The Complete Guide to Breast Cancer: How to Feel Empowered and Take Control

by Trisha Greenhalgh

Overview

The book you can trust to support you at every stage of your treatment - and beyond.

The Complete Guide to Breast Cancer combines the authors’ experiences as patients and as doctors to provide a trusted and thorough source of information for you and your family. Designed to empower you during your breast cancer treatment, it covers:

-Simple explanations of breast cancer treatments
-Staying healthy during and after treatment
-Coping with the emotional burden
-Advice about sex and relationships
-Dealing with the fear of recurrence
-Living with secondary breast cancer
-A new chapter on disability and breast cancer

Filled with all the things the authors wished they’d known when they were diagnosed, and tips on how to cope with surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and beyond, this is the essential book to guide you through your breast cancer diagnosis.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781785045417
Publisher:	Penguin Random House UK
Publication date:	06/17/2025
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Trisha Greenhalgh is a retired GP and an internationally recognized academic who works as a professor at the University of Oxford. She has appeared on Woman's Hour and The Today Programme and is the author of over 400 academic papers and 15 textbooks, including the bestselling book How to Read a Paper: The Basics of Evidence-Based Medicine.

Liz O’Riordan is a retired breast surgeon, known for her work in breast cancer awareness by openly discussing her personal experiences in being diagnosed and treated for breast cancer. She has written articles for the Huffington Post, Macmillan, The Pool and Grazia. Her TEDx talk is called ‘Jar of Joy’.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements vii

1 Joining the Cancer Club 1

2 Breast Cancer: An Overview 8

3 Learning More 24

4 Coping Emotionally with Cancer 34

5 Sharing the News 44

6 The Science of Breast Cancer Treatment 63

7 Breast and Armpit Surgery 75

8 Breast Reconstruction 101

9 Having an Operation 122

10 Chemotherapy 132

11 Herceptin and Other Targeted Therapies 155

12 Radiotherapy 162

13 Hormone Therapy and Ovarian Suppression 171

14 Where to Get Support 183

15 Coping with Changes to Your Body 192

16 Treatment-induced Menopause and Infertility 199

17 Relationships and Sex 211

18 Staying Healthy During and After Treatment 220

19 Breast Cancer During Pregnancy 240

20 Breast Cancer in Men 244

21 Breast Cancer in LGBT+ People 248

22 Breast Cancer in Older People 252

23 Secondary (Metastatic) Breast Cancer 256

24 Moving Forward 266

Resources 276

Index 284