Customer Reviews

Cancers of the Mouth and Throat: A Patient's Guide to Treatment

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When you get the news you have cancer, there is a period of waiting in total agony for yourself and your family until the time you get before a specialist who can explain and answer your concerns. As you wait, fears and anxiety lead to despair and depression because you don't have understandable information and your mind thinks the worse based upon your preconceptions of the word "Cancer."

Simple questions that need immediate answers. What is cancer and how did I get it? How bad is this cancer and how far has it spread? What caused it and what can I do to change my lifestyle? How will they treat it and what are the odds of success in treatment? How long will this take and what are the likely side effects?

This book, Cancers of the Mouth and Throat: A Patient's Guide to Treatment, has its greatest value during that time as an initial resource to frame the problem and sketch out concerns and issues for the patient in a language that is logical and understandable.

A friend gave me this book shortly after diagnosis for cancer. I was being treated at an ENT clinic for an acid reflux problem that was so bad that it closed my airway. The acid reflux apparently had damaged tissues to the degree that it created a carcinoma just below the vocal chords. The book explained how all of this happened and I could see my situation completely.

I strongly recommend it for hospitals, clinics, and institutions that can put it in the hands of newly diagnosed patients. It has been a wonderful comfort to me throughout radiation treatment, and I reference it often.

Searching the internet for information can be confusing and often only creates more fear, because you don't even know what questions to ask. This value of this book, Cancers of the Mouth and Throat: A Patient's Guide to Treatment, is its focus upon an overview -- not medical mumbo jumbo detail -- but an overview, of head and neck cancers, treatment options, side effects, in a language understandable to patients.

This book was an absolute lifesaver to my emotional health, and sits at my bedside. Next to the Holy Bible, this book did the most in my situation to provide information that put me back in control of the cancer.

A patient needs this book to answer what cancer is, what to expect, and what to do and to guage the probabilities for success of a course of action. This book provided the answers to family that call with concerns and support.

By the time I finally went to my first cancer clinic visit, I went calm, informed, secure and with a positive spirit. The book gave me a basic understanding of my condition. I was able to ask and answer questions intelligently, and to give my family reassurances for their concerns and questions.

I most strongly recommend this book and thank the authors for writing it and the hospital administrators that bought it as a resource for their patients, and the friend that brought it to me.

I agree that this book is well-written and easy-to-read. This is not a textbook and wasn't intended to be one. It is a good overview of cancers of the mouth and throat and will help the reader think about what questions to ask the doctors. As an oral cancer patient (not a medical professional) I do not agree with the Library Journal reviewer who said that the book falls short in detailing the specifics. For example, providing data on the specific chemotherapy drugs used to combat each type of cancer would be another whole other book. Also, the general information about chemotherapy is still good but the specific drugs (or combination of drugs) change. Similarly, providing detailed explanations including the unique features, risks, and complications of each surgical procedure would be another whole book.

On the down side, the first chapter is out-of-date about causes of head & neck cancer. Human papilloma virus is barely mentioned but the number of head and neck cancers linked to HPV has increased sharply over the past twenty years and a recent study stated that HPV is currently responsible for more cancers than tobacco or alcohol. The information about staging cancers in chapter 3 is incomplete, especially about stage IV and recurrent cancer.

If you need inspiration, read Laugh, Sing, and Eat Like a Pig: How an Empowered Patient Beat Stage IV Cancer (And What Healthcare Can Learn from It.) and then give it to your doctor to read.

If you need calories, try Nestle Carnation Instant Breakfast VHC Lactose Free Vanilla 250Ml - Case of 24 - Model 9871633900 with 560 calories per can.

If you are looking for more detailed medical information (or you aren't scared enough yet), try: Oral Cancer: Diagnosis, Management, and Rehabilitation, Atlas of Head and Neck Surgery: Expert Consult and Handbook of Cancer Chemotherapy (Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Handbook Series).

The authors seem to assume their readers are incapable of appreciating the "whole picture" when it comes to diagnosis and treatment. They spoon-feed what they consider to be the important information, leaving more questions than they answered.

My grandfather was diagnosed with larynx cancer. We had no idea about cancer and the treatments available. This book was great in explaining the options in plain language that we all could understand. We thank God for this book and the authors. Without it our experience would have been much more difficult.

A great read for patients and their families!