SUPPORTIVE CANCER CARE: The Complete Guide for Patients and Their Families

This guidebook, based on the Cancer Supportive Care program its authors established in San Francisco, offers clear, authoritative information about all aspects of cancer management, from diagnosis and treatment to medication and its side effects, to hospice care, alternative therapies and more. The emphasis is on helping people get through their medical treatment—and the disease itself—with their dignity intact. Chapters include "The Role of the Mind" and "The Care of the Body" and are divided into sections (often by additional authors) that offer overviews, frequently asked questions and advice, and also discuss clinical trials, immunotherapy and even the role of the clergy in cancer care and the disease's impact on sexuality. Readers will find recipes for chemotherapy patients, advice on personal energy conservation and a thorough list of additional resources. The writing is always clear enough to be accessible to a wide audience, and the first-person accounts—such as a doctor who became a patient and underwent a bone marrow transplant—are especially poignant. Though the book covers so many subjects that some readers may find it daunting, it deserves to be read by both patients and medical professionals. Newly diagnosed patients might want to look elsewhere first, however: not only will they be seeking specific information about their type of cancer in what is a general cancer resource, they might not be ready to read about recuperation from surgery, let alone hospice care. (Nov.)