. This book is funny, moving, interesting, and even entertaining (to a point)! Fran Drescher is an excellent actress (not just with words but with facial expressions and body language) and I could just picture hell reciting the book as I was reading it. It never ceases to amaze me how so many healthcare professionals can be so stubbornly and blatantly wrong about diagnoses! You trust your lives with these people -- they should be thorough and meticulous, but many are not. It's hard to believe unless you've experienced it OR you read Fran Drescher's trials and travails as she details her extensive battle with the American healthcare system to find a cause, then a cure, for her medical problem. A great read for any fan of Fran Drescher's, "The Nanny", or anyone who has had or known someone who has had or has cancer.

I have always admired Fran Drescher, especially after reading this book. Her honesty and humor help the subject matter of cancer seem to make things that happen almost bearable. Also, her advise to "get other opinions" is definatly one that everyone should follow.

Fran Drescher brings fantastic insight into the symptoms, proper treatment and diagnosis of cancer, as well as vital questions that you should ask your doctor if you are facing the challenge to overcome this physical one. A VITAL part of this book is how we MUST read, learn, and know as much as the doctor - so we can ask the most intelligent questions in order to receive the BEST treatment that is necessary for us individually. A LOT of it has to do with attitude, where NOTHING can stop you, and you CAN overcome the challenge before you. Written with truth, sincerity, dignity, and intelligence - exactly as I remember Fran to be when I worked with her on the set of 'The Nanny.' This book is just as fantastic as she is.
'Cancer Schmancer' is a tremendous inspiration, as well as a vital gift and contribution to all who need it.
Barbara Rose, author of "Stop Being the String Along: A Relationship Guide to Being THE ONE" and 'If God Was Like Man'
Editor of inspire! magazine

Cancer is a serious subject, yet Fran managed to write about it in a way that makes you laugh as well as cry. Sharing her experiences will help many women.

Buy this book. The information it contains is priceless. You will not be sorry.

Diane Gasparri Offutt

This book is a memoir of Fran Drescher's experience with uterine cancer. She does give some useful advice to all, mostly women, but not only women, who have unexplained symptoms. She reminds us that doctors are not gods, and we need to be active participants in our own health care. Ask questions, get information, speak up! For this, the book is very useful.

Drescher also does an adequate job describing her feelings as she goes through getting a diagnosis, undergoing surgery, and trying to recover. This is also useful, especially when she tells women that recovering from a hysterectomy is a Big Deal!

Her writing is mostly breezy and entertaining; however, I found it at times whiny and self-serving. She lapses into psychoanalysis a lot, which seemed a bit out of place. She sometimes goes into way more detail than I think she needed to. Some of her prose is a little rambling. And she spends many pages saying, "Look at me -- I'm The Nanny!"

Nonetheless, she has written a very honest account of her brush with cancer. It was brave of her to put herself out there, especially knowing that reviewers such as myself might find her a bit whiny. Even if she's trying to remind us how fabulous she is, she seems sincerely to be trying to help people. And for that, she gets three stars!

I really feel that I got to know Fran Drescher from this book. This book about her cancer diagnosis and treatment makes for compelling reading. If you think this is nothing but a dark and dreary accounting of illness, think again. It is a story of love lost and found and of a woman who refused to give in to possible tragedy. Her family and friends are the kind of people you would want in your life and the support she received from them adds to this story. The style of the writing reads as if it's a long personal letter from Fran to me and I couldn't put it down. I definitely recommend this inspiring book. (By the way, what does Nu mean?)

I thought this book was just wonderful. It was fun and light and yet it tackles a heavy subject. My mother went through a similar situation when I was around 7 and at its peak I was away at summer camp. Now nearly two decades later I was given the ability to understand some of the pain my mother had gone through while I was just a kid. And it also helped me to understnad myself as a woman and how my health isn't powered by the doctors but by me.

I love to read first-hand accounts of those that overcome huge obstacles in life. This book tells us honestly about a beautiful love between two high school sweethearts destroyed by one tragic event that happened in the darkness of night in their own home, the pressures of keeping that marriage together while working together on a hit television show and then the breakup of marriage and the ultimate life-threatening event: Cancer. Dealing with two years of not feeling well, numerous doctors and the loved ones that thought Fran was losing it, she finally got a diagnosis and was able to move forward with surgery, treatment and the healing process. She has found a new love and shares with us many a personal moment. We experience her growth with her.

I read this book in one night and wanted to spend time with this woman. I believe she is brave and a hero, as well as a wonderful role model. Not to mention, she's funny.

I would highly recommend this book. It is a great read, as well as a wonderful, inspiring and enlightening gift.

I read this as my adult daughter has been awaiting the results of her radioactive iodine treatment for cancer that has spread. My daughter also had to try several doctors before she found one who would listen to her, although the diagnosis was fast. A very serious subject, and dealt with by a star whose situation is not ours, but Fran Drescher gave me perspective on another's cancer struggle. I have never seen her tv show or read her other book, but am always looking to read other people's cancer stories to see what we can learn. It validated our searching for information and for answers.

Fran Drescher's fans will surely love this book about her battle with cancer. Those of us used to seeing her as the funny and almost always upbeat Nanny, Fran Fine, on her hit TV show see real-life Fran in a different light. Just like all of us she's very human, with ups as well as downs, but she doesn't try to take our sympathy for herself. She's a very real person (albeit a pretty one who's always looked young for her age), and this second outing of hers as an author is also rather educational about cancer.

Fran doesn't go into all the technical details of what battling the disease is like, but she does warn and give advice to women experiencing similar symptoms. They just might save your life. Take it from Fran--she'd been misdiagnosed (or undiagnosed, as the case may be) several times before she could finally be treated.

Other events during this time of Fran's life are also shared with readers. Especially touching (particularly for animal or pet lovers) is the section about Chester, Fran's dog who starred in The Nanny. Although this book is good overall, women will probably generally appreciate it more than men, as it is about a form of cancer that attacks parts of female anatomy.