The Feisty Woman's Breast Cancer Book

by Elaine Ratner

Overview

Breaking down the taboos associated with breast cancer and its treatment, Elaine Ratner shows that this illness does not have to be a nightmare, and that most women who contract it can take charge of their experience and come out whole. She begins her book with a list of 18 insights learned from her experience with breast cancer, including:
*Surround yourself with people who make you feel good
*The human body is a miraculous healing machine
*Nobody really knows much about breast cancer
*A breast is completely expendable
In addition to offering down-to-earth advice, Ratner discusses the paternalistic attitudes of the medical establishment toward women, the exaggeration of breast cancer statistics, and the way our culture shapes women's attitudes toward their bodies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780897932691
Publisher:	TURNER PUB CO
Publication date:	08/23/1999
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

Editorial Reviews

A woman with an immensely positive attitude, Ratner, a Berkeley, Calif.-based editor and writer, offers this guide to the psychological and emotional aspects of breast cancer. Ratner describes her own encounter with the disease in 1995, when, at age 51, she found two lumps that were later diagnosed as malignant. The experience led her to challenge prevailing myths about breasts and women's self-image, and to assert her right to make decisions about her own body. She urges women to take time to learn about their treatment options, to find a doctor they can trust, to have confidence in their own decisions--and to expect a good outcome. She especially counsels sharing thoughts and feelings with family, friends and even one's children. Her own experience was indeed a positive one: four years after cancer, she is healthy and happy, and she reminds women that the great majority of those with breast cancer will, like her, recover. Never saccharine, and often adamant (she argues that women shouldn't let doctors convince them to have breast reconstruction on grounds that they would be incomplete without it), Ratner delivers an upbeat message about assertiveness, strength and positive thinking. (Oct.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Ratner, a freelance author who battled breast cancer several years ago, here offers a new and controversial approach to the disease. Recovery, she argues, requires a positive outlook. She describes how to foster a post-diagnosis zest for life and stresses the importance of the mind-body connection. Ratner's opinions are sometimes controversial: "A breast," she writes, explaining her decision to forgo breast reconstruction after her mastectomy, "is completely expendable." But she also writes eloquently about her fear of the side effects of radiation, chemotherapy, and the drug Tamoxifen and her decision to refuse these traditional treatments (a decision that worked for her but might not be right for all breast cancer patients). While not taking the place of standard breast cancer treatment guides, this book does offer breast cancer survivors information about enhancing their emotional health--after a treatment decision has been made. Recommended for public libraries only.--Cynthia A. Nuhn, Eckerd Coll. Lib., St. Petersburg, FL Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal