Books offer words of encouragement to cancer patients

Several books that address the special needs of cancer patients, or that tell their stories in an effort to inspire others, have recently been published. Here's a brief rundown:

Breast cancer survivor Marybeth Maida, a writer, editor and TV producer, teamed up with Debbie Kiederer, a veteran of the cosmetics industry, for a different kind of beauty book. They gathered a panel of medical, spiritual, beauty and fashion experts to discuss the many internal and external challenges that women face in coping with a cancer diagnosis and treatment. Wondering how to draw in convincing-looking eyebrows? They'll tell you. Suffering a crisis of faith? They talk about that, too. From choosing a wig to finding comfortable clothes, from nutritional needs to overcoming fear, Beauty Pearls is a caring, comprehensive guide, studded with inspiring survivor stories.

Elisha Daniels and Kelley Tuthill were acquaintances when they were diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006, and became close friends through their treatments at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston with the same physician, Ann Partridge. The book takes readers through their experiences, from the shock of diagnosis, through the process of selecting physicians and treatment, surgery, chemo and its aftermath, as well as dealing with lovers, family, friends and children. The tone is upbeat, encouraging — and bluntly honest. To illustrate how little feeling a woman can have in a reconstructed breast, they tell of the time Tuthill's toddler daughter grabbed at her breast in the doctor's office, but Tuthill wasn't aware of it until she looked down to see what the doctor and nurse were laughing about.

Carolyn Rubenstein first got to know young cancer patients when she was a child visiting a summer camp for seriously ill kids. At age 14, she founded Carolyn's Compassionate Children, which started as a pen-pal organization and now awards college scholarships to young survivors in need. Now 24 and a student in the doctoral program in clinical psychology at Harvard, Rubenstein gathered the inspirational stories of 20 young cancer survivors for Perseverance. Among them: a woman who had ovarian cancer at 19, a young man who climbed a mountain on crutches after brain cancer, and a young woman who dealt with cancer-related depression by participating in a basketball program. The emphasis is on finding hope in the depths of fear.

Many chemotherapy patients have long complained that they feel confused and forgetful after treatments. The condition is now so well accepted it has its own name. Chemo brain is estimated to affect up to 80 percent of patients. Most problems are temporary, but some last far beyond the end of cancer treatments. Dan Silverman, a leading researcher of chemo's cognitive effects, and Idelle Davidson, a medical journalist and cancer survivor who had temporary chemo brain, have written a book to reassure those who are suffering and tell how to take action. It explains the biochemistry behind chemo brain, symptoms to look for, and specific steps you can take to help cope with chemotherapy-related cognitive problems, including diet, exercise and lots of organizational ideas that will also be useful for people who've never had chemo.