Straight Talk From Survivors and Physicians

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Today, we look at some of the available reading and viewing resources.

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Living Beyond Breast Cancer

Dr. Marisa C. Weiss and Ellen Weiss

Times Books

476 pages, $25.95

This is the book to have if you’ve completed breast cancer treatment but believe your adjustment to life after cancer is only just beginning. Marisa Weiss is a radiation oncologist who founded the nonprofit Living Beyond Breast Cancer to help patients and families cope with the worries that follow treatment. The book explores care after treatment, lingering side effects and the threat of recurrence.

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Our Gift of Love: Personal Stories of Breast Cancer Courage

Hollister & Co.

Gibbs Smith Publisher

258 pages, $14.95

This is a collection of essays by 31 contributors who have dealt with breast cancer, organized by breast cancer survivors who call themselves Hollister & Co. The authors--cancer patients as well as and family members--address decisions regarding treatment, living with uncertainty and the struggle to come to terms with metastasized cancer. Raw and candid snapshots of lives touched by cancer.

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I Still Buy Green Bananas: Living With Hope, Living With Breast Cancer

Y-Me National Breast Cancer

Organization

36 pages, free

This educational booklet from Y-Me tackles issues that many professional health resources neglect to mention, such as how to tell the kids about your diagnosis. Even the whimsical title refers to the fact that breast cancer patients have to go on with daily life. The nicely organized 36-page booklet will be a good resource for those who don’t want to be deluged with too much information. For a free copy, call Y-ME’s toll-free hotline, (800) 221-2141, or write to Y-ME, 212 W. Van Buren St., Box GB, Chicago IL 60607.

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Rachel’s Daughters: Searching for the Causes of Breast Cancer

Allie Light and Irving Saraf

Airing on HBO: Friday at 1 p.m.;

Oct. 14 at 8 a.m.; Oct. 18 at 4 p.m.;

Oct. 28 at 6 p.m.

1 hour, 47 minutes

This documentary follows breast cancer survivors as they interview experts about breast cancer issues. The result is an educational film that is also touching. The movie is appealing in that it features women of various ethnicities, ages and races. Each uses her experience to demand answers that are honest and informative.