Customer Reviews

Multiple Myeloma: The Plain English Handbook for Patients and Care Givers

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is like blessed rain after a drought. Someone close to me has MM and when we received the diagnosis, I frantically tried to find info on the disease of which I had never even heard. This little book should be given out by doctors to every new MM patient. It's clear, wryly humorous and positive, yet realistic voice covers everything from how one feels when finding out what's wrong with the patient to making final decisions. Do I or my loved one have 2 years or 15? What, exactly, IS Mutiple Myeloma? What can we expect, what medicines are around, what are their names and what do they do? What if I can't eat, or lose my hair? How will he deal with depression or anxiety? What changes will we have to make at home? Should family and friends be told the truth? Where is the reliable internet information on this rare and intractable disease? How does one cope? My copy is so dog-eared that it looks almost as if it came with angled corners on its pages! The author's wife is fighting for remission, as many of us are. He knows what he's talking about. Let doctors write the exacting medical tomes about this, but for practical, supremely useful advice, Heller's book is a must read.

"Plain English" is exactly right. I bought this book mostly to help my father understand my mother's illness. After reading it myself, I cannot describe how much this book has helped not just my dad, but my entire family. We had never even heard of Multiple Myeloma before my mother's diagnosis, so one can imagine how confused and helpless we felt. The technical medical terms with which we were being bombared at her first diagnosis left us feeling very inadequate and anxious. Mr. Heller explained the disease and answered many questions we had in plain English format. After reading this book, my dad is less confused about how to help my mother, more confident in his own ability to take care of her, and less anxious about her symptoms. Mr. Heller's wife was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma and this book is written from his (the husband's) point of view.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is struggling with the first effects of being diagnosed, or having someone you love being diagnosed, with Multiple Myeloma. It is a good starting point in explaining things you need to know in an easy-to-read way.

Excellent overview for newly diagnosed, but with treatment modalities, newer diagnostics and staging criteria, I find most of the best up to date and newer info from the heme/onc or websites such as IMF (international myeloma foundation) or American Cancer Society.

I actually feel that I read a different book from the other reviewers. Although I thought that the author's intentions were good, I didn't find the book to be at all positive or uplifting. There is much more up-to-date treatment information available at the International Myeloma Foundation and other websites. There is also a great forum on the Leukemia and Lymphoma website where patients and caregivers can share their experiences and advice.

It's so easy to get lost in a lot of the medical stuff about myeloma, but this book helps anybody to understand it a while lot better. In addition to getting into the nature of the disease and different treatments, the writer delivers a load of great tips that none of the doctors really get into. As your life turns into hell, this book is a big help in making things a bit better in a lousy situation. The forms are pretty good although I like their download thing on the internet.

Finally a book that helped us ACTUALLY know what this disease is all about, without the medical mumbo-jumbo

As a clinician, I read this book with great interest. I have a better appreciation of what the patient and caregivers go through. I will not use medical jargon ever again. I highly recommend this book for newly diagnosed myeloma patient so they can learn the basics of myeloma disease. There are many helpful tips provided by the author to make life better while dealing with myeloma.

What a fantastic book!! It's pulled together all the the facts that I have read from different resources and compliled them into one simple concise and understandable context. Believe it or not I can hardly put it down. I'm ordering 2 more for relatives.
Thank you Mr. Heller