Most helpful book I've read on breast cancer, bar none. I would recommend it for all women, and the men who care about them, too. An enormously inspiring book that's comforting and witty. 80 chapters on everything from dealing with a "crazy" family, to knowing what pain medications are best and where to find a bathing suit. The information on getting what you need out of your doctors is stuff I've never read anywhere else. (Want to get discounts from your hospital, read it!) Author adopted a child, wrote a suspense/novel and this book--all while she was going through chem. Kind of inspiring? I'd say so.

Busting Loose Hit Me Like a Bombshell.
When I was diagnosed, so many things I could not make sense of about breast cancer—until I read this book. They now make sense
The turmoil of a breast cancer diagnosis is huge. Briefly, in addition to cancer, new patients ave to deal with fears about death, troubles with family, emotional turmoil, information overload, plus making life-changing decisions quickly. And don’t let anyone fool you, you can’t give the responsibility up to your doctors—not unless you really don’t care if you keep on living. Deep down, I was completely terrified and at a loss how to help myself. I virtually gave up because my doctors didn’t seem to care. Well, they did care, but not as much as I did.

I learned how to take control, get answers to my questions, force the hospital to schedule tests and surgery rapidly, and even browbeat my insurers into paying for a procedure they had refused to cover. And that was just from a couple of chapters out of eighty some in the book.

Some of the chapters in Busting Loose I felt I could have written because they were so close to my experience. The book tells the story of the author’s battle not to let cancer keep her from becoming both a first-time mother and a suspense/novelist. My life is very different, but I could relate and her encouragement and wisdom fit my situation just as well. You want inspiration, you’ll find it here.

Basically, I have a new perspective because of cancer. It got me reading again, and this book was one of the gems I found. If you have breast cancer, are afraid of breast cancer or want to help those with breast cancer, you’re going to find information you will not read anywhere else. ( )

As a pharmacist and cancer survivor, I found this book hugely informative. Written with a lot of humor, in a few places I found myself laughing my head off.

Along with the stories, it gives lots of succinct, helpful tips about everything from diet and exercise to finding a great doctor. It's balanced about alternative and traditional medicine, and is hard to put down. ( )