Bald Is Better with Earrings

April 6, 2015
Breast cancer survivor Hutton offers a wealth of insider knowledge on exactly what to expect of the “emotional and physical roller coaster” involved in battling the disease. Hutton offers both serious and lighthearted suggestions for getting through early testing, advising readers to “never go to a mammogram alone” and rating the flavors of pre-PET/CT scan barium milk (“mocha is the best”). She provides tips for choosing the appropriate surgery and information on breast prostheses, noting wryly that the proprietors of stores selling these tend to be well-endowed women, evidence of a possible “conspiracy.” A chapter on chemotherapy covers preliminaries, aftercare, and side effects before delving into the big conundrum: “how and when to shave your head.” Hutton explains basic care for synthetic and real-hair wigs and compassionately addresses potential feelings of a loss of femininity. She illuminates some less-discussed treatment side effects like “steroid rage,” fingernail breakage, loss of eyelashes, and radiation fatigue. On the interpersonal level, Hutton discusses best practices for telling your family your diagnosis and categorizes different reactions loved ones tend to have, while giving permission to “lash out appropriately.” Finally, Hutton reflects on the ongoing stress of continued screening, noting, “Once you’ve crossed the street, you’re stuck on this side forever.” While there is no universal cancer experience, Hutton covers the most likely scenarios in detailed fashion with grace, empathy, and humor.

May 15, 2015

Interior designer Hutton was 41 in 2009 when she became a member of the CSC, Cancer Sucks Club. She went through a year's worth of tests, diagnosis, surgery, and treatment and, in what began as a blog to keep friends and family updated, here lays it all out, in meticulous detail, for those enduring the same experience. Going for a humorous tone, the author describes her cancer journey and supplements it with list upon list of top tips to consider, plus sidebars on everything from fitting a bra to finding just the right scarf. Other titles have sought to personalize the cancer life for the newly diagnosed (e.g., Teresa J. Rhyne's The Dog Lived (and So Will I) and Melanie Young's Getting Things off My Chest), but Hutton digs down to the nittiest and the grittiest, for example, allergic reactions to chemo drugs and the minutiae of port maintenance. VERDICT Readers will be equally overwhelmed and overjoyed by Hutton's prescriptions. This book could be a lifesaver for breast cancer club members.--Bette-Lee Fox, Library Journal

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2015
How-to-survive breast-cancer handbooks are proliferating as many women (and a few men) are tested, retested, diagnosed, and submitted to cancer surgery, which can sometimes mean losing one or both breasts. Follow-ups can vary from nothing to aggressive courses of chemotherapy and radiation, and survivors' guidebooks like Hutton's frequently claim to dissipate terror and prepare the newly diagnosed for what will follow. But nothing can. Still, Hutton's transformation into Cancer Girl motivated her to start a blog, then, recognizing that her intense research didn't prepare her for her cancer journey, expand it into this straightforward, often humorous, no-nonsense, step-by-step, tip-filled text. No single guide can be all-inclusive since cancer cases vary widely, but Hutton's Top Tips for choosing a surgeon, understanding and handling radiation and chemo, dealing with your new self-image and scars, approaching postsurgery sex, managing side effects from treatments and accompanying medications, and getting on with your life will help many.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)