Periodically, I will come across a website, blog post, book, movie, or product that really has a profound affect on me. While I may write special posts about them, I wanted to provide a more permanent place for you to find each and, I hope, refer to them often.
This page will be updated on a regular basis, so be sure to check back often to see what I am recommending for caregivers, patients, family members, nurses, and physicians.
Caregiver Books
Maryann Makekau
When Your Mom Has Cancer
From the website: When Your Mom Has Cancer is a natural follow-up to the first in this Little Pink Book™ series: When Your Teacher Has Cancer. While not every teacher is a mom, every mom is a teacher. Experts agree that children should be told when a loved one is diagnosed with cancer. The truth should not be hidden from children, and yet it must be told in a compassionate way that eases fear and worry.
Seeing the world through a child’s eyes can bring a fresh perspective to every day objects, events and relationships. This Little Pink Book was created to bring families hope through the eyes of a child. Fight the fight together!
Joyce Sheldon
From Fear to Faith
From the website: Writing has been a part of my life since childhood – from poems and essays in school, to romantic and spiritual prose in adulthood. When my husband was diagnosed with terminal liver disease in 1999, it was natural for me to express my thoughts and fears on paper. Writing was a release. Often I found myself at the computer in the early morning hours, pounding the keys in a desperate attempt to vent my frustrations, to let go of my grief, to soothe my spirit.
My husband spent two years traveling towards his death. We were determined it would be a journey of faith – not faith that he would recover miraculously, but faith that we could (and would!) accept the inevitable, trusting that God would provide strength and courage.
Walk with me through the 5 chapters of this emotional and spiritual journey ~ from Disbelief and Despair to the amazing gift of Acceptance; to a sad Farewell and the experience of Triumph.
Martine Ehrenclou
The Take-Charge Patient
From the website: Frustrated or confused about how to get good medical care? In her newest book, award-winning author Martine Ehrenclou, M.A., empowers patients to become proactive, assertive, well-informed participants in their own health care. With advice and personal stories from over 200 doctors, nurses, pharmacists, other medical professionals and patients, The Take-Charge Patient reveals insider information on how to cut through the red tape and navigate today’s complex health care system with confidence.
Eileen Kaplan
Laughter Is The Breast Medicine
From the website: Eileen Kaplan was routinely doing her monthly breast self-exam in June, 2005, when she discovered a tumor in her right breast. After going through a lumpectomy, chemotherapy, and radiation, she discovered a tumor in her left (good) breast. Eileen decided to have a bilateral mastectomy.
She’s been an award-winning Realtor, an X-ray technologist, on the staff of Connecticut’s Department of Children and Families’ Special Review Unit, for 20 years ran her own invitations and fine stationery business. In 2009, she was named Salem Free Public Library’s Volunteer of the Year. She is a Breast Cancer Awareness Advocate, and she mentors women who are dealing with health and physical issues associated with breast cancer and its’ aftermath.
She also decided to laugh.
She couldn’t help it. So much of the healing adventure was filled with irony and absurdity that she found great strength in the humor of each situation. Eileen discovered that “laughter is the breast medicine.” Within the pages of Laughter Is The Breast Medicine, you’ll see that, too, in the stories, anecdotes, and observations that’ll have you reeling with — and healing with — laughter.
Heather St. Aubin Stout
Not My Mother’s Journey
From the website: Twenty years after she lost her mother to breast cancer, Heather St. Aubin-Stout receives a postcard asking her to come back for magnifications of her recent mammogram. She asks for prayers from her family, friends, and neighbors—prayers not to be cured but for strength and wisdom.
When she is diagnosed she soon faces her memories of what she experienced with her mother’s illness and death. However, as she deals with her illness and treatments while she and her husband try to parent their three independent teenage sons, she discovers that this is Not My Mother’s Journey. Heather chronicles her journey with candid honesty discussing her challenges, confusion, and emotions with daily life while dealing with a potentially terminal disease.
She engages the reader with every day life experiences. She knows that each journey is unique, but believes that we are here to help each other, and by sharing our stories we’ll make the individual path less painful, no matter what we’re dealing with.
