Mind, Body, and Soul
A Guide to Living With Cancer

By Nancy Hassett Dahm

Published by Taylor Hill Publishing LTD
734 Franklin Avenue
PMB 150
Garden City, New York 11530-4525
ISBN # 0-9702904-0-3
309 pgs, Hardback, $27.95

 

I can’t imagine for the life of me what it would be like to have a doctor give me, or someone close to me, a diagnosis of cancer, especially terminal cancer. That word carries with it such power, such overwhelming dread that for some, just seeing it, or saying it, is inappropriate. As if by just the mentioning the disease, it can bring it to them. It is very clear where to turn for treatment, doctors and clinics are prevalent. Nevertheless, where can you turn with questions about those doctors, about those treatments, what to expect, what you or your loved one may be feeling? If it was me or mine, I would want someone like Nancy Hassett Dahm to turn to, and with her book, she is readily available with help, guidance, and most important, answers.

Mrs. Dahm is a registered nurse who specializes in cancer care, seeing to the needs of over 400 patients since 1991. She has brought to those afflicted comfort and dignity, giving them the chance to live their final days relatively pain free, and helping the families cope with what for most is a truly horrifying ordeal. This may not take the place of Mrs. Dahm being there with you, but thanks to her writing this, she can give you all of the experience she has gained, and that makes this book invaluable.

It must be hard to see a loved one suffer; my heart goes out to those that have been through that. I cannot fathom watching a loved one endure what seem to be endless tests and treatments, many times leaving them weaker with each one. Knowing that death is imminent has to be one of the hardest things to ever have to deal with, albeit your own, or someone close to you. What you have in this book is a source that, in easy to understand terms, cover situations that someone might need to know about.
Things like what to expect from other people once they find out that you have cancer. How to cope with problems brought on by managed care and HMO’s, which, in my opinion, has become a burden to many patients today, cutting costs and the cost of lives. Common fears and interventions-Lenny Bruce said there are steps that a person goes through when they are dying, but where there may have been truth in his humor, there are many things that are needed to be dealt with in overcoming the stress of the disease on not only yourself, but also your family. Being cared for at home, how to live your final days with dignity and surrounded by those that are there to love and support you, as well as providing your needs, both medical and spiritual. Controlling your pain with medication and meditation, never losing your sense of what it means to be human. And how to give care to a dying loved one at home, what to expect, and how to be there to make the transition from this plane to the next as smooth and comfortable as possible.

As I said, I don’t write from experience with this review, but if it ever comes to that with me, I will be glad that I read this book, and will tell those around me to read it as well. Perhaps by them doing so, my final days will be spent as my life was lived, as I wished for it to be-on my terms and not filed with fear or concern for those I have left behind. And that is the greatest possible comfort.