WHEN CANCER HITS HOME - Softcover

MAGUIRE, PATRICK

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0615391117 ISBN 13: 9780615391113

A guide to common cancers that is written by an oncologist who lost multiple family members to cancer. Using minimal medical jargon, it tackles controversial topics and gives the reader concise and actionable information on strategies for reducing cancer risk and options for treatment of the top twenty cancers in America.

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Review:

The author gives you advice on how to reduce your cancer risk, then gets into 20 common types of cancer. Each cahpter on cancer starts with a patient story, then goes into statistics, then risks and causes, then signs and symptoms, and then onto diagnosis. Maguire then talks about the different stages and treatments. He then ends each chapter with the follow up/end of the patient's story, from the beginning of the chapter.

Maguire gives really great advice and you feel like you have an advocate making sure you/your family is making the right choices and being told what is actually going on.

I highly recommend this book, should you and yours, unfortunately are facing this situation! It can be an invaluable resource.

Review: Nicole Henke

http: //blesstheirheartsmom.blogspot.com

As we near the end of Prostate Cancer Awareness Month this September, hopefully many of us have learned a thing or two that we didn't know about the disease in August. Just last week, a major study of predictors of sexual function after prostate cancer treatment was published in the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). I found some important info in the paper and recommend it highly to men who are considering their options for treatment. The link for the full document is: http: //jama.ama-assn.org/content/306/11/1205.full.pdf. An in-depth discussion of the topic can be found at on my blog The Cancer MD. As opposed to various treatment choices, one option for men after a prostate cancer diagnosis that we don't hear too much about in theU.S. is active surveillance.Many terms have been used to describe what is now most often called active surveillance. These include: watchful waiting, close observation, and expectant management, among others. Given the right circumstances, the option of avoiding prostate cancer treatment altogether is often best. Which men are candidates for watchful waiting after their diagnosis?To be sure, prostate cancer is a spectrum of disease that can range from indolent to extremely aggressive. Men with low-risk prostate cancer may be good candidates for no immediate treatment. These cancers can't be felt or are only felt in part of one side (lobe) of the prostate, produce a low level of prostate specific antigen (PSA) in the blood, and appear not too aggressive under the microscope (Gleason score of Men with low-risk disease who are either older or in poor overall condition should strongly consider expectant management. In general, it takes more than a decade for early prostate cancer to spread to other sites in the body (metastasize) and ultimately kill a man. Therefore, men who have a life expectancy less than 10-15 years should think long and hard about the option of no treatment. In medical school, we docs agre

"Patrick Maguire has written a comprehensive guide about cancer treatment options. He guides you through the 20 most common types of cancer thatinclude: bladder cancer, brain tumors, breast cancer, colorectal cancer, esophageal cancer, head and neck cancer, kidney cancer, leukemia, liver cancer, lung cancer, lymphoma, melanoma, myeloma, ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer, skin cancer, stomach cancer, thyroid cancer and uterine cancer. Each chapter has a story which makes this very personal. Since cancer is killing600,000 people a year this book is very needed. Now this is not only a book for people who have cancer it is also good to read to help prevent cancer in the first place. Like I didn't realize that viruses could cause cancer.Women who are worried about breast cancer will also appreciate the section on how exercise can work in their favor. There are also many options once you have been diagnosed. Do you want surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, hormonal therapy or immunotherapy? Since my father struggled with Esophageal cancer that specific chapter interested me. Then I also wanted to know about lung cancer since his cancer started to spread to other areas of his body. This book explains how you can put yourself at risk for esophageal cancer if you eat very hot foods or drinks. For those who don't have cancer I'd recommend reading the entire book as a preventative measure.For those who have been diagnosed then it is easy to read this book selectively, just reading the chapters with information on your condition. I think this book would also be helpful for doctors and nurses caring for cancer patients." The Rebecca Review

Whether you've been newly diagnosed with cancer, or you are worried about your risk and are looking for the best prevention tips, this book offers a no-nonsense, easy to understand approach to your options - particularly important in an age when we can surf the web and feel we are drowning in a sea of confusing, conflicting messages.You'd think, with nearly limitless information at most people's fingertips, that there's not much need for a book to cover these topics. At least, that's what I assumed initially. However, I've found as both a provider and a consumer of cancer care services for my family, that's just not the case. Unfortunately, there are countless Web sites and books in print about cancer treatment or prevention that are so misleading as to be potentially harmful ("Introduction, "When Cancer Hits Home"").This book would also be an excellent resource for those working in primary health care; and indeed for family members, who are often just as much at sea when their loved ones are diagnosed with cancer.For myself, coming up to 7 years after my own diagnosis of breast cancer, I found the section on nutrition and lifestyle changes very useful; and although the possibility of a cancer recurrence is not something I want to dwell on too much, I nevertheless found it valuable to read the detailed descriptions of what signs and symptoms to watch for.The chapters are listed alphabetically by disease site for convenient reference. Readers will likely want to first delve deeply into those chapters that are most acutely pertinent to their lives. Other chapters can be read later, to improve general knowledge about cancer diagnosis and treatment. Since many types of cancer are very common, unfortunately most people will have more than one type affect their family and friends during their lifetime.Being a firm advocate of arming yourself with as much information as you can when you are faced with a health crisis, I believe Dr Maguire's book to be an important advan

recently received a copy of a book called When Cancer Hits Home, by Dr. Patrick Maguire, accompanied by a request for a review of it. Dr. Maguire is a medical oncologist serving a broad cancer population in Wilmington, NC, and the book provides a welcome resource that is new and different from the educational resources available elsewhere, both in print and online. Specifically, it is meant to provide a general review of cancer for patients, covering both prevention and treatment for a wide range of cancer subtypes. Obviously, one rather short (264 pp.) book can't cover the management of multiple cancer types in any detail, but this resource conveys the strength of having been written by a general oncologist who is also a very effective communicator who writes in a personal and very accessible style.The book is structured in three parts, starting with a brief summary of cancer and prevention/lifestyle management strategies. To me, this is a true strength of the book and of Dr. Maguire's knowledge base: In addition to being a general oncologist, he is an athlete, and the first part of his book includes a discussion of potential diet and exercise interventions for prevention of multiple different types of cancer; in contrast, there isn't much discussion of dietary issues for patients with a diagnosed cancer. Similarly, he discusses the role of exercise and obesity in prevention of several different cancer types. Overall, these summaries convey a wide range of mixed conclusions about which foods appear to be helpful for one type of cancer but not another, or in one study but not another. After all of these pages, the take home message I gleaned is that it's better to eat more fruits and vegetables and less fat, exercise more, and not be obese. Not that surprising. And he also highlights in many areas that smoking is among the most harmful lifestyle factors, not just as a risk factor for lung cancer, but also for several other cancers as well.The second part of the b

Cancer is one of the major killers in the United States ranking second only to heart disease in total deaths. Most every family has had at least one cancer victim and most of us can name several people who succumbed to cancer's unforgiving nature. In this book, When Cancer Hits Home: An Empowered Patient is the Best Weapon Against Cancer, author Patrick MaGuire, MD discusses specific types of cancer along with the odds of getting different types, treatments available, survival rates, etc.
Book Facts and Figures:
264 pages in total length, When Cancer Hits Home is divided into the following sections:
"When Cancer Hits Home (Introduction)"
Part I: Reduce Your Cancer Risk
Part II: Cancer Treatment Options for the Twenty Most Common Types
"References and Resources"
After a brief introduction, When Cancer Hits Home starts off with some information on cancer and its prevention. In this section, the reader is introduced to some obvious ways to reduce cancer risk (stop smoking) and some less obvious (like focusing on specific nutrients in the diet). This section also emphasizes the importance of regular medical checkups, mammograms, etc. because early detection is one of the keys to effective cancer treatment.
Part II of When Cancer Hits Home identifies the twenty most common types of cancer with facts about each as well as treatment options and their success rates. This section also includes a personal story from a cancer victim (name changed to protect the innocent), how he/she handled the news and treatment, and the ultimate ending, good or bad, after treatment was received and other steps were taken.
Final Thoughts:
When Cancer Hits Home is a book about the disease known as cancer; its causes, its prevention; its treatments; and its human toll. This book serves as a reference guide to cancer, explaining the causes of each type, measures each one of us can take to reduce our chance of developing cance

About the Author:

Dr. Patrick Maguire received his undergraduate degree in English literature from Haverford College and his MD from Penn State College of Medicine. He completed his cancer specialty training at Duke University Medical Center and has been caring for patients with cancer in North Carolina for fifteen years. He has published many scientific articles about the treatment of cancers of the head and neck, lung, and prostate, among other types. He is the leader of two multimillion-dollar grants from the National Cancer Institute to improve cancer outcomes for underserved populations, including African Americans, the poor, and the elderly. He has also been a caregiver for several close family members with cancer. When Cancer Hits Home is Dr. Maguire's first book.

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