Breast Cancer Husband: How to Help Your Wife (And Yourself) during Diagnosis, Treatment, and Beyond by Marc Silver

From the Publisher

A unique guide, like none other on the market-packed with medical information, practical tips, psychological insight, and coping strategies-to help men help the women they love through this trying time.

When Marc Silver became a breast cancer husband three years ago, he learned firsthand how frightened and helpless the breast cancer husband feels. He searched in vain for a book that would give him the information and advice he so desperately sought. Now this award-winning journalist has compiled just the kind of emotionally supportive and useful resource that he wished he had been able to consult-to give men the tools they need to help their wives, their families, and themselves through this scary, uncertain time.

In his years as a consumer journalist and veteran of the News You Can Use staff at U.S. News & World Report, Marc Silver learned what kind of information and advice on medical crises readers found most valuable. He draws on that experience as he covers in depth all the issues couples coping with breast cancer will have to face during diagnosis, treatment, and beyond. Highlights include:
- The shared experiences of other breast cancer husbands
- Guidance from top cancer doctors in the country
- Advice on when, how, and what to tell your young children
- Tips on coping with radiation and chemotherapy
- A candid discussion of sex and intimacy following breast cancer surgery

More than 200,000 women are diagnosed with cancer each year in the United States. At last, with this book, the men who love them have a road map to help them through a difficult and unprecedented journey.

Publishers Weekly

Silver, an editor at U.S. News & World Report, speaks encouragingly in this heartfelt, useful guide for men whose wives or girlfriends have been diagnosed with breast cancer, as was his wife, Marsha, in 2001. Silver, who consulted with surgeons and oncologists for this book, first helps readers deal with the diagnosis, addressing men's stereotypical reactions (usually saying little, followed by overbearing urges to fix the problem), then advising them how to behave (ask questions and, more importantly, listen). He nicely interweaves comments from men and women who have gone through breast cancer diagnosis, setting them off with pull quotes and how-to sidebars such as "Husbanding Her Energies" and "Caring for the Caregiver." His advice is simple and sound: rather than saying "Cheer up, honey, the doctor said things aren't that bad," Silver recommends, "Is there anything I can do to make you feel better?" He discusses the surprisingly numerous cases in which men have left their spouses, discusses the importance of wives having an "appointment pal" and advises on explaining cancer to children. Silver also smartly examines the various treatments and suggests ways for readers to find sexual intimacy after mastectomy. This guide is an invaluable complement to Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book and John Link's The Breast Cancer Survival Manual. Agent, Stephanie Kip Rostan. (Oct.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Husbands or boyfriends of women with breast cancer are usually the least addressed in guides to the disease. An editor at U.S. News & World Report, Silver was therefore as clueless as the next man when his wife, Marsha, was diagnosed. Failing to find a manual showing men how to offer the most support and care, he wrote his own. Silver gathered information from medical professionals and men in the same boat, covering every conceivable challenge to life with breast cancer (including suggestions on how to wash a woman's hair while she is wearing drains). Silver's prose is funny, tender, and filled with rock-solid advice. Highly recommended. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

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