Take Charge of Your Breast Cancer: A Guide to Getting the Best Possible Treatment [Paperback]

John Link (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2, 2002 | ISBN-10: 0805070567 | ISBN-13: 978-0805070569 | Edition: 1st

From a leading specialist, an empowering new book that gives breast cancer patients the confidence and knowledge to seek the treatment that is right for them

According to Dr. John Link, most women diagnosed with breast cancer today are not getting the proper treatment for their disease. Many are being undertreated, while others are being needlessly overtreated. In this follow-up book to his successful The Breast Cancer Survival Manual, Link now shows women how to be their own best advocate in getting the proper care. In this empowering book, he gives women the information and resources they need to be proactive about their cancer, and ultimately to help pursue a course of treatment that will leave them with the fewest physical or emotional scars. Through true stories of his own patients and information on the latest medical advances, Link helps women to understand the potential risks and benefits of various treatments. An openminded and experienced oncologist, he addresses everything from the decision to seek a second opinion, to the question of patient-doctor trust, to discerning under- or overtreatment, to alternative and integrative medical therapies. Take Charge of Your Breast Cancer offers an important new approach that puts the power in the hands of the patient.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Over the past decade, breast cancer advocates have encouraged women to learn about their disease and get involved in their treatment decisions. Link, an oncologist, has followed up his first book, The Breast Cancer Survival Manual, with one that underscores this message. He builds a strong case for taking charge of one's treatment by explaining ways that well-meaning physicians, as well as HMOs and pharmaceutical companies, can sometimes prevent women from getting the best care possible. He also stresses a patient's right to be treated as a whole person, with emotional, spiritual and sexual needs. In "Your Doctor is Human, Too," perhaps the most illuminating chapter, he discusses his take on physicians who are incapable of empathy. Link goes on to explain in detail how breast cancer develops, how breast cancers vary, and how to weigh the risks and benefits of different therapies. Link encourages women to see their diagnosis as a gift that can "enhance" their life by helping them to live more fully. Some survivors will bristle at the idea that breast cancer can in any way be positive, though others will likely agree that having breast cancer is a transforming experience. Link's warm and encouraging tone, as well as the nuanced information he offers, should, as the book's title suggests, help readers obtain individualized treatment in a health care system that is often dehumanizing. This is a welcome follow-up to Link's essential first book.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Praise for The Breast Cancer Survival Manual:
"An extensive resource of medical information."
-Bernie Siegel, M.D., author of Love, Medicine & Miracles and Prescriptions for Living

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Holt Paperbacks; 1st edition (October 2, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805070567
• ISBN-13: 978-0805070569
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,514,207 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Living Through Breast Cancer, October 25, 2002

By 

Jan B. King (Marina del Rey CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Take Charge of Your Breast Cancer: A Guide to Getting the Best Possible Treatment (Paperback)

This is a must-read book for women with breast cancer. Dr. Link's advice in a nutshell: Make sure you get the best medical care available, know your chance of long-term survival is good, and don't let breast cancer stop you from living your life to the fullest. If you've been newly diagnosed with breast cancer, read Dr. Link's first book to understand the basics of what you need to know to make the best decisions about your treatment. Then read this book, which is about the experience of breast cancer within your life as a whole. It is extraordinarily well written and readable, and will help you gain perspective about the emotionally devastating diagnosis of breast cancer.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent companion book to Breast Cancer Survival Manual, November 28, 2002

By 

pvreader (Palos Verdes Estates, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Take Charge of Your Breast Cancer: A Guide to Getting the Best Possible Treatment (Paperback)

This book is an excellent companion book to Dr. John Link's first book "Breast Cancer Survival Manual". His first book is a good crash course on all the information and terminology needed to understand your diagnosis and treatments. This book however is more personal. It empowers you to be your best advocate. He encourages second opinions and treating the WHOLE woman... not just her cancer. So often physicians only see the woman as a part that is damaged. They don't consider quality of life issues along with their treatments. I recommend this book highly.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Advice for the person - not just the patient, November 19, 2002

By 

About Breast Cancer Guide (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Take Charge of Your Breast Cancer: A Guide to Getting the Best Possible Treatment (Paperback)

A diagnosis of breast cancer can make you feel powerless. You are thrust into a world where nothing makes sense and asked to make life and death decisions - or have others make them for you. Dr. Link is a practicing oncologist who understands this.

Taking Charge of Your Breast Cancer empowers you. It gives insight into what is going on in your body, in the doctor's office and in your world. The advice does not come packaged in a condensending tone. You feel that this man knows what it is like to be a patient.

I found myself nodding in agreement with so much that he said. Second opinions, alternative treatments, chemo before surgery... so many topics that are presented clearly. This book makes taking charge - getting control back - so much easier.

The focus of this book is curing breast cancer. Recurrences are real and he deals with this, but he concentrates on living life to the fullest. The positive message is good to hear.