Connecting Patient/Family Library Patrons to Information, Ideas, and Resources

The Duke Patient/Family Resource Center is:

• A lending library offering books, audio and video tapes, magazines and free brochures dealing with cancer and certain blood disorders and with issues of coping, survivorship, caregiving, and grieving
• Open 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day the Morris Clinics are open
• Located in the White Zone, first floor, of the Morris Cancer Clinic, Room 15123.
• Our phone number is 919-684-6955. Our e-mail address is FamilyLibrary@mc.duke.edu

Resource Center Coordinator: Harriet Whitehead, PhD
Cancer Patient Education Program Director: Kerry Harwood, RN, MSN

Cartoon Stories and Other Reviews

All of the books reviewed below are available for check-out at the Patient/Family Resource Center here at Duke.

Mom's Cancer, by Brian Fies

Someone dropped us off a copy of Mom's Cancer, clearly a book written in cartoon form, and I left it sitting in a neglected pile for a long time. I have mixed feelings about cancer books written in cartoon form. Are they meant as humor? Are they for the literacy challenged? Why do their authors tend to also adopt ding-a-ling names like "Funky Winkerbean?" There's something strangely confusing about the genre.

Well, all is forgiven in the case of Mom's Cancer, by Brian Fies. It's not at all for the literacy challenged, but it is written in cartoon form the entire way through. And believe me, some of those pictures speak louder than any words when it comes to communicating the impact of a cancer experience on patients and their family members. This is the strong point of the book. Tinged with humor, sometimes gallows humor, throughout, the book is a quite serious look at the mysterious ways of doctors, patients, and dysfunctional family members coming to grips with the big C.


Cast of characters: A brainy competent set of siblings -- Brian the cartoonist/writer and former scientist; Nurse Sis, the RN sibling with lots of relevant experience and a short fuse; Kid Sis, a live-at-home youngster who suffered cognitive impairment in an auto accident some while ago and is now forced into the role of a poorly focused full-time caregiver. There is a space-cadet Step Dad, no longer on the scene, who is off seeking his bliss in a spiritual retreat in the southwestern desert. And finally, there is Mom, a lifetime smoker just diagnosed with a lung cancer that has metastasized to the brain. Mom is perennially hopeful but confused, only hears what she wants to hear, and dutifully puts up with treatments that make her wish she was already dead. And does quit smoking.

Let me give away part of the story by reporting that Mom passed away ultimately from delayed complications of her radiation treatment. But at the time of her death she had been cancer-free for 18 months. There is a mixed message of hope here to readers, but the rarity of any metastatic cancer, especially lung, being successfully vanquished, is one reason why you might want to explore this book. The other is the absolute pricelessness of some of the vignettes contained within its covers. The quandary over when to call the doctor in charge of the treatment. The quandary over whether to let Step Dad know that it's serious. The conversion of the siblings into raging self-appointed super-heroes, each convinced the other two have it all wrong. The medical staff, described as those kind wonderful people we've become very close to, and can't wait to never see again. And the touching portraits of hairless Mom, asleep in the chemo chair, or sweetly misinterpreting every word that comes her way.


Mom's Cancer, started as an online strip, and was the winner of the first time ever Eisner Award for a digital cartoon. (It is no longer online).

Funky Winkerbean: Lisa's Story, by Tom Batuk

OK, since I just dissed Funky Winkerbean, I'll make up for it by reviewing the title I was talking about. Cartoonist Tom Batuk runs a widely syndicated strip, which appears in the Raleigh News & Observer, called Funky Winkerbean. The name is in the tradition of long running cartoons like Lil Abner, that feature a whole cast of characters, connected in one way or another to the central character. Funky, the central character in this case, is the local cafe owner, and his cafe is a place where a collection of local citizens shop, work, and gather. Lisa and Les are a couple who are part of this urban melange. Lisa's Story begins with Lisa finding a lump in her breast. It will prove to be an early-stage cancer. The story is realistic, the humor gently ironical. While it lacks the nuance and complexity of Mom's Cancer, it is sensitively told and touching. Especially recommended for husbands.


Body Basics for Breast Cancer, by Karen Webb


The good news in the world of breast cancer is that medical treatments are getting better and more plentiful, and women are surviving the disease longer and longer. But mainly bad news seems to reign on the self-help front. The latest studies show that diets previously thought to help actually come up short for most types of breast cancer. Alternative approaches such as acupuncture, imaging, and stress reduction, can and do make you feel better and that helps you with the struggle, but their direct effect on cancer cells is dubious. Exercise? Yeah, sounds great, but what exactly is permitted and what will get you in trouble? Don't you have to worry about lymphedema when exercising your arms? Isn't your bone health perhaps a little shaky after treatments? In your weakened condition, where do you start?


This is where Karen Webb's book comes in very handy. A guide to recovery and continued health, the small paperback briefly and clearly covers physical therapy, lymphedema, bone health, recurrence prevention, breast reconstruction, heart health, support and sexuality! Virtually anything a breast cancer patient might have concerns about is given its moment in crisp thoughtful paragraphs. Karen Webb is a physiotherapist who founded the Body Basics book line with her earlier writings: Body Basics for Life, Body Basics for Bones, and Body Basics for Type 2 Diabetes. Rehab and exercise are her strongest suits. No surprise then that her books give you plenty that you can actively do to keep the various wolves away from the door. If I had only three books to help get me through my breast cancer, they would be Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book, Kathy Steligo's The Breast Reconstruction Guidebook, and this book. Highly recommended.


Incidental Finding: Essays on Renal Cell Carcinoma, edited by Cynthia Chauhan.

At last, a book on kidney cancer, or at least the most common form of it, renal cell carcinoma. The essays inside cover the medical waterfront in accessible language and include several personal accounts. Look for it under "Other Cancers," (below the breast cancer collection) on our shelves.

Some Web Sites of Interest

Ask a Patient

I don't know how long this one will last so try it at your earliest convenience. This is a Web site where people go to praise, or more often, complain about their prescription medication. You enter your drug's name, either as a generic or as a brand, and click the button. Up pops a screen that includes, under "satisfaction level" a button that will send you to other people's reviews. These reviews are often eye-opening, sometimes eye-popping. The drug company may not have listed it as a side effect, but if 24 out of the 26 reviews mention a dry, hacking cough, for instance, it sounds like something's going on. Maybe this will shed some light on your dry, hacking cough. Or suppose the drug company mentions some rare side-effect in very bland language, e.g. "some bone pain." Go to this website and find out what the people with that side effect actually went through. If it's six months of unalleviated whole body bone pain, and several people are reporting it, maybe you don't want to gamble on that particular drug.

Mind you, the site is skewed toward the complainers, but there are some drugs they praised. Prilosec, for instance, got rave reviews.

Google it!

If you can't figure out how your drug's name is spelled, type in a guess on Google.com. Google will usually guess what you're after and suggest the correct spelling for you. Google gets more useful every day. Want to create a separate medical calendar for every member of your family, accessible anywhere you can get online? Go the Google "Calendar." Simple, clear, no frills.

Breast Cancer Research Newsletter from Johns Hopkins

Artemis is an excellent source of the latest scientific findings concerning breast cancer. Check the July 2006 issue, then go to archives to pursue back articles of interest.