My Breast Book

Like so many women diagnosed with breast cancer, Joyce Wadler, a former writer for People magazine, had few known risk factors. She exercised. She had no family history of the disease. But when she was 44 years old, she had a malignant tumor "the size of a robin's egg" removed from her left breast. The eventual diagnosis was "ductal carcinoma with medullary features." Because of her early detection, aggressive treatment, and good prognosis, she called it "my maybe-not- the-best-but-still-pretty-terrific-whatever-the-hell-it-is cancer." What gets Wadler through chemo and radiation--and later a fight against ovarian cancer--is her questioning nature, her pluck, and her occasionally mordant sense of humor: she describes such things as being "nuked" in radiation therapy and accidentally arriving at the morgue on her way through the winding hallways of New York's Roosevelt Hospital. She also quizzes her doctor about the "street value" of Ziphrain, the anti-nausea drug that also elicits a euphoric high. While her sometimes-boyfriend Nick is maddeningly insensitive to her needs, she's very much helped out in the humor department by her friend Herb, now a comedy writer. Wadler half- jokingly tells Herb that if they had children, she would raise them, and he responds with, "And I would lower them." Wadler's book is worth reading not only for the many laughs, but also for the no-baloney attitude she takes with her doctors. She questioned her doctors' treatment decisions and diagnoses throughout her ordeal, and researched her options like an investigative reporter. Emulating Wadler's behavior and utilizing the resources she mentions could very well be lifesaving for women in the same situation. Read More