Choices in Breast Cancer Treatment: Medical Specialists and Cancer Survivors Tell You What You Need to Know

Miller, an oncologist and director of the Yale Cancer Center Survivorship Program, presents a unique and indispensable book for women facing breast cancer, which features individual chapters written by medical experts and breast cancer survivors. Asserting that “knowledgeable people make different choices, for different reasons,” Miller's overarching message is that each woman is unique, as is her experience with this life-threatening disease. Because there are so many potential scenarios—based upon the tumor's size, the stage of cancer, etc.—treatment options vary, and women must decide which route to take in a timely fashion while simultaneously confronting their fears. Miller's approach provides the reader with the sense that she's had a private and unhurried consultation with each specialist: medical oncologists, radiation oncologists and surgeons. In addition the book includes personal accounts of survivors who have faced an array of experiences, from the woman whose mammogram reveals a lump just weeks before her wedding to the breast cancer statistician who is diagnosed with the very disease she is studying. This collection will help to fortify women making tough choices, offering invaluable information along with hope. (Jan.)