Recommended Books on Mastectomy
The Faces behind Breast Cancer The Faces behind Breast Cancer is an artistic pictorial depicting the courage, strength and dignity of male and female breast cancer patients during all stages of treatment, recovery and remission.
The photographs and testimonies represent a diverse, cross-section of cancer survivors and capture the unique essence of each individual's cancer journey with honesty and compassion. The book is also a stunning tribute to the human spirit.
Pretty Is What Changes: Impossible Choices, The Breast Cancer Gene, and How I Defied My Destiny
A timely, affecting memoir from the front lines of medical science: When genetics can predict how we may die, how then do we decide how to live?
Eleven months after her mother succumbs to cancer, Jessica Queller has herself tested for the BRCA “breast cancer” gene mutation. The results come back positive, putting her at a terrifyingly elevated risk of developing breast cancer before the age of fifty and ovarian cancer in her lifetime. Thirty-four, unattached, and yearning for marriage and a family of her own, Queller faces an agonizing choice: a lifetime of vigilant screenings and a commitment to fight the disease when caught, or its radical alternative—a prophylactic double mastectomy that would effectively restore life to her, even as it would challenge her most closely held beliefs about body image, identity, and sexuality.
Superbly informed and armed with surprising wit and style, Queller takes us on an odyssey from the frontiers of science to the private interiors of a woman’s life. Pretty Is What Changes is an absorbing account of how she reaches her courageous decision and its physical, emotional, and philosophical consequences. It is also an incredibly moving story of what we inherit from our parents and how we fashion it into the stuff of our own lives, of mothers and daughters and sisters, and of the sisterhood that forms when women are united in battle against a common enemy.
Without flinching, Jessica Queller answers a question we may one day face for ourselves: If genes can map our fates and their dark knowledge is offered to us, will we willingly trade innocence for the information that could save our lives?
!['That's like chopping off a finger because you're afraid it might get broken': Disease and illness in women's views of prophylactic mastectomy [An article from: Social Science & Medicine]](http://mastectomy.researchtoday.net/images/mastectomy-B000RR7GXU.jpg "'That's like chopping off a finger because you're afraid it might get broken': Disease and illness in women's views of prophylactic mastectomy [An article from: Social Science & Medicine]")
'That's like chopping off a finger because you're afraid it might get broken': Disease and illness in women's views of prophylactic mastectomy [An article from: Social Science & Medicine] This digital document is a journal article from Social Science & Medicine, published by Elsevier in . The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Description:
While data are accumulating on the efficacy of prophylactic mastectomy as a means to reduce breast cancer risk in high risk women, the effectiveness of the procedure depends on women's interest in undergoing the procedure. We report on women's responses to this surgical option as a prevention tool. Data derive from a multi-method study of women's interest in and understandings about genetic testing for breast cancer susceptibility. The sample comprises 246 women of varying ethnicities and familial breast cancer risk from Seattle, USA. In this paper, quantitative data are presented on the sociodemographic and risk perception correlates of degree of interest in taking a genetic test for breast cancer if prophylactic mastectomy were the only treatment option. In addition, we report results of a content analysis of women's open-ended responses to the question of whether and why they could imagine undergoing prophylactic mastectomy. Our analysis of these data benefits from a central distinction in medical anthropology between the concepts of illness and disease. We suggest that while prophylactic mastectomy may prevent the ''disease'' of breast cancer, it may be of little interest to women who see this surgery as itself mimicking the ''illness'' of breast cancer.
Mammograms and Mastectomies: Facing Them With Humor and Prayer Mammograms & Mastectomies is an easy-to-read story filled with practical information and insight into the personal and professional implications of breast cancer. Susan Farrell skillfully combines humor and advice as she covers the challenges of dealing with doctors, learning the language of cancer diagnosis and treatment, formulating the right questions and researching surgical options. She goes on to discuss how to tell the children, managing the news at work and the struggle to resume a normal life. On a deeper level, she offers valuable insights into the personal and professional traumas and triumphs that accompany this all too common health problem. An estimated 192,000 new cases are diagnosed every year in the U.S. alone (American Cancer Society) and breast cancer will affect one in eight women in their lifetimes. From overwhelming anxiety to the determination to heal and thrive in the wake of a mastectomy, this book serves as a welcome companion to those whose lives are suddenly interrupted by disease.
Mammograms & Mastectomies is the story of a Type-A, career woman who had successfully managed husband, children and promotions on two continents - until it all came crashing down around her with the news that she had breast cancer. It is a triumph of humor over adversity; a tale of spiritual re-awakening. It is an acceptance that destiny will follow its own path, coupled with the conviction that one can, nonetheless, influence the outcome. It is told by a woman thankful that cancer invaded her existence so that she might be re-born.
From Here to Mastectomy From Here to Mastectomy is about Lesley Green Huffaker EdD's life journey before and after the diagnosis of breast cancer. The author identifies some of the important markers of her life, and invites you, the reader, to do the same. Some of these events include discipline as a child, pieces of a love life, and a marriage that didn't last.
Most of the themes are common to us all and the author's dream is that on her web site you would be willing to share your life, and even be able to blog about what makes you motivated, afraid, and how you make decisions. What Lesley does in this book is ask questions. You might say, What for? Well, the questions that we need to ask can apply to any tough time we might go through...like job loss, divorce, or cancer. And just imagine doing that with a faith that does not depend on magic! So many times when we tell people we are Christian only one image comes to mind. Many Christians believe that we must read the Bible in a certain way. The author has another idea. And it works way better for her!
The Faces behind Breast Cancer The Faces behind Breast Cancer is an artistic pictorial depicting the courage, strength and dignity of male and female breast cancer patients during all stages of treatment, recovery and remission.
The photographs and testimonies represent a diverse, cross-section of cancer survivors and capture the unique essence of each individual's cancer journey with honesty and compassion. The book is also a stunning tribute to the human spirit.
Mama Said There'd Be Days Like This: A Twelve Step Guide to Surviving a Mastectomy This book, written by a woman who has undergone breast cancer surgery, presents a series of guiding principles and excercises that can help those who are working to overcome the psychological effects of a mastectomy, as well as those who are just interested in understanding the types of issues and emotions involved.
Why I Wore Lipstick: To My Mastectomy
NOW A LIFETIME ORIGINAL MOVIE PREMIERING IN OCTOBER! Having recently graduated from Columbia Journalism School and landed her dream job at 20/20, the last thing 27-year-old Geralyn expects to hear is a breast cancer diagnosis. And there is one part of the diagnosis that no one will discuss with her: what it means to be a young girl with cancer in a beauty-obsessed culture. Trying to find herself, while losing her vibrancy and her looks, Geralyn embarks on a road to self-acceptance that will inspire all women. Although her book is explicitly about a period of time where she was driven by fear and uncertainty about the future, Geralyn managed a transformation that will encourage all women under siege to discover their own courage and beauty. The important and outrageous lessons of Why I Wore Lipstick come fast and furious with the same gusto that Geralyn has learned to bring to every moment of her life. 
When Mommy Had A Mastectomy How does a mother tell a daughter she has breast cancer? How can a child understand what a mastectomy and reconstruction are all about? When Mommy Had a Mastectomy is a children's book that explains, in a simple and clear manner, why Mommy is sick and what she does after she feels better to return to normalcy. It tells the story of a mother and daughter discovering new ways to show they care despite the painful illness of breast cancer and subsequent breast reconstruction surgery. Pairing enchanting illustrations and an engaging story, When Mommy Had a Mastectomy is sure to be a treasured book that will help children and their parents through a difficult time and will provide a fond memory for families to reflect on and share after tragedy.
After Mastectomy: Healing Physically and Emotionally This sensitive medical book balances the emotional and biological challenges a woman faces during the post-operation stage of breast cancer by offering wisdom and practical advice. Issues addressed include recovering at home, coping emotionally, and redefining body image. Prosthetics, reconstructive surgery, nutrition, exercise, lymphedema, and follow-up treatment are also discussed.
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