8 Steps to Getting Real with Cancer: Empowering Newly-Diagnosed Patients and Those Who Love them

by Marianne C McDonough

Overview

8 Steps to Getting Real with Cancer is a practical step-by-step guide for newly-diagnosed cancer patients and those who love them. Empowerment is the key theme throughout this book as Marianne McDonough, a breast cancer survivor, addresses the critical first weeks following diagnosis when patients suddenly face wrenching decisions, intense stress, and their own mortality.

The book is divided into 8 Steps that coincide with the hard questions patients ask themselves, such as:

* What do I know about cancer and believe to be true about myself as a cancer patient?

* How shall I interact with others, especially my family, friends, and medical providers?

* How can I select the best treatment protocol?

* How do I feel about possibly dying?

* Where is God in all of this?

* What am I afraid of?

* How do I deal with the stress?

* Do I dare hope for a future?

Using specific examples from her own cancer journey, McDonough employs an easy-to-read, three-fold format: myths versus truths statements, "how to" applications, and survivors attitudes. Additionally, she debunks "easy platitudes" that impose unfair expectations and standards on patients suddenly struggling with life and death matters.

With palpable compassion, the author writes in a transparent, conversational style. Newly-diagnosed patients, she says, have enough stress while making monumental decisions, so she invites them to rest their souls, find strength in their own beliefs, and prepare well not only for effective treatment but also for fully vibrant survivorship.

The primary audience for this book is cancer patients, especially newly diagnosed, and support people who love and care for them. Other readers include medical, counseling, and ministerial professionals.

This book is an excellent resource and addition to hospital gift shops, oncology and ob/gyn departments, and church book stores.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780996697705
Publisher:	Sapphire River Publishing Services, Inc.
Publication date:	09/14/2016
Pages:	102
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.21(d)

About the Author

Marianne McDonough, a freelance journalist, loves the process of writing, whatever the genre. With a Master's Degree in Mass Communications, she is proud to be an alumna of the University of Minnesota. Her writing experience includes direct marketing, magazines, and community newspapers as well as inspirational writing such as devotionals, memoir, and poetry. In 2012 Marianne was diagnosed with breast cancer. During the crucial first weeks, she found that soul-level honesty, getting real, empowered her to be stronger and more proactive in her cancer journey. Now, as a survivor, she seeks to inspire cancer warriors to fight this brutal disease with confidence and freedom. Her compassion for cancer patients, especially newly diagnosed, is palpable. In addition to her writing career, Marianne directs Great Commission Artists, a visual artists network dedicated to inspiring their communities. She also serves on the board of the Minnesota Christian Writers Guild. Marianne loves to read and relax on her porch at the cabin, play bridge, dance, and attend live theater, especially musicals. She and her husband enjoy two adult daughters and three delightful granddaughters.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Foreword by Katie Kinder, M.A., ATR, LPCC
Introduction
1. Getting Real with Yourself
Cancer Changes You Forever-Make it a Positive Change
2. Getting Real with Your Family
Cancer Shocks Your Family Members-They Don't Know What to Do
3. Getting Real with Your Medical Providers
Cancer Doesn't Play Fair-Choose Your Strategies Wisely
4. Getting Real with Your Support System
Cancer Can Isolate You or Bring You Closer to People-It's Your Choice
5. Getting Real with God
Cancer Confuses You with Fear-Get Clarity in Prayer
6. Getting Real with Your Treatment Process
Cancer Treatment is Hard Work-Be Creative
7. Getting Real with Stress
Cancer Causes Stress-Use It to Your Advantage
8. Getting Real with Your Future

What People are Saying About This

Christine Canfield

5 stars
This book is an excellent choice for anyone involved in the cancer journey, from patients and their families to friends and medical staff.

The first few weeks after a cancer diagnosis can feel like complete chaos. A kaleidoscope of emotions whirls around a core feeling of shock, and the volume of incoming information can be overwhelming. In 8 Steps to Getting Real with Cancer, Marianne C. McDonough gives practical and compassionate advice that shows how being honest and adopting a “survivor's attitude” from the very start can help immensely in dealing with this crisis.

Written for cancer patients and those close to them, McDonough offers chapters on getting real with many aspects of the cancer journey, including oneself, one's support system, the treatment process, and the future. She uses her own experience with breast cancer as an example of how this can be done, while acknowledging that everyone's journey and beliefs will be different. Her examples and point of view are personal, but she encourages people to tweak the information to best fit their own needs.

McDonough successfully maintains a message that is consistently compassionate and positive while being straightforward and honest about the challenges. Cancer is a struggle, and she doesn't sugarcoat that. Her goal is to empower others to navigate this difficult time, and her most helpful tools in accomplishing this are the sections that acknowledge and debunk the myths that can come up in the process of treatment. For example, patients often express that they don't want to be a burden to their friends and family. McDonough counters that allowing others to participate in the cancer journey shows them that they are trusted and that their love and caring is accepted.
-Christine Canfield
Read more...www.forewordreviews.com/reviews/8-steps-to-getting-real-with-cancer/

Editorial Reviews

"Breast cancer survivor Marianne McDonough remembers the exact time and date she learned she had invasive ductal carcinoma: "On Monday, March 12, 2012, at 9:00 a.m....my world collapsed into a sinkhole." Now, the journalist provides hope and inspiration for newly-diagnosed cancer patients based on her own experiences...Many breast cancer patients in the early stages of treatment and those who love them will find McDonough's thoughtful and practical advice a reassuring look at the breast cancer journey."

Blueink Reviews

Foreword: Written by Katie Kinzer, M.A., ATR, LPCC
... As a seasoned art therapist, I led a cancer survivor art therapy group for five years and still hold this cause very close to my heart. Having firsthand witnessed the devastation, loss, and trauma that cancer can cause, I am well aware how survivors struggle to heal as they find their way out of darkness using tools, such as art, to restorethe joy that cancer robbed from them. With that said, healingand recovery from this horrible, life-threatening illness is possible.

Marianne has written 8 Steps to Getting Real with Cancer notonly as a guide but also as a light to shine the way for cancer victims who, within the first days of diagnosis, are horrified by what to do and how to do it. Marianne approaches this from a Christian perspective, telling how her faith guided her through her own courageous battle with cancer. I especially love the way she tells her story from a human being's perspective, showing that our cancer journey, as well as how we react and respond to it, will not be perfect-and that it's okay. Marianne's thread throughout thisbook is for cancer victims to be authentic, and to trust God and His plan. She validates that indeed, these things may not come easily for us, and we may fumble, but it's all part of the journey for greater faith.

8 Steps to Getting Real with Cancer debunks myths of cancer and presents the truths. It gives the reader "practical applications during treatment and recovery" that are simple, yet wise. Marianne also provides "survivor attitudes" to utilize as guides for recovery...

I would recommend 8 Steps to Getting Real with Cancer to all people struggling with cancer: victims, survivors, caregivers, family members, and health providers. This is an excellent and practical healing resource to utilize during a very difficult journey not only for Christians but for the entires human race.

Medical Review: Dr. Charles Bryz-Gornia, MD, Ob/Gyn, Park Nicollet Methodist Hospital, St. Louis Park, MN. "I found 8 Steps to Getting Real with Cancer insightful from both the patient's and doctor's perspective. The tight journalistic style and imagery makes it a smooth read. Under the umbrella of the Holy Spirit, Marianne caters to the spirit, soul, and mind of the cancer patient. The shadows are longest at dusk and dawn. Her journey shows it is the beginning, dawn, of this life's chapter.

Pastoral Review: Reverend Roger Kuhn, National Pastor of Member Care and the Director of Church Relations at International Ministerial Fellowship. "8 Steps to Getting Real with Cancer will be valued by many readers. It is so good! I especially liked the quote in Chapter 6, 'Hope is like an archer with a quiver full of arrows. I had faith to believe for the target, but I needed hope to help me aim. Without hope, faith has nowhere to go, no way to launch, no direction toward which to land.' This book will be a "real" help to thousands."

Ministerial Review: Perry and Mary Johnson, Missionaries. What beautifully profound words Marianne uses to communicate the physical, spiritual, emotional, relational journey she has experienced! It touched me so deeply that I couldn't put it down until I finished it, even though I had started it late at night... Specifying the myths and truths of cancer are very helpful insights as to how to deal with the process of walking through or walking with someone through cancer or other difficult situations. Thank you to Marianne for being so transparent and honest through it all.

From the Publisher

In this debut guide to thriving through a cancer diagnosis and the healing process, the author gives intimate, friendly, and firm advice about handling family, medical providers, fear, and decision-making.

Cancer can shock and rattle even the strongest of families, and McDonough is no stranger to the changes that take place immediately after the diagnosis is delivered. In her guide, the author reaches out to readers grappling with their own struggles and offers focus points in the form of myths and truths. Her advice is holistic, presenting strategies of faith and perspective to reconcile what really happens emotionally to the person coping with the diagnosis and what is expected, externally, from friends, family, and medical providers. For example, in one section, McDonough describes firing an oncologist to choose a different doctor she felt was a better fit. The “myth,” she asserts, that a cancer sufferer should be a “good patient” who cooperates and pleases all of the nurses and doctors is simply not the first priority of the individual undergoing treatment, regardless of what society seems to expect. As she puts it, “Perfect patient? No way, nor did I aspire to be that. Perfect doctors? Just as unrealistic and, I might add, unfair.” While McDonough stresses that no one is perfect in this process, she describes one doctor who came in on a weekend day off to sit with her and explain her diagnosis more fully to ease anxieties. Another point of emphasis is patient autonomy. The author cites the importance of patients involving and informing family members yet making clear their intentions to control decisions about their own health. This, she explains, is one of the most important things for the patient to preserve. One aspect that likely sets this book apart from other similar guides in the genre is McDonough’s experience of catching cancer early. This title may carry the advantage of reaching those readers who were fortunate enough to receive an early diagnosis but still endured the fears and unknowns of procedures like lumpectomies and radiation. But the author presents all cancer patients with an important message: you are a warrior and survivor, regardless of how early you were diagnosed or the duration and complexity of your treatment.

A personal, conversational, and positive perspective on handling the ups and downs of cancer treatment and survival.

Kirkus Reviews