Healing With Words: A writer's cancer journey [Paperback]

Diana M. Raab (Author), Melvin J. Silverstein M.D. (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 12, 2010 | ISBN-10: 1615990100 | ISBN-13: 978-1615990108

Healing With Words: A Writer's Cancer Journey is a compassionate and wry self-help memoir written by an award-winning prolific author, nurse and poet, who at the age of forty-seven found her life shattered first by a DCIS (early breast cancer) diagnosis and five years later by another, seemingly unrelated and incurable cancer--multiple myeloma. The book includes the author's experiences, reflections, poetry and journal entries, in addition to writing prompts for readers to express their own personal story. Raab's journals have provided a safe haven and platform to validate and express her feelings. Raab views journaling to be like a daily vitamin--in that it heals, detoxifies and is essential for optimal health.

Readers will learn to:

Understand the importance of early cancer detection and how to take control of their own health

Discover the power of writing to release bottled-up emotions

Learn how the process of journaling can facilitate healing

See how a cancer diagnosis can be a riveting event which can renew and change a person in a unique way

Praise for Raab's Healing With Words:
"One woman's story, beautifully told and inspiring to those for whom journaling will ease a cancer diagnosis."
--Barbara Delinsky, author UPLIFT: Secrets from the Sisterhood of Breast Cancer Survivors

"Time after time, Diana articulates incisively the thoughts and feelings that convey hoped-for meaning and encouragement. She is a woman who knows what it is to live fully in the face of mortality. She will add value to the life of every person who reads this book. Healing With Words resonates at a spiritual level for me."
--Sena Jeter Naslund, author of Ahab's Wife and Abundance: A Novel of Marie Antoinette

Author's proceeds from the sale of this book donated to benefit the Mayo Clinic Foundation

Learn more at www.DianaRaab.com

Another inspirational book from Loving Healing Press www.LovingHealing.com

HEA039031 Health & Fitness : Diseases - Breast Cancer
SEL501000 Self-Help : Journal Writing
MED058160 Nursing - Oncology & Cancer

Editorial Reviews

Review

Through her honest and candid remarks about how she felt, the author relates with many who have had the same thing happen to them. . . I hope many people read this and take to journaling and talking very directly to their families about choices. - Carol Hoyer for Reader Views --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 206 pages
• Publisher: Loving Healing Press (May 12, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1615990100
• ISBN-13: 978-1615990108
• Product Dimensions: 0.4 x 6.1 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,203,858 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Since childhood, she has been fascinated with the written word. As an only child of working parents, she spent lots of time alone, which she filled with reading and writing in her journal. These hobbies set the platform for her life's passion as a poet, memoirist and essayist. She teaches at the UCLA Extension Writers' Program and in various conferences and festivals around the country. She frequently writes and lectures on the healing powers of writing.

Her award-winning poetry and memoirs have appeared widely in journals and anthologies. Her self-help memoir, HEALING WITH WORDS was released in June 2010. Her memoir REGINA'S CLOSET: FINDING MY GRANDMOTHER'S SECRET JOURNAL won the 2009 Mom's Choice Award for Adult Nonfiction and the 2008 Indie Excellence Award for Memoir.

She's the compiler and editor of WRITERS AND THEIR NOTEBOOKS a collection of essays written by esteemed writers who about their journal-keeping habits and how they use their journals as a source of inspiration. The book won the Eric Hoffer Award for University Presses (2011). The foreword is written by Phillip Lopate.

She has three poetry collections, DEAR ANAIS: MY LIFE IN POEMS FOR YOU, FOR YOU, winner of the 2009 Next Generation Indie Award For Poetry, MY MUSE UNDRESSES ME, and THE GUILT GENE.

For more information, please visit her website: http://www.dianaraab.com and blog www.dianaraab/blog.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful and Useful July 17, 2010

A Kid's Review

Format:Paperback

Diana Raab begins her book with a memoir about her diagnosis of breast cancer and her own cancer journey. The well-written narrative is honest, insightful, inspirational and scary! Ms. Raab makes the point of how common breast cancer is among women. She knows that though she was not alone, she must fight this battle her own way. She shares that intimate knowledge in this easy to read book and leaves pages for the reader to fill in the blanks and share their own story.

On a personal note, as I read the book, I thought of my own friend who is fighting a battle with breast cancer. I will pass this book onto her. I also felt compelled to make an appointment for my long overdo mammogram.

All of that being said this book is not just about fighting cancer. It is about fighting the disbelief, depression, bitterness and fear. It is about the physical battle she had to fight as well; losing a breast, treatment and the ultimate blow of being diagnosed with cancer a second time.

The author says, "There are a number of messages I have taken from the cancer journey, but for me, the most important one is that the diagnosis of cancer should be considered a turning point that sets you free to fulfill or examine dreams that can no longer wait...In spite of everything, I try to wake up every morning happy to be alive and with joy in my heart." These two points were the culminating point of the book for me. Shouldn't we all live our daily lives like this?
Journaling brought Ms. Raab the peace and comfort that she so desperately needed. She offers guidance and hope through her courageous story and encourages the reader to write their story, as well, while giving advice for the writing process....

Finally, although this book is written for the cancer patient, I believe anyone with any ailment could use her steps and advice to promote healing physically and emotionally. I highly recommend this book to anyone needing help with healing and a positive way to get their life back on track. Reviewed by: Donetta Garman, Allbooks Review. Read more ›

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars A Good Read for Anyone Affected by Cancer November 14, 2011

By Stephanie Ward TOP 1000 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover

"Healing with Words" is a memoir of a woman's battle with cancer and her struggle to understand and heal her life afterwards. Diana Raab is diagnosed with breast cancer at the early age of 47 and manages to beat it, only to be diagnosed with an unrelated and incurable cancer 5 years later. Raab comes to use her journaling as a way of healing and validation. The book includes several personal journal entries as well as poems that have been written by the author and she has included writing prompts for readers to journal about their own cancer stories.

Raab's memoir is very accessible to the reader. It flows in a natural, easy, and conversational way. Her poetry is intimate and allows the reader to see into her thoughts and emotions as she is dealing with her diagnosis and treatment. Raab never sugar coats the things she felt or experienced. Instead, she gives her honest feelings and opinions on everything from the doctors to the depression that came after surgery. The journaling prompts that are included are creative and urge the reader to recount parts of their own journey with cancer. Many readers who have suffered from cancer will find the exercises to be cathartic and perhaps even healing. This memoir is a fresh and honest piece that shows how cancer can touch everyone and the obstacles that one must overcome in order to survive it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fighting breast cancer June 7, 2011

By Paul Kendall

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book is a God send for women who have been diagnosed as having breast cancer. Diana Raab is a brave lady, who has fought cancer twice and won. Diana has written this eBook about her battles or in her words, her journey.

The book pomotes "writing" as a wellbeing therapy or writing to assist healing. The book is informative, inspirational and uplifting. Two words sum up this book; survival and courage. Diana is like a person who has escaped from a burning building, only to then go back inside (mentally). She has written this eBook to help others escape from that same nightmare. In sharing her journey in this book with others, Diana is extending the power of, the writing therapy technique once again; writing for Diana is a gift that keeps on giving. The feedback she gets must be uplifting, so please buy the book and leave a review.

The book emphasizes the importance of early breast cancer detection. Reading the first part of the book I began to appreciate just how breast cancer produces a rollercoaster of emotions, starting with those dreaded test results. And, I can see how therapeutic writing could help.

The is a good book with a positive self help message.

Healing with Words
Title : A Writer's Cancer Journey
By : Diana M Raab.

Paul Kendall (k3books) @k3books on Twitter

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Diana Raab: A Woman for All Seasons July 22, 2010

By Catherine E. Brehm

Format:Paperback

No matter your life season, whether you are in the moment of joy or disillusion, clarity or confusion, sickness or health--you must read Diana Raab's ([...]) latest book Healing With Words: A Writer's Cancer Journey!

Raab is a registered nurse, author, mother of three, and also the inspirational heroine of this deeply touching memoir, which chronicles her midlife victory over a rare form of breast cancer: DCIS or ductal carcinoma in situ--cancer of the mammary glands, only detectable through a mammogram.

Diagnosed at the age of 47, Raab is painfully honest about her struggle to confront diagnosis, treatment, and ultimate recovery. She takes the reader from the calm before the storm, and into its eye, spinning along in a tempest of wonder and fury, truth and promise, and above all love, hope and courage!

Raab's book is many things: educational, thought provoking, empowering, inspirational, and empathetic. Her words resonated with me on many different levels. As a woman, I felt and understood that low-in-the belly fear she--any woman--would feel in such circumstances. The frightful worry of losing sexuality and good looks; of dying before children reach adulthood. Of ending life before it is actually finished. The author's perspective touched me as a life coach, forced me--even as I coach others--to coach myself through life's trauma, to hold on, to believe in my own strength, resiliency, and tenacity! As a writer, I turned pages in awe, amazed at the raw honesty Raab displayed, a gift we all hope to achieve with every word we write.

This book is a gift for all of the seasons of a woman's life.... While Raab writes about breast cancer, her honesty and message translate well to other of life's disappointments, to those times when we question, do we leap off the dangerous precipice--or reach deep into our souls to find a new road, a new way, a new solution? Raab's message is clear, remarkable, and inspiring: keep reaching, keep stretching, and never, ever give up!

Journey with Diana! Take this trip with her; use the writing prompts and journaling exercises that conclude each chapter. Taste the poems she intersperses throughout; savor them as you would a hunger-satisfying delicacy! Know that no matter where you are in life, you are a not alone and Diana proves that with her moving words, every step of the way!

-- Catherine (Brehm) Rain, CPC
and Freelance Writer
[...]. Read more ›