Living With Cancer ─ A Step-by-Step Guide for Coping Medically and Emotionally With a Serious Diagnosis

The prospect of entering treatment is overwhelming for anyone facing a diagnosis of cancer. While patients have access to a vast amount of medical information online, this advice is often unreliable or confusing. In Living with Cancer, Drs. Vicki Jackson and David Patrick Ryan have crafted the first step-by-step guide aimed at helping people with this life-defining disease grasp what’s happening to them while coping physically and emotionally with cancer treatment.

An empathetic resource full of relatable patient stories, this book teaches patients and caregivers how to ask the right questions to get the best possible care—beginning at the moment of diagnosis. Drs. Jackson and Ryan explain how to work with a team of doctors and nurse practitioners to minimize symptoms and side effects while living as fully as possible in the face of cancer. They relay important information about understanding prognosis, and they translate what doctors mean when they describe tests, treatments, and medical procedures. Finally, they discuss hospice care and answer questions about continuing treatment and managing the final phase of life.

Based on new research and a groundbreaking program in which patients are treated with palliative care—along with the best cancer care—during the course of their illness, this honest and caring book provides the right advice to use at the right time throughout a journey with cancer. It allows a person with cancer to concentrate on living the best life possible, despite an uncertain future. Patients at every stage will find Living with Cancer a comprehensive, thoughtful, and accessible guide for navigating the illness and its treatment.

Vicki A. Jackson, MD, MPH, is the chief of palliative care at Massachusetts General Hospital. David P. Ryan, MD, is the chief of hematology/oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital. Michelle D. Seaton is the coauthor of The Way of Boys: Raising Healthy Boys in a Challenging and Complex World and The Cardiac Recovery Handbook: The Complete Guide to Life after Heart Attack or Heart Surgery.