Customer Rating: 
Summary: Highly detailed, emotionally wrenching
Comment: I had to read this book by breast cancer survivor and journalist, Kathy Latour in small doses. If you're still in denial about your breast cancer, or a loved one's breast cancer, you might not want to read it at all---although you somehow need to move out of denial as quickly as possible. Here are some statistics from the National Cancer Institute web site that might help you (at least you're not alone with your disease):"Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in women. It continues to be a major health care problem in the US and worldwide. The lifetime risk of a US woman developing breast cancer is 1 in 8 and the risk increases with advancing age--1 in 54 by age 50 and 1 in 23 by age 60 (National Cancer Institute, 2000). Over 75% of women diagnosed with breast cancer are age 50 or older."
Okay so I'm part of the 75% over 50 years old, but one of the really scary things about this book is the youth of the women who were diagnosed for the first time. The author was 37. My sister was 36. Many of the women whose stories are told in "The Breast Cancer Companion" were in their twenties or early thirties when they first discovered a suspicious lump. Some of the worst stories in the book (for me) concerned women who discovered their cancer during pregnancy.
"Coping with Chemotherapy and Its Effects," and "Lymphedema and Infection" tie for the second-most-depressing chapters. You may find "Facing Death" even more dismal. Not me. Not now, at least.
Even though this book is biased toward the stories and treatments of younger women, I think those of us who are post-menopausal will still benefit from reading it. I just skipped the sections on becoming pregnant during or after treatment, and grief counseling for children.
One other caution: my oncologist says that the chapter on bone marrow transplants is already out-of-date, even though this book was published in 1993. Use "The Breast Cancer Companion" as you would use advice and sympathy from a friend who has survived her disease for ten years. Go to the Internet for more up-to-date information on risk factors, treatment options, and outcomes. Some sites I found especially useful were sponsored by The American Cancer Society, Imaginis, The National Cancer Institute, and BreastDoctor (although the latter site has some gory photographs---not for the weak of stomach!). The American Cancer Society site even has a `wizard' to help you through your treatment options (you'll need a copy of your pathology report to use the wizard).
Good luck to you. If you've read this review and plan to get a copy of "The Breast Cancer Companion" (or do other research), then you're obviously beyond denial, and I think that's a very positive sign.
Customer Rating:
Summary: From diagnosis through recovery or death
Comment: I had to read this book by breast cancer survivor and journalist, Kathy Latour in small doses. If you're still in denial about your breast cancer, or a loved one's breast cancer, you might not want to read it at all---although you somehow need to move out of denial as quickly as possible. (...)One of the really scary things about this book is the youth of the women who were diagnosed for the first time. (...) Many of the women whose stories are told in "The Breast Cancer Companion" were in their twenties or early thirties when they first discovered a suspicious lump. Some of the worst stories in the book (for me) concerned women who discovered their cancer during pregnancy."Coping with Chemotherapy and Its Effects," and "Lymphedema and Infection" tie for the second-most-depressing chapters. You may find "Facing Death" even more dismal. (...)
Even though this book is biased toward the stories and treatments of younger women, I think those of us who are post-menopausal will still benefit from reading it. I just skipped the sections on becoming pregnant during or after treatment, and grief counseling for children.
One other caution: my oncologist says that the chapter on bone marrow transplants is already out-of-date, even though this book was published in 1993. Use "The Breast Cancer Companion" as you would use advice and sympathy from a friend who has survived her disease for ten years. (...)
Customer Rating:
Summary: I strongly recommend this book.
Comment: It helped me make some important decisions regarding the type of reconstruction (following a masectomy) that would be best. The patient interviews portion and the before and after reconstruction pictures are wonderful. Additionally, when I had lymphodema following surgery, the book told me of a new ten-chamber pump that actually did move the fluid from my arm and "cured" me. This is after months with a three-chamber pump (used an hour a day) that my doctor and physical therapist recommended. Neither one of them had heard of the ten-chamber pump.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: We all need an extra copy for others!
Comment: Companion - absolutely. Where I went, it went during the first months. There was always an answer to help me center myself. I've now designed a website which I hope will be just a bit of what Kathy's book did for me. It is must reading for anyone diagnosed, and those who love her.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Read the book. Loved the book.
Comment: This book helped me alot. Went through the modified radical, going through chemo and soon radiation. Now I know what to expect. This book told me all I needed to know. The worst part is the fear of the unknown. Now I know.
