Here’s a ready-made support group for men facing prostate cancer: the instructive personal stories of ten men at various stages of battling prostate cancer, highlighted with updates on medical treatments and options. Jelsing (a television health and medical reporter) met with a discussion/support group whose members ranged from ages 49 to 67 years at diagnosis. The staging of their disease and prognosis when the disease was discovered varied widely, as did their circumstances, their initial medical/surgical treatment, their ongoing regimens, and the alternative therapies tried. Jelsing relies on the words of each man (and several of their wives) to convey the reaction to their diagnosis and to describe how they gathered their resources to create a plan for treatment and for living with the disease. The group discussions and medical sidebars go on to cover such specifics as choosing a health care team; dealing with side effects of treatments; the thorny issues of sex, love, and intimacy; insurance and finances; and perhaps most important, how to face an uncertain future. The range of life experiences before and after diagnosis is wide enough that fellow sufferers will find company and comfort here, the accompanying medical information is accurate and up-to-date.
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-8133-6657-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1999
Categories: HEALTH & FITNESS
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Self-help guide for diabetes sufferers, mostly in question-and-answer format, with an emphasis on helping racial and ethnic minority diabetics.
Coleman is a pharmacist with a doctorate in her specialty, Gavin a Ph.D. and M.D. Aside from acknowledgments and a foreword signed by Gavin alone, their voices and expertise are indistinguishable, offering lucid, simple solutions for diabetes patients. Gavin relates watching his great-grandmother endure debilitating pain as a result of diabetes while he visited her as a youngster. He remembers hearing adults mention that sugar killed her, and he wondered how something that tasted sweet could cause so much harm. As an adult, he realized that his great-grandmother's affliction could be controlled through treatment. The authors focus on Type 2 diabetes, the most common form in minority populations. An estimated 18.2 million Americans are diabetic, with perhaps 5 million unaware of their situation. About 11 percent of U.S. diabetics are African-American, and about 8 percent are Latino. The question-and-answer format begins with an overview section about diabetes, with an emphasis on risk factors. Section Two covers management of the disease, including nutrition, exercise, blood-testing, oral medications and insulin use. In addition, the authors continually recommend smoking cessation, as well as instructing patients on the readiness of self-treatment. Section Three explains the complications—high blood pressure, high cholesterol and heart disease—that could arise if the condition remains untreated or treated ineffectively. The questions in all of the sections are worded simply, and the answers are usually free of medical jargon. Though the sudden shifts in tone and voice are occasionally jarring, the writing remains clear enough to distill the facts. The real downside here, though: patronizing, laughable illustrations that degrade the overall product.
Authoritative and, most helpfully, accessible.Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2004
ISBN: 0-9746948-0-0
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 27, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Categories: HEALTH & FITNESS
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An astute—and sadly revealing—collection of articles from the past 15 years covering a wide number of topics related to the state of cancer research in the United States.
While it's true that Epstein—a physician and professor of occupational and environmental medicine at the University of Illinois College of Medicine—is clearly distressed by the current situation regarding our nation's approach to seeking cures and causes of cancer, this is far from a screed or conspiracy theory. He and a small number of contributors explain clearly why they feel the cancer fight has been stymied from the beginning. Epstein suggests the elimination of two impediments immediately: blaming the victim and putting the emphasis on diagnosis and treatment instead of prevention. He further suggests that there ought to be a distance between research institutions and those who fund the research. Since that likely means state intervention, he would like to see that ideologically biased individuals are not put in positions of power, dispersing funds (as happened under the Reagan administration, with its closed-door sessions with industry executives); too often the economic and political strings are held by those with a conflict of interest, such as the makers of products with suspicions of carcinogenic properties, or those with a vested interest in selling drugs to cancer patients. He also suggests that groups like the American Cancer Society stop spending three-quarters of their massive annual outlay on administrative costs, and start working more closely with environmental and occupational groups. Finally, he addresses the potential threats from pre-menopausal mammography, and the food industry's use of growth hormones.
There's a clear and intelligent gadfly at work here, offering much food for thought through his outrage.Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2005
ISBN: 0-89503-310-0
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Categories: HEALTH & FITNESS
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