My brother cancer: What you need to know to manage the disease and your oncologist

ISBN-13: 9781517661014 / Angielski / Miękka / 2015 / 134 str.

Adele Bianchi; Parisio Di Giovanni; Eugenio Di Giovanni

Opis

What are the most important things when you face the challenge of cancer? A true story, the compelling story of Leonard and Helen struggling with cancer, helps to answer this key question. Helen suddenly falls ill with a severe form of metastatic cancer. Her husband Leonard, who hasn't worked as a physician and oncologist for years, aware that the doctors who treat his wife tend to give up, decided to devote himself to treating her, on his own, with all his might. Thanks to a series of courageous decisions, and unusual, although scientifically based, thoughtful choices and discussed together, unexpected results arrive. Helen's is an "amazing case," as defined by a famous doctor and scientist in touch with Leonard. Years pass and Helen lives well, even if the cancer is always with her. Helen calls her cancer "my brother cancer." Leonard and Helen's choices are winning because they are based on a certain way of looking at cancer and thinking about how to treat it. The first thing that the story teaches is, "Relying on the help of good specialists, and knowing the available therapies is definitely helpful, but the most important thing is the way that we think about treating cancer. We have certain ideas about this illness (what type of disease is cancer? what's the best way to deal with such an illness?), about what to expect from treatments (should we try to be rid of the illness? try to live well? live for a long time? etc.), about how to evaluate treatments (when can we consider a treatment as successful? what risks and side effects can be considered acceptable? etc.). At every step, we think in one way or another and we make decisions depending on our convictions about these questions. Our philosophy of care, the way we think about treatments, guides us in our decisions. Our success depends, above all, on this." If you think it over, Leonard and Helen's adventure provides many other tips on how to care for cancer and how to try to deal with this terrible disease. It provides among other things suggestions about how to manage oncologists, who are also struggling with a difficult challenge, a challenge that puts them to the test as professionals and as human beings. The second part of the book examines the things you can learn from Leonard and Helen's adventure, illustrates therapies and ways to treat cancer that are still little known, undervalued or poorly used and provides practical advice that can help you manage the disease and your oncologist.