Book Review: ‘Breast Cancer: 50 Essential Things You Can Do’
Author Greg Anderson
Though you tried, there was really no way you could ignore it.
The first time your fingertips spotted the lump, you were sure it was nothing. Just a little abnormality beneath the skin, probably one of those weird things everybody’s body does now and then.
But the lump was there the next time, and the next, and you couldn’t ignore it anymore. With a big lump in your throat (ironic, huh?) you saw your doctor and got the diagnosis you dreaded.
So what next? How can you get past breast cancer and stay well?
You can begin by finding “Breast Cancer: 50 Essential Things You Can Do” by Greg Anderson” (foreword by Christiane Northrup, M.D., c.2011, Conari Press, $16.95 / $18.95, Canada, 304 pages).
Before you start reading, though, Anderson says to grab some paper and create a Wellness and Recovery Journal. Write whatever comes to mind: your insights, thoughts, fears, questions you have for your doctor, success stories. Paste in it articles you find interesting. Use it as a reference on your journey.
Next, remember three things: there is no single cause for all breast cancers and there is no one cure. The names of the kinds of breast cancer may be similar (and you’ll find a listing in here) but you’re an individual and so is your disease. Remember that you’re “not looking for more medicine. You are seeking the best medicine. The two are not the same.” And remember that hope is your “greatest ally.”
So you’re ready to fight. Anderson, who is founder and CEO of Cancer Recovery Foundation International, says that you should ask, ask, ask questions. Don’t be intimidated by your doctor.
If you’re uncomfortable with him or her, look for a doctor with which you have great rapport.
Studies show that exercise boosts long-term survival rates for breast cancer, as do healthier eating and nutritional supplements. Learning to focus will stop negative thoughts from swirling around in your head. Put yourself in charge of your disease, and learn as much as you can about it. Reframe statistics and ignore pessimistic predictions. Know your options and believe in the one you choose. Laugh, play, sleep, love more, and share your experiences.
When you get a cancer diagnosis, it’s natural for your mind to do frantic loops of doom, but in order to get through what lies ahead, you need real answers. “Breast Cancer: 50 Essential Things You Can Do” can help.
From the panic of first opinion to surgery and beyond, author Anderson takes patients through every step as he offers nurturing advice along the way. There’s a lot of new information in this book, as well as plenty of common sense guidance of which breast cancer fighters need to be reminded. Anderson doesn’t step lightly here; he charges through the battlefield, which is the perfect tone.
Though bits of this book are a little on the New-Agey side, “Breast Cancer: 50 Essential Things You Can Do” would, overall, be of great benefit to patients. If you’ve just received the diagnosis that set your world a-tip, this is a book you can’t ignore.
You’ve always secretly loved this time of year, even though everybody else seems to grumble about it.
Back to school. Back to homework and getting up early to hit the books. Back to boring classrooms. Grrrr.
You grumble along, but the truth is that back-to-school season is exciting. You get to see friends you didn’t see over summer, the clothes and kicks everybody’s rocking, and boys—the ones who were nerds last spring—who suddenly became oh-so-fine.
You stayed home last Saturday night.
The Saturday before, you went club-hopping with your girls. And the Saturday before that, you saw a movie with your mama.
It’s not that you don’t want to date. No, the truth is that statistics don’t lie: there’s a shortage of Black men, and since you’re “holding out” for one, you stay home a lot.
What else can you do?
Who is your favorite superhero?
Does he wear a cape and fly through the air? Or does he have sharp knives instead of claws so he can really mess up the bad guys? Does your superhero run fast, spin webs, jump high, control fire or wind, or is he able to swim through deep oceans with special gills on his neck?
It’s amazing how, sometimes, old words have new meaning.
Take, for example, a classic play or novel. Take, for example, a favorite poem that a great-grandfather tucked away in a family Bible, a story set in another era, or a letter written by a long-gone ancestor.
The words inside it might seem quaint and stiff. The format may not be familiar to you at all. You might not have known the writer but though the times are different, verses and thoughts put to paper 100 years—or even three generations—ago still shout their meaning.
Aliens have kidnapped your best friend.
At least that’s what it seems like. The two of you used to do things together all the time. You’d hang out, watch TV, shoot hoops or climb trees. You liked the same things and you knew each other’s secrets.
But now, sometimes, you feel like you barely know her any more. She never wants to do the things you used to do, and everything’s different. It’s almost like your best friend got kidnapped and replaced with someone who just looks like her.
