Childhood Cancer Survivors: A Practical Guide to Your Future (2nd ed).(BOOKS)(Book review)

When families hear the words, "I am sorry. Your child has cancer," they are thrust into the often frightening and confusing world of health care, where they must navigate through treatment options and make decisions concerning the life of their child. Their focus turns to the present, achievement of remission, and, hopefully, a cure. The long-term issues that pediatric cancer survivors must face often are not addressed during treatment because the goal is to keep the child alive. However, with today's improved pediatric cancer survival statistics, most children survive their cancers and grow to be adults, only to face a whole host of new issues and problems. Survivors of childhood cancer need tools to handle survivorship issues, but where do they find them? Childhood Cancer Survivors: A Practical Guide to Your Future is one of a series of patient-centered guides written to provide parents with information and practical advice to care for children with cancer. The book provides a comprehensive and thorough account of issues that pediatric cancer survivors and their families will face. Although other print and Internet resources are available for survivors and families, this book is a valuable resource because of its dual focus on pediatric cancer survivors and the issues pertinent to them.

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The book is divided into 20 chapters; each chapter is well written and easy for the lay person to read. The early chapters concentrate on psychosocial issues, relationships, navigating the system, staying healthy, fatigue, and emotions. In addition, the authors are not afraid to cover sensitive topics, such as sexuality and fertility. The latter section of the book focuses on body systems and discusses the potential effects that certain treatments, if received, might have on the organs in each system. The authors are careful to emphasize that not all patients will experience every problem covered in the book, if any; however, if families fail to note or understand this, they may find the chapters a bit overwhelming.

Most of the chapters include comments of survivors and parents regarding their experiences, which gives the book a more personal feel but also can be distracting. The powerful impact of hearing the voices of people who have gone through pediatric cancer, however, far outweighs this minor detail. The comments are pertinent, and positive and negative accounts of survivors and their families are portrayed in an honest narrative.

The appendices in the book provide valuable information about resources available to pediatric cancer survivors and their families. Resources mentioned include a Web site to find a survivors' clinic, organizations for pediatric cancer survivors that provide services and information, books, and other Internet sites. Because the book is in its second edition, resources have been updated. The Cancer Survivor's Treatment Record pullout insert at the end of the book is a very useful resource. So many pediatric cancer survivors are unaware of the treatments they receive, let alone specific medications and dosage amounts. With more children surviving cancer every day, long-term follow-up of their health issues has become imperative. The insert provides survivors and healthcare providers with the tools to anticipate and deal with any health problems encountered years after treatment is completed.

Childhood Cancer Survivors: A Practical Guide to Your Future allows pediatric cancer survivors to take ownership of their disease and gives them the tools to deal with the long-term sequelae (physical and emotional) they might face later in life. The book can serve as a conduit for healthcare providers, survivors, and their families to talk about the issues unique to this patient population.

** Quick, on-the spot resource

[??] Basic

[??] Pocket size

Softcover

Nancy Keene, Wendy Hobbie*, and Kathy Ruccione*. Sepastopol, CA: O'Reilly Media, Inc., 2006, 436 pages, $27.95.

* Oncology Nursing Society Member

Kristin Hanak, RN, MS, CPNP, CPON[R] Nursing Faculty Fort Range Community College Westminster, CO