Thanks for the Mammogram!: Fighting Cancer with Faith, Hope and a Healthy Dose of Laughter [Paperback]

Laura Jensen, Walker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2006

When Laura Jensen Walker was diagnosed with breast cancer on her first wedding anniversary, she found humor to be healing in the midst of terrifying circumstances. In Thanks for the Mammogram! she recounts the highs and lows-from discovering that "bald is beautiful" to navigating the world of saline breast implants. Infused with strength and dignity, this book shows women confronting the disease, and those who love them, that faith, hope, and a healthy dose of laughter can make all the difference. Now available for the first time in trade paper with an updated look, Thanks for the Mammogram! is poised to impact a whole new generation of women coping with breast cancer.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

As her previous book titles imply (Dated Jekyll, Married Hyde; Love Handles for the Romantically Impaired), journalist and author Walker tries to see the humor in all situations. Her experience with breast cancer is no exception. Diagnosed eight years ago, the day after her first wedding anniversary, she initially responded with disbelief, but her support networkDincluding a mother who survived breast cancer, a loving husband, and friendsDhelped her through mastectomy, reconstruction, and high-dose chemotherapy. With candor, she relates those glorious moments of heaving and hairlessness to which most cancer patients will relate. Walker is also a religious woman (her spiritual nature precludes the raw language of other personal narratives), and she credits her faith as well as her sense of humor with getting her through. Though her stories are amiable, they aren't as funny or wise as those found in Joyce Wadler's My Breast (LJ 9/15/92) or Julia Sweeney's God Said, "Ha!" (LJ 6/15/97). Recommended for patient health collections in search of religious titles.DBette-Lee Fox, "Library Journal"
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Could anyone write a humorous book about breast cancer? By sharing the story that began with her diagnosis on her first wedding anniversary, Walker has. "Some couples get monogrammed stationery, or beautiful coffee table books or colorful picnic ware," she writes. "I got cancer. Not exactly a gift that can be returned." She blends irreverent humor with her actor husband's creative approach to cancer--he wrote a song, "Mammories," to the tune of "Memories" from Cats-- and once more verifies the healing power of laughter and optimism in the face of fear, pain, and even baldness. Walker may do more than any dry tract could to help women toward early detection and prompt, aggressive treatment. Whitney Scott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Revell (September 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0800731301
• ISBN-13: 978-0800731304
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,209,919 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Funny, moving, poignant... and fearless., September 12, 2000

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Thanks for the Mammogram!: Fighting Cancer with Faith, Hope, and a Healthy Dose of Laughter (Hardcover)

(Okay, I'm a bit older than eight, but the site wouldn't let me tell you my real age. National Security or something...) Thanks for the Mammogram is Bombeckian (as in Erma). Laura Jensen Walker not only tells us that laughter can heal, she shows us. Her ability to live on the bright side glimmers from each page and through her, we learn to face difficult facts: breast cancer strikes one in eight women, but 100% of their spouses. Yet we can choose our response to the disease; we can decide not to let it ruin our lives.

Alternately showing herself to be our big sister, best friend and cheerleader, Walker has, er, bared all in the higher interest of exposing the stigma associated with breast cancer for what it is: a killer.

But she doesn't stop there. Walker shares perhaps the most telling detail of all, that her own mother is a breast cancer survivor, and passed a steely will and hearty sense of humor on to her daughter. An inheritance that may have saved Laura's life. Discover that as one quote used in the book puts it, "Whoever is happy will make others happy too." (Anne Frank)

I'm decidedly not a crier, but I did cry through the chapter written by the author's husband. I recommend this read-it-all-in-one-sitting title for anyone with breasts.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Thanks for the Mammogram" is just what women need..., September 30, 2000

By 

Lisa J. Cook - See all my reviews

This review is from: Thanks for the Mammogram!: Fighting Cancer with Faith, Hope, and a Healthy Dose of Laughter (Hardcover)

"Thanks for the Mammogram" is a humerous yet heartwrenching book that exposes every woman's nightmare and offers proof that there is a way to confront this awful nemesis with humor. With 1 out of 7 women currently expected to someday face this enemy, it is most probable that we each know someone, be it a friend or cherished loved one who will enter the abyss of breast cancer. Laura Jensen Walker fell into this abyss and emerged victorious. This is her story... The reader will find themselves quickly drawn into her experience and will sometimes cry, sometimes laugh, and always feel relief that there is light at the end of the tunnel of such a devastating disease. I heartily recommend this book to anyone whose life has been affected by breast cancer. Read it, savor its humorous moments, and be touched by the love that the author poured into the pages.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You'll want your friends to read this after you, September 19, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Thanks for the Mammogram!: Fighting Cancer with Faith, Hope, and a Healthy Dose of Laughter (Hardcover)

Not since Erma Bombeck has this generation had a woman writer like Laura Jensen Walker, who speaks to you like your funny best girlfriend, sister, or mother. This book is wonderfully written, full of wit and useful information about breast cancer which is often not covered in more "clinical" journalistic articles found in typical media. The thing I liked best about this book is that by using anecdotal humor, she works in important facts and information about breast cancer in a way that makes them interesting and relevant instead of spewing a lot of statistics at you. It makes the information so much more real and memorable.

I definitely learned things about going through breast cancer that I never knew or never heard discussed before (eg.-did you know that to reconstruct a breast post-operatively, the nipple is "tattooed" on to look more realistic?) The book has a point besides merely entertaining and enlightening. It gives the reader practical advice on how to cope and how to help those around the patient cope with the problems, life threatening decisions, and fears from being diagnosed with cancer. The chapter written by her husband as caregiver is especially memorable because you rarely hear about the man's reactions and experiences though they are clearly very affected by the ordeal of the disease when it strikes a family.

This book would make a wonderful gift for anyone who has been touched by cancer in some way. It was carefully written to entertain, but not offend, while talking about a terrible disease. And in the end, I found it very uplifting as well. Love and laughter can go a long way when left with nothing else.