Dancing in Limbo: Making Sense of Life After Cancer (Jossey Bass/Aha Press Series) (Hardcover)

by Glenna Halvorson-Boyd (Author), Lisa K. Hunter (Author) "There is a cruel myth about surviving cancer..." (more)
Key Phrases: magical ally, other cancer survivors, survivor grief, Shelley Taylor (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"Dancing in Limbo is filled with deeply moving, personal insights into the hopes, fears, and triumphs of cancer survivors who have transformed the threat of imminent death into a celebration of life ... must reading for all cancer patients, their families, friAnds, and health care providers." (Dr. Kenneth R. Pelletier, author of Sound Mind, Sound Body and Mind as Healer, Mind as Slayer)

"This is fabulous and very brave writing. Everyone with a life-threatening illness should read this. Everyone who loves someone with a life-threatening illness should read this. Actually, come to think of it, everyone who wants to be more fully present for their life should read itafter all, we're all terminal on this bus." (Anne Lamott, author of Bird by Bird and Operating Instructions)

"I immediately wanted to recommAnd this book to my patients. [It] will serve as a roadmap to help cancer patients to anticipate feelings and stages of the coping process. It will help demystify the complex and often baffling set of experiences on the uncertain path of cancer survivorship." (Elisabeth Targ, M.D., Geraldine Brush Cancer Research Institute, California Pacific Medical Center)

"Here's a book that finally tells the truth about living in limbo. For those who are surviving cancer, it provides validation, support, and guidance in coping with the threat of recurrence ... a process that stretches into the years following a cancer diagnosis. For families, friAnds, and health professionals, it eloquently and powerfully portrays the emotional experience of life after cancer--helping us to better understand, admire, and learn from those who have had to confront their mortality and are forever changed by this experience." (Andrew W. Kneier, Ph.D., clinical psychologist, UCSF/Mount Zion Cancer Center)

"Dancing in Limbo leads readers through the dark morass of grief over so many losses to the new, positive identity of a survivor. The authors, Glenna and Lisa, quickly become companion travelers, offering wise counselor and helpful insights that guide the reader through what otherwise would remain an agonizing worry and darkness." (Neil Fiore, Ph.D., author of The Road Back to Health: Coping with the Emotional Aspects of Cancer (1990))

Product Description
Life After Cancer

I immediately wanted to recommAnd this book to my patients. [It] will serve as a roadmap to help cancer patients anticipate feelings and stages of the coping process. It will help demystify the complex and often baffling set of experiences on the uncertain path of cancer survivorship.
--Elisabeth Targ, M.D., Geraldine Brush Cancer Research Institute, California Pacific Medical Center

An intimate and inspiring account of the authors' real-life experiences of surviving cancer. The authors provide a straightforward account of what life is like after the whirlwind of doctors' visits and radical treatments comes to an And.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1 edition (October 9, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0787901032
• ISBN-13: 978-0787901035
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #163,392 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Getting over" cancer never quite happens, here's why., August 29, 1999

By A Customer

"Limbo: A region on the border between hell and heaven where those who are not responsible for their fate await judgment day." "Limbo: A dance of West Indian origin...[that] requires strength and flexibility."

So begins this interesting treatise on the psychology of survivorship, written by a dedicated pair of women, both survivors and both human development experts. For any number of cancer patients, the day will come, Halvorson-Boyd and Hunter explain, when all the Ivs have been pulled out, and the doctor has said, "You don't have to see me again." The fantastic focused determination that carried the patient through treatment is no longer needed and now comes the time- one would think - for that sigh of exquisite relief and return to normal life. Why is it then that so many in this position go home and fall apart? Why is it that life never really does return to normal? In a discourse that is part sharing of experience, part theorizing, the authors unpack these issues for us, outlining the stages survivors typically pass through and the strategies most effective in arriving at a new balance. Accessibly written with many memorable phrases from the authors and other survivors interviewed for the book. Will appeal to: Survivors, of course, especially intellectualizers nagged with unresolved anxiety. Also a good book for counselors and therapists.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE book for life after cancer, March 6, 2006

By	Just-a-girl "abc-survivors.net" - See all my reviews

When you visit the health section of your local bookstore, you'll find a plethora of information about getting through a cancer diagnosis, and very little about how to adjust to life after cancer. As the founder of a cancer support group, I believe that survivors are leaving our hospitals in droves - unprepared.

When a cancer patient "graduates" from treatments, she might exit the hospital floor amidst claps, cheers, and balloons. Her loved ones can finally breathe a huge sigh of relief, for she is out of the worst danger. Everyone wants to celebrate and get on with LIFE!

But the feelings inside the patient leaving the crisis behind may be those that she never expected: anxiety, fear, uncertainty, confusion. She leaves the constant medical care that has saved her life. She leaves attachments that grew when she was under incredible stress. She enters a world where everything is okay, but she doesn't feel okay. What does she do next? What meaning can she add to her life after all of this? How does she make sense of everything that she has learned because of cancer? How does she relate now to her healthy friends when she feels tired, hurting, different, or disabled? These are the issues cancer survivors dance with for the rest of their lives.

This book addresses, in a personal and realistic way, the effects of cancer on our lives - after treatment is finished. The authors interviewed dozens of cancer survivors and received the candid responses that you'd expect from those who have been through it all and want to help others.

One of the most interesting parts of the book for me was the discussion of how people handle trauma psychologically. It helped me understand the different approaches we each take to cope and make sense of a cancer crisis. I am now more accepting of others who view their cancer experience in a different light than I view mine.

I also came to a deeper awareness of how my cancer affected my loved ones, how the process of dealing with diagnosis and treatment is so different for them than for the patient. This showed me why my loved-ones may not fully understand, or want to think about, what life *after* cancer is like for me.

As an osteosarcoma survivor, the one negative thing I can say about this book is that when I got to the end, I realized there is one chapter missing. It applies to those of us who are dealing with significant physical disabilities or pain after cancer. But most survivors don't necessarily face this challenge, so I understand why the chapter isn't there.

If you love someone who is finishing treatment, or if you have finished treatment within the last few years, I urge you to buy this book. It may be more expensive than the other books out there, but it is SO worth it. This is the perfect cancer graduation gift! Just giving someone this book shows them that you understand their battle for a full life doesn't end with treatment. I wish I could give it to every survivor I know.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A must-read for cancer survivors and their supporters., July 17, 1997

By A Customer

You are diagnosed with cancer. Full of fear and grief, you face the prospect of a slow, painful death. You take treatment and, to your joy, it is successful. The cancer is gone and might not come back. Gratefully, you pick up the pieces of your life and try to start again. But it isn't easy.

It is at this point, say authors Glenna Halverson-Boyd and Lisa Hunter, that you enter limbo, the region between two extremes where you wait to see if you will live or die. The two authors, both survivors of serious cancers, throw out all the cliches and take a fresh look at the defence mechanisms patients use to cope with their fear. How can cancer patients face this fear of recurrence squarely and make sense of a life where the knowledge of death is always present? How can they relate to friends and family who have not had to face their own mortality?

The powerful last chapter ends on a note of joy, but it is no glib conclusion. This is a joy that has been earned by enduring the grief of "waking up in limbo" and learning to "dance" in the full realisation that death is part of life and in fact gives life its meaning.

Halverson-Boyd and Hunter are both health professionals. This gives their book authority but the way they share their personal stories and those of their interviewees, makes the book resound in the mind of this cancer survivor.

For all cancer survivors who are struggling with fear of recurrence, for all who try to counsel them or support them, this book is not to be missed!