When Cancer Hits: Your Complete Guide To Taking Care of YOU Through Treatment [Paperback]

Britta Aragon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 15, 2011

When Cancer Hits is your complete guide to navigating all the changes you'll experience between the doctor's office and everyday living.< Whether your future includes surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy, you'll need to know how to best manage your side effects, stress, and home recovery and how to sustain positive energy during treatment and beyond.


Inside this book, you ll discover how to:

• Implement proven solutions for mouth sores, nausea, radiation burns, fatigue, dry skin, neuropathy, and more.
• Create your own personal hair-loss plan, and find the solution that fits your style.
• Manage stress, anxiety, worry, and despair.
• Complement your treatment with the proven benefits of acupuncture, reflexology, massage and meditation.
• Protect yourself from personal care and housecleaning products that contain potentially carcinogenic ingredients and learn what products are safe to use.
• Treat and conceal redness, rashes, swelling, scars, and skin discoloration.

With real life stories from survivors plus advice from doctors and experienced health experts, When Cancer Hits delivers life-changing information on how to take care for your body, boost your immune system, encouraging your own healing, and nurture your soul while on the road to recovery.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Battling cancer is a Herculean task that requires courage, fortitude, and many, many decisions. There are lots of experts in the field, but advice from one who went through it herself is invaluable. I wish this book had existed during my own battle. --- Fran Drescher, Actress, Cancer Survivor, Health Advocate, President of Cancer Schmancer

This is the book I wish I had for every patient diagnosed with cancer. It fills the void between the diagnoses and the journey onward. A great blueprint for how to cope with the journey from choosing safe personal care products to addressing all the changes that your skin and body will go through to managing side effects. - --Dr. Madeline Krauss, M.D.

This is the book I wish I had for every patient diagnosed with cancer. It fills the void between the diagnoses and the journey onward. A great blueprint for how to cope with the journey from choosing safe personal care products to addressing all the changes that your skin and body will go through to managing side effects. --- Dr. Madeline Krauss, M.D.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Cinco Vidas Press; 1 edition (September 15, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0982917503
• ISBN-13: 978-0982917503
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,040,424 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Britta Aragon, natural beauty expert, author and entrepreneur, discovered her passion for promoting safe self-care through her experience as a caregiver during her father's eight-year battle with cancer. A survivor herself of Hodgkin's Disease at the age of 16, she sought solutions for the difficult side effects her father suffered on his hair, skin and nails, but was disheartened by the lack of straightforward information or effective products. Even when she tried products specifically touted for "sensitive skin," they were often laden with potentially harmful chemicals that actually irritated her father's fragile skin. For the first time, she became acutely aware of how devastating the side effects from drugs and medical treatments could be. Inspired and determined to help others, she founded Cinco Vidas in 2008, and dedicated her work to her father's legacy.

A lifestyle brand of products and services, Cinco Vidas provides expert resources and safe solutions to those experiencing side effects from chemotherapy, radiation or medication, or who experience skin conditions like eczema, sensitivity and chronic dryness. With the goal of fostering prevention and encouraging change, Cinco Vidas also works to increase awareness of potential carcinogens in food, personal care products, and the environment.

As a result of years spent working as a makeup artist and skincare expert, Britta lectures on Safe Self-Care for Compromised Skin in the New York area. Her blog, Cinco Vidas, is a popular resource and community support center for those dealing with medical treatment side effects and difficult skin conditions. She is also the author of WHEN CANCER HITS, a hand-holding guide for the newly diagnosed, and the creator of CV Skin Labs, a safe, non-toxic range of products to soothe and repair damaged skin without harmful chemicals. Visit her website at www.cincovidas.com.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Beyond Coping: Restructuring Life with Cancer October 7, 2011

By Grady Harp HALL OF FAMETOP 50 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

WHEN CANCER HITS is a book the public has been waiting for. Author Britta Aragon (who was diagnosed with Hodgkins Disease at age 16 and treated both surgically an radiologically for it may not realize it yet but she has added a textbook for Medical School students that should become part of the reading lists for all those preparing for a life in Medicine. At the same time she has provided one of the best researched manuals as well as one of the most genuinely supportive and imperatively useful books that should be part of the libraries of people who have been diagnosed with cancer, people who are in the process of dealing with the surgical and medical aspects of cancer treatment, and for caregivers and families and friends of cancer patients. In short, this is a book that deserves wide distribution: there are few who do not fall into one of these categories.

What Aragon does in this book is to provide a comfort zone for thinking about, planning ahead, coping, and being proactive in dealing with the rarely discussed accompaniments of having cancer. As she states 'Cancer changes you - how is up to you' and from there she details management of changes in the body - both internal including psychological and external meaning appearance - to facilitate returning to the world in as state that is perhaps not pre-cancerous, but at least appearing, feeling, and functioning in a healthy way....

Her chapters address issues that non-cancer people probably never consider - how to deal with skin changes, respecting the new quality of skin caused by chemotherapy, reducing the toxins in the home that threaten healthy skin and body, the various techniques to be kind to your integument, what to do about losing hair - not only from the scalp but from the eyebrows and lashes - solutions for nausea, itchy skin, dry eyes, nights sweats, being particular about makeup products, etc. She also provides information about diet and nutrition, care for the assaulted boy through exercise, meditation, massage, reiki,yoga, tai chi, and simply walking - a preventative measure that treats both the body and the mind and the quest for release from the side effects of the disease (and treatment!) of attack.

Some may find this book 'homespun' in the style of writing, but those people should place themselves in the shoes of a cancer survivor. Life is precious and we are the guardians of our castle. This fine book by Britta Aragon draws the reader into the areas physicians often forget to address - life beyond cancer. Aragon shares her wisdom openly: it is practical, well researched and experienced, and pleasure to read. Grady Harp, October 11 Read more ›

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Stranger to Cancer September 8, 2011

By Liz

Format:Paperback

My friend is recently diagnosed with cancer. I don't have cancer. I can provide a shoulder to cry on but I CAN'T HELP HER. This book gives all the advice and need-to-know information someone with cancer needs. The information is thoughtfully written by someone who clearly knows what it's like to go through such a devastating disease. From the first time they are told they have cancer all the way through remission, it's a wonderful guide. Kudos to you Britta Aragon. Thank you from someone who wants to help a friend and now really can.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Read and Great Resource November 3, 2011

By roberta steele

Format:Paperback

I am a cancer survivor, one month in early remission. I found this book to be informative as well as compassionate. When you are a mother, grandmother, aunt and sister as I am; it is hard to focus on yourself instead of family. This book taught me how to take care of me at the most difficult period in my life. I continue to use this book as a resource. This is a must read for anyone who is going through cancer treatment and anyone who has a friend or family in treatment. Roberta J Steele

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Informative October 26, 2011

By drebbles TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

"When Cancer Hits" is a guide for cancer patients about the various changes your body and mind go through after a cancer diagnosis and subsequent treatment. The book covers topics such as how cancer changes you; how your skin becomes fragile and the best products to use; five ways to lighten your toxic load; emotional coping; your face (acne and dryness); makeup; solutions for a body under stress; complementary therapeutic (for example massage and yoga); hair, wigs, and scarves; hand and foot issues; what happens when treatments are over; and tips to lower risk of recurrence. Also included at the back of the book are further books to read; ingredients to avoid in personal care products; ingredients to avoid in food; and where to find safe products.

Full Disclosure: I do not have cancer but far too many people in my family do and I read "When Cancer Hits" so I will know what changes they are going through and how to potentially care for them. Plus, there are a lot of lifestyle tips in the book that are helpful for both those who have cancer and those that don't. Author Britta Aragon is not only a cancer survivor herself but she watched her father battle different types of cancer for several years before he finally lost his battle. She clearly knows what it is like to not only battle cancer herself but to watch someone she loves battle it and the book is full of useful information for not only the person with cancer but his/her loved ones. Aragon not only talks about the effects chemotherapy, radiation, and various medications can do on your body but on your mind. I had no idea how treatments could affect your hands, feet, skin, etc. It is scary to read about harmful chemicals in products we use every day (like deodorant and shampoo.... Again, this is useful information for both people with cancer and those who don't have cancer.) Aragon not only talks about what she and her father went through but the book is filled with quotes from people that have battled cancer. There is a lot of advice in the book that will be helpful to many. I think one of the things that make this book so valuable for readers is that Aragon is not a doctor speaking in clinical terms about cancer - she is not giving medical advice. Instead, she is simply a person who battled cancer as a teenager, watched her father fight cancer for years, and now wants to help others in their fight.

"When Cancer Hits" is a very informative guide for all the changes you (or a loved one) may experience when they have cancer.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book for free. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising." Read more ›

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing Guide for Anyone!! September 27, 2011

By aimee

Format:Paperback

As someone who has experienced seeing friends and family go through cancer treatment, I can honestly say that I wish I had been able to give them this gem of a book. Ms. Aragon's book is intelligent and honest, thoughtful and thorough and written with love. The language is easy to understand, whether you are reading it cover-to-cover or in bits and pieces. While the book is definitely written for those living with cancer, there is so much about health and wellness that is relevant to anyone living in today's society. If it is possible to be best friends with a book, I would chose this one.