Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book

This is an excellent book, and well worth reading. But it's probably the second book to read, behind "The Breast Cancer Survival Manual : A Step-By-Step Guide for the Woman With Newly Diagnosed Cancer" by John Link.My wife was diagnosed with breast cancer on January 5th of this year. Fortunately, she found it herself, through self-checking, and we live in an area where two of the world's best breast cancer treatment groups are located - the Breast Care Center in Orange, CA and the Memorial Care group in Long Beach. As of yesterday, we were fortunate to discover that, eleven months later, through a combination of surgeries and chemotherapy, the scans that were done last week on the liver, lungs and bones all came back negative, so we hope to have many more years together.Dr. John Link is the friend of a friend and we consulted with him on treatment. As part of the consultation, he also gave us a copy of his book, which is very readable and understandable. It's particularly good at giving guidance on how to put together a treament program that's right for you as an individual.The Susan Love book is excellent, particularly as a reference for all the information you want to know when your life or the life of someone you love is at risk. The difference between the two is that the Link book provides a great overview and a guide for getting treatment, and the Love book is the reference for all the stuff that you want to look up when you have a question. And if you're like us, you'll have lots of questions because this is all very complex and it's very difficult to decide on what the best approach will be for your individual situation.

I bought this book for my sister when she was diagnosed with breast cancer three years ago. This became a bible to her - she referred to it at every point - surgery, radiation & chemotherapy and every set-back during treatment. She lives in the UK and had me send several books to her friends and later to her gynocologist (all diagnosed with breast cancer). The gynocologist believes it to be the best book written on breast cancer.Low and behold if I wasn't also diagnosed with breast cancer this year. This is a huge book and I found I could only read the parts that were significant to me at the time. Knowledge is power - and this book definitely gives every reader this! It gives strength to make decisions and understand the options. Dr. Love explains how some women choose not to follow treatments recommended - and how they still survive. Yet, how others follow standard treatment and for no rhyme or reason the cancer returns. (There were just a couple of examples mentioned). Dr. Love gives you all the facts. I did not find her book scary - I want to know whatever I can! There are many charts giving info on studies. I found the chart showing the recommended treatments were right on for what both my sister and I were recommended.Without a doubt I feel that Dr. Love's book (and her Website with live chats with specialists) has helped me tremendously. I am sure I would have felt lost without this help. I highly recommend this book!

First I want to say that Dr. Love's book is not limited to information about breast cancer but has extensive information on all aspects of breasts.I was given a copy of Dr. Love's book after I was diagnosed with breast cancer, and it became invaluable to me. Frequently I had to set it aside for a short time because the information was so frightening, but cancer and its' treatment is a frightening experience. The information she provided allowed me to ask important questions and make good decisions about the choices available to me. I had good doctors, but they did not go into some of the details I needed to know such as: odds of recurrence with lumpectomy vs. mastectomy; which chemotherapy drugs produced what side effects; why radiation?She also provided information that allowed me to better understand the idiosyncrasies of breast cancer and my particular prognosis.Breast cancer research is producing such promise with new drugs and procedures, that there is no way a book can be published with "the latest" information. Still, I HIGHLY recommend Dr. Love's book to ALL women--whether they are interested in breast feeding or are facing difficult decisions about breast cancer treatment options.

Like many of the other reviewers, I picked up Dr Love's book (1st edition) when I was diagnosed and undergoing treatment for Breast cancer. (I then picked up the 2nd edition when going through a recurrance "scare", a year or so later.)I found her text exhaustive but not exhausting. She's a straight shooter which I found essential when people are reluctant to give you hard truths.I read several books throughout my treament, I continue to keep an eye on the literature even though I've been cancer free for 3.5+ years. My opinion is unchanged. If you can only buy one book, buy this one! re: the previous reviewer who didn't appreciate the "horror" stories of unlikely recurrances and cases of extremely fast progression. Dr Love was making the point that cancer can be unpredictable. She therefore refuses to predict how long a patient has to live. In addition to the "scary" examples, she gave several encouraging examples of people who according to conventional wisdom should have been dead long ago but continue to defy the odds.

I am a 39 year old mother of four teenagers. In April of 1998 I was diagnosed with Lobular Carcinoma in Situ (LCIS) in my left breast. Boy, was I really scared. My mother died from breast cancer. I was introduced to "Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book" when I went to see my doctor about a lump in my "right" breast that had suddenly appeared six weeks before, it turned out to be benign. It was the then, undetected, accidentally discovered "mass" in my "left" breast that had LCIS! I underwent a fine needle aspiration which led to an excisional biopsy in each breast, and am now fine with no further treatment necessary. At the very on-set, my surgeon recommended Dr. Love's book to help me completely understand LCIS and what to expect during surgery and after. I found Dr. Love's book to be extremly helpful in allaying my fears and dispelling my misconceptions about breast cancer. Her book is very detailed, direct, honest, and compassionate. The chapter on LCIS with its diagrams took me step by step through the process of what was about to happen to me, from surgery, to recovery, to the emotions that I would experience. There were no surprises! My surgeon keeps a copy of Dr. Love's book in his waiting room on the table at all times and always recommends this book to his patients. I now recommend Dr. Love's book to my family, friends, and my other doctors too. Thank you, Dr. Love, for taking away my fear of "not knowing"!