Sunday, July 4, 2010

BREAST CANCER

THE MIDDLE PLACE. This is a book kind of coincidently about breast cancer with all it comes to mean, i. e., cancer taking over your life-- a big meaning is that you can fight and beat it. The author did. No small thing. It is also about what makes up a family.

The author is a good writer and lots of talk about the Irish. She has a couple of hilarious stories about her Dad in particular and hence the title of the book--"middle place," idenity with parents and idenity with her own husband/children.

Good story teller: One has to do with a time when she was trying to break in on the dotcom craze. Her description of that time has to be read, can't be told second hand.

The diagnosis with cancer sounds very much like always: the shock. The anxiety. Cancer taking over her life. Her trips to the Infusion Center for treatment. And for me, a kind of Gestalt, an "ah hah" moment. There's a vast difference sitting in the Infusion Center as a patient getting treatment, a family, in support; and even more of a difference when you are a supportive friend. Hard to explain. I use to sit by my friend Rose's bed and almost always experience every single emotion possible.

A question I always ask about books: is this a book I want to give to someone battling this horrible disease? Yes! Most cancer patients already understand the risks, will laugh with the book and more than anything appreciate the hope.