Books to Help Cancer Patients: Empower Yourself by Becoming Your Own Medical Advocate

By Margot Malin, CEO and Founder of Lots To Live For, Inc.

When faced with a cancer diagnosis it is important to become an educated patient. Learn what your options are, and help participate in your treatment decision making. Taking control can give you more confidence and make the process less scary. You are your own best medical advocate. In this blog piece we list several books that have been highly recommended by both cancer coaches and cancer patients.

Radical Remission: Surviving Cancer Against All Odds by Dr. Kelly Turner
In her New York Times bestseller, Radical Remission: Surviving Cancer Against All Odds,  Dr. Kelly A. Turner, founder of the Radical Remission Project, uncovers nine factors that can lead to a spontaneous remission from cancer—even after conventional medicine has failed.

While getting her Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkley, Dr. Turner, a researcher, lecturer, and counselor in integrative oncology, was shocked to discover that no one was studying episodes of radical (or unexpected) remission—when people recover against all odds without the help of conventional medicine, or after conventional medicine has failed.  She was so fascinated by this kind of remission that she embarked on a ten month trip around the world, traveling to ten different countries to interview fifty holistic healers and twenty radical remission cancer survivors about their healing practices and techniques. Her research continued by interviewing over 100 Radical Remission survivors and studying over 1000 of these cases.  Her evidence presents nine common themes that she believes may help even terminal patients turn their lives around.

Radical Remission: Surviving Cancer Against All Odds has been highly recommended by numerous integrative medicine practitioners, cancer patients, cancer coaches  on blogs and on Linkedin posts. Click HERE for more information.

Cancer: 50 Essential Things to Do by Greg Anderson
Revised and updated for the first time since 1999, this invaluable guide to cancer recovery offers an easily accessible plan for patients and family members. Written by a cancer survivor, the book is an inspiring, action-oriented roadmap for those who choose to adopt a stance of hope and take charge of their diagnosis.

With penetrating insights that bring together more than two decades of scientifically supported research and experience, Anderson reveals a step-by-step holistic action plan that has been successfully employed by hundreds of thousands of cancer patients worldwide. Anderson’s message is: “You must not simply treat illness, you must also create wellness: physically, emotionally and spiritually.”  Click HERE for more information.

Own Your Cancer: A Take Charge Guide For The Recently Diagnosed And Those Who Love Them, by Dr. Peter Edelstein

A must have book for taking charge of the medical aspects of treatment. Dr. Peter Edelstein has learned by listening to his patients and their families–whose lives have suddenly been up-ended by a diagnosis of cancer–that they need a partner to help them navigate their new, complex world. It is critical that cancer patients take charge of their health and “own their cancer” in order to remain in control of this confusing and frightening process. This extremely accessible book is that expert partner, offering a combination of crucial medical education clearly and comfortably explained along with personal guidance gleaned from real patient experiences. In an informed, compassionate, and respectful manner, “Dr. E” translates the challenging medical and psychological issues facing the cancer patient into lay terms, as well as outlining options for “owning” the path ahead. The result empowers patients and their loved ones to take control of their treatment regardless of cancer type or stage, to maintain their independence, and to oversee the processes which will determine their ultimate survival and quality of life. Click HERE for more information.

Life Over Cancer: The Block Center Program for Integrative Cancer Treatment, by Dr. Keith Block

Dr. Keith Block is at the global vanguard of innovative cancer care. As medical director of the Block Center for Integrative Cancer Treatment in Evanston, Illinois, he has treated thousands of patients who have lived long, full lives beyond their original prognoses. Now he has distilled almost thirty years of experience into the first book that gives patients a systematic, research-based plan for developing the physical and emotional vitality they need to meet the demands of treatment and recovery.

Based on a profound understanding of how body and mind can work together to defeat disease, this groundbreaking book offers:

• Innovative approaches to conventional treatments, such as “chronotherapy”–chemotherapy timed to patients’ unique circadian rhythms for enhanced effectiveness and reduced toxicity
• Dietary choices that make the biochemical environment hostile to cancer growth and recurrence, and strengthen the immune system’s ability to attack remaining cancer cells
• Precise supplement protocols to tame treatment side effects, relieve disease-related symptoms, and modify processes like inflammation and glycemia that can fuel cancer if left untreated
• A new paradigm for exercise and stress reduction that restores your strength, reduces anxiety and depression, and supports the body’s own ability to heal
• 
A complete program for remission maintenance–a proactive plan to make sure the cancer never returns

Also included are “quick-start” maps to help you find the information you need right now and many case histories that will support and inspire you. Encouraging, compassionate, and authoritative,  Life over Cancer is the guide patients everywhere have been waiting for.

What You Don’t Know Can Kill You: A Physician’s Radical Guide to Conquering the Obstacles to Excellent Medical Care, by Dr. Laura Nathanson

In 2003, Dr. Laura Nathanson was widowed after the misdiagnosis of her beloved husband. After this tragedy, she was determined to help others protect themselves and their loved ones from similarly preventable health care disasters—and help them benefit from health care miracles. In What You Don’t Know Can Kill You, Dr. Nathanson provides a guide to getting the best medical care and navigating our frustrating and often impenetrable health care system. In clear, non-medical language, she shows how to:

• Flag any signs of misdiagnosis and misleading analysis of symptoms
• Prevent miscommunication among specialists from having dire consequences
• Stay safe in the hospital and bypass its dangers
• Choose a health care plan without falling into the “uncovered services” trap

Full of empathy for each individual patient and caregiver, What You Don’t Know Can Kill You will empower patients to be their own best advocates.

We believe that the best informed patients make the best patients. Cancer Coaches and Oncology Nurse Navigators can help to further educate cancer patients. To read more about what a cancer coach does, click HERE. To read about Oncology Nurse Navigators, click HERE. As our friend Elyn Jacobs, Cancer Coach likes to say “If you don’t know your options, you don’t have any”.

We hope that these books will help educate you, and encourage you to take control and be proactive on your cancer journey.

Please visit Cancer Blog!: Tools Tips and Info to Help You Navigate Your Cancer Journey by Margot Malin to find more helpful treatment tips and more helpful books. Please visit Lots To Live For, Inc. to learn about products to reduce and relive the unpleasant and uncomfortable side effects of chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and cancer surgery.