Profile of Coping with Chemotherapy (Sandra and Owen Giddens)

I will admit my attraction to use this book for the assignment was my having gone through chemo before, my mom going through chemo last year ,and my realization all cases are not the same. People do not respond to chemo the same because they often have different medications, different doses, and completely different protocols. My interest was piqued in wondering if the authors could write something that captures what the general patient goes through while undergoing chemo.

Someone reading Coping with Cancer may be someone who does not understand what chemo is and how it works. Most people understand those who have such a metastatic disease usually lose their hair but they do not always understand it is because many of the chemical agents in the chemo treatments kill healthy cells along with malignant cells. Because of this same unfortunate circumstance, many survivors find themselves with losses in function of other organs. I cannot hear high tone sounds such as bird tweets and this came from chemo damaging my ears. Sometimes I have issues with breathing because Bleomyacin was a medication that affected lung functioning. Coping with Chemotherapy covered this aspect of treatment nicely.

For someone beginning cancer treatment this would be a helpful resource. Coping with Chemotherapy did not provide any earth-shattering insight such as "what causes a normal cell to turn to an abnormal one" but it was not designed to provide insight so deep. The book provides much helpful information. We are informed of this disease's statistic early in the book. No human we know of is exempt from the possibility of a malignancy so it is important to recognize the warning signs of the disease. Coping with Chemotherapy lists these signs.

This book includes a list of ways to cut down on cancer risk as well.

Many different types of scans and procedures are used to help determine if an unusual lesion is benign (not going to invade other tissues) or malignant (cancer and going to invade other tissues). Coping with Chemotherapy mentions mammograms, needle biopsies, surgical biopsies, ct-scans, and more.

How the doctors define diagnosis (as site of origin) is discussed in Coping with Chemotherapy. How doctors stage metastatic disease is also discussed.

Coping with Chemotherapy gives an account of a ship accident during WWII. Several were exposed to mustard gas. Their levels of white blood cells dropped considerably and a link was made that perhaps nitrogen mustard could be a chemo drug. It therefore became the world's first chemotherapy treatment.

Coping with Chemotherapy mentions protocol (or how often, how much, and the proposed plan) is determined by cancer type, where the cancer is located at, and at what stage the cancer is. My protocol was four months of Bleomyacin, Cisplatin, and Etiposide. Because the occurrence of cancer when I had to take chemotherapy happened less than ten years after the initial diagnosis it was labeled a "relapse" and I was therefore staged at 4.

I would be writing a book myself if I listed everything discussed in this mere 105 page book. Subjects also discussed in this book are ways chemotherapies can be administered .Tips for physical side effects are given such as wearing wigs. The book gives instructions on how to take care of the wig as well. Because chemo is known for taking away the appetite for food and drink, it is vital to stay hydrated. Coping with Chemotherapy included this importance in the book as well.

Truly, I do not believe these authors left out a discussion of anything someone on chemo needs to know. The rest they will learn can only be conveyed by them if they develop the condition. Precautions against infection are given in the book because patients who take chemo are more prone to infection than others. Danger signs of infection are given as well. Ways of coping with mouth sores is included in the book. Possible infertility after taking treatment is another subject I remember discussed. There are many ideas on how to cope with emotional needs as well. One idea is to find a survivor. I'm one. I love the kind letters that come through my email here and will respond to any of the kind ones.