Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Surviving After Cancer: Living the New Normal

With so many people surviving cancer and living 'the new normal,' guiding survivors and their families through the phases of recovery has become an imperative. But learning to live as a survivor and dealing with both the triumphs and challenges, including fear of recurrence, depression, life and occupational stress, the need for surveillance for complications and secondary cancers, sex and relationship issues, diet and exercise for a healthy life, can be confusing and difficult. Finding resources to help equip survivors and their families for this new phase can be difficult. However, this book, based on studies and current practice in the area of cancer survivorship, will help guide readers through the most crucial areas of recovery post-cancer. Each chapter presents the story of a cancer survivor who meets the challenges of survivorship and contains tips and solutions for problems encountered in all aspects of survivorship. Readers will not only gain a better understanding of this new phase of life, but will come away with solid advice for leading a healthy and productive life again. Review Anne Katz draws from her experience as an author and a nurse to shine a light on the lives of patients and their families once cancer treatment has been completed. This illumination reaches the corners of fear of recurrence, return to work, fatigue, sexuality and fertility issues, diet and exercise, survivorship care plans, and the cognitive and emotional difficulties that may or may not resolve....Surviving After Cancer offers insight and compassion for the 10 million current cancer survivors....For those who like to hold and read a book for information, whether survivor or healthcare provider, this text is current and helpful.-- (09/01/2011) Anne Katz provides ample evidence that cancer changes everything. She identifies several major hurdles that often linger long after therapy ends. Each one is presented through the eyes of a survivor who overcame it and is now "living the new normal." A cancer survivor reading this book may not have personally experienced all nine hurdles, but he or she will certainly identify with several....Surviving After Cancer: Living the New Normal is a very well organized book. It is written to help survivors and their families, and it does an able job at that. All advice provided is backed by solid research. And the patient stories make it easy for survivors to identify with many others who are also living the new normal. This book is a good resource for cancer patients at all stages of their illnesses. A newly diagnosed patient can read it and anticipate what may happen after therapy. A survivor recently discharged from care can read the sections that coincide with the hurdles they are encountering, and family members can do likewise. Using the excellent information and resources that Anne Katz has assembled here should make the cancer journey a smoother one with fewer detours. It may also improve understanding among family members who live with the survivor.--New York Journal of Books As stated in the first chapter of this accessible primer by registered nurse Katz (Univ. of Manitoba, Winnipeg; Sex When You're Sick: Reclaiming Sexual Health After Illness or Injury), cancer changes everything....Katz presents nine personal stories relating the challenges of a cancer life: fear of recurrence, post-treatment depression, returning to the workplace, fatigue, sex and relationships, a healthy diet/lifestyle, doctor appointments and follow-up, childbearing, and cognitive difficulties. The narratives are interrupted by statements/factoids intended to clarify or further develop the basic concept. The penultimate chapter is a digest of the cancer odysseys, summing up the information into what the author calls "A Blueprint for Health." The book concludes with a resources section....The disease continues to affect hundreds of thousands of individuals and families annually. If cance