Just Get Me Through This! - Revised and Updated. Deborah A. Cohen

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      • You will look at life in a whole new way, as something you are lucky to be experiencing.

      • You will appreciate every day, just because it is there and has been given to you to enjoy.

      • You won’t take your health for granted, and will take better care of your mind and your body, making yourself a priority (rather than your family, friends, job, or other distractions).

      • You will be calmer . . . the little things won’t seem to bother you as much.

      • You won’t worry about tomorrow as much, but live for today.

      • You will draw nearer to the people who bring meaning and fulfillment to your life, and get rid of those who don’t (crises have an amazing way of revealing someone’s true character).

      • You will gain extreme clarity . . . about exactly who you are and what you want from your life.

      For many women I encountered, this experience gave them the courage to take action regarding major decisions in their lives that they had been postponing or evading—getting out of bad relationships even though they might have been comfortable, leaving dead-end jobs, reevaluating relationships with estranged family members. After all, once you’ve been through breast cancer, nothing else seems quite as ominous or overwhelming.

      Yes, there’s no going back. Life will now always be divided into “before B.C.” and “after B.C.” As I sat in my gynecologist’s office, discussing what it meant that my lab tests were returned showing “malignant” cells, he said, “You won’t believe it now, but good things will come out of this.” Yeah, right! Now, many months and many tears later, slowly but surely, I am starting to believe him.

      Above all, this book is about optimism. It is about how to look for those good things that will arise out of this experience, about focusing on long-term survival and lifetime plans, and about finding some humor and maintaining a sense of sanity in the midst of seeming chaos. The six-to-twelve-month experience of diagnosis, surgery, and treatment can seem interminably long, like a never-ending marathon, a gauntlet of professionals pushing, poking, and invading your body, followed by a proliferation of advice upon which no two professionals seem to agree. But you will get through it, and here, in the pages that follow, is your step-by-step guide to help you through the chaos, catastrophe, and turmoil of the entire breast cancer experience.

      The book is organized into four sections of chronological progression, from that disbelieving moment of diagnosis to that anticlimactic, ever-elusive “finish” to the treatment, and that strange transition period back to real life. We will cover:

      • The Diagnosis—Managing the News that you have cancer, including comprehending it yourself, and determining how and when to communicate it to the broader world; and Swinging into Action, which provides perspectives on gathering the information you need to make informed decisions, establishing your emotional support and coping mechanisms, and building the best health care team you can find to assist you in your journey.

      • Surgery—Deciding on Surgery offers an explanation and factors to determine which surgical alternatives might be appropriate for you; Undergoing Surgery provides an overview of the surgical experience and what to expect from the hospital visit; and Recovering from Surgery sets forth what you can expect from your body, emotions, and the actual surgical results.

      • Treatment—Deciphering Treatment Alternatives discusses the plethora of choices available, how they work, and why your health care team might recommend various options for you; Managing Treatments: Chemotherapy and Radiation delineates all the practical advice you need for getting through both the process of treatment and its impact on your life, as well as managing any physical side effects and balancing demands of the workplace.

      • Getting Back to Life—Ending Treatment explores the often surprising issues you may face in your transition back to your “normal” life (although you will never quite be able to go back to where you came from); Maintaining a Healthy Lifestyle offers suggestions on how nutrition and the world of alternative medicine can optimize your strength and well-being.

      Sprinkled throughout the text are portions written by Dr. Robert M. Gelfand entitled “A Note from the Doctor,” which explain some of the more clinical technical aspects of managing breast cancer. And at the end of each section, you’ll even find some “Rules of the Road” directed to family, friends, and others who will accompany you on your journey through breast cancer.

      So before we get into the guts of this book, you’re probably wondering just who I am and why I am writing this book. What makes me the expert? Unfortunately for us both, I may be just like you. Nothing made me the expert until one day without any warning this ominous disease called breast cancer reared its ugly head and slapped me in the face. No family history, no other health issues, nothing. I’m just a fairly normal person with a normal life, who could be your friend, coworker, next-door neighbor, wife, sister, or daughter.

      All in all, my life up to now has been good. No, it hasn’t been perfect, but in retrospect, it’s been pretty terrific, now that it’s been threatened to be taken away from me. I’ve been blessed with a close family, incredible friends, a never-ending array of interesting professional challenges and coworkers, and a wide variety of athletic, intellectual, and social interests and activities. I’ve seen a lot of the world and learned to appreciate what I have, and to be content to know that there will always be things that I might never have.

      But perhaps most important to you, my diagnosis helped me realize that, if caught in its early stages, breast cancer is not a catastrophic disease, but merely a potentially catastrophic situation. My expertise comes from experience, from being able to offer real-world, in-the-trenches, been-there guidance on how to manage your way through—and thereby avert—physical, emotional, and even financial catastrophe.

      And finally, just to be safe, I recruited Dr. Robert M. Gelfand, an oncologist whom I encountered when I visited him for a second opinion. After he spent more than two hours with me, objectively, but compassionately and patiently, answering each and every one of my questions—no question was too dumb to ask—I was convinced he was to be my co-author. He generously agreed to provide expertise regarding the more technical aspects of the book, and to ensure that nothing I discuss or suggest is harmful or improper.

      In this newly updated edition, we have added the input of two esteemed breast surgeons: Drs. Faith Menken and Eugene Nowak. As the care of breast cancer patients has evolved both medically and surgically, input from experienced surgeons has surfaced as a clear need. Hopefully, you will find this addition to be of great value.

      So, enter breast cancer.

      PART I

      THE DIAGNOSIS

      1. Managing the News

      2. Swinging into Action

      Rules of the Road for Family, Friends, and Other Participants

      CHAPTER 1

      Managing the News

      There is no good way to receive the news that’s the single fear beyond your worst dreams—that you have cancer. No, not somebody else, but you. This chapter will cover a few ways to handle this nightmare over the first few days, in terms of:

      • Comprehending the news yourself, and communicating it to those few people who need to know as soon as possible, both for your СКАЧАТЬ