Tag: breast cancer

After You Hear It’s Cancer-a book review

“After You Hear It’s Cancer” by Dr. Lori Leifer and John Leifer offers a comprehensive guide for navigating cancer diagnosis and treatment. Drawing on personal experiences, the authors provide practical advice on various stages of cancer care, including diagnosis, treatment, and post-treatment challenges, along with resources for support and advocacy.

updated November 7, 2025

This information is current as of the date of original publication or update. It may have changed by the time you read this. I invite you to fact-check what you read here.

This information is not intended for diagnosis or treatment. Before making health decisions, discuss with your physician or other qualified healthcare provider to decide what is right for you.

After You Hear It’s Cancer

A Guide to Navigating the Difficult Journey Ahead

By John Leifer with Lori Lindstrom Leifer, MD

available on Amazon, read a sample at this affiliate link

Dr. Lori and John Leifer

Dr. Lori Leifer, a radiation oncologist, was well qualified to author a book about cancer. As a physician who treats cancer with radiation, she has extensive training and experience managing patients diagnosed with this devastating disease.

(Note: the photos and graphics are for illustration and are not associated with the book. The book links are affiliate links for possible compensation to this blog.)

However, her professional knowledge expanded to a new level when she found a lump that turned out to be cancer. Then she and her husband, John faced the daunting task of confronting cancer as a patient and the patient’s spouse.

chance of developing breast cancer by age 70-National Cancer Institute
Source: National Cancer Institute (NCI)

They turned this life-changing experience into another chance to help the people she has spent her career caring for. Together, they wrote this book offering personal and professional guidance to help cancer patients navigate the journey.

Joining them are other families dealing with cancer who candidly share their experiences and what they have learned along the way, both positive and negative.

Cancer- the difficult journey

The Liefers’ guidance follows the same path as cancer patients. First, there is a diagnosis, followed by a review and planning of treatment options.

Then there is the active treatment phase, which involves some combination of surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy.

Finally, there is life after the treatments. Each phase has its own issues to navigate, which they explain with specific and understandable advice.

A mammography on left and a Magnetic resonance image (MRI) on right. Breast imaging technology has changed over the years. Note MRI’s enhancement ability to confirm diagnosis.
Mitchell D. Schnall, M.D., Ph.D. University Of Pennsylvania
Creator:Unknown Photographer, Public domain

Navigating the journey

In part I, Diagnosis and Treatment Planning, they review how doctors diagnose and stage cancer, and how that influences treatment. They discuss when and why to get a second opinion, how genetic testing can help, selecting doctors and facilities, and considering a clinical trial.

This image shows a triple-negative breast cancer cell (MDA-MB-231) in metaphase during cell division. Tubulin in red; mitochondria in green; chromosomes in blue. A better understanding of how mitochondria play roles in tumor cell division may provide new therapeutic targeting strategies to stop tumor cell growth.National Cancer Institute \ Univ. of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute
Creator:Wei Qian-public domain

Part II, During Active Treatment, they discuss the practical aspects of paying for cancer care and how caregivers fit into the treatment plan.

Other vital topics include pain control, managing side effects, and the importance of nutrition and exercise. They also review why and why not to consider complementary therapies.

There are different subtypes of women’s breast cancer. Knowing which subtype is important for guiding treatment and predicting survival. This graphic was created for the Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, 1975-2011, published in 2015. Source:
National Cancer Institute (NCI), public domain

In part III, After Initial Treatments Are Over, they acknowledge the challenge of cancer survivors and what to consider when treatment is ineffective. Sometimes patients and families must face “difficult decisions,” with guidance on when to stop curative treatment and use hospice care.

Guidance

All throughout the book, the Leifers recommend “asking questions”. Each section concludes with a list of specific questions to ask.

The book ends with a list of Resources, including advocacy and support groups, websites on cancer treatment and research, foundations and other nonprofits, government websites, and professional associations.

Some of these are

Recommended for “those who hear its cancer, their families, and friends

I recommend this book to families navigating this “difficult journey.” Those wanting to understand and support friends and co-workers with cancer will find the advice useful.

Since cancer is common and can strike any family, everyone should consider reading it proactively.

Finally, this general approach to diagnosing, treating, and living with a serious illness can be applied to other serious or life-threatening diseases

About the authors

I received a complimentary digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a review. The book was published in 2015 by Rowman and Littlefield.

The University of Kansas Cancer Center shares Dr. Leifer’s story at this link, Doctor Becomes Breast Cancer Survivor.

John Leifer is a senior health care executive, consultant, academic, and writer, including four novels. He is also an accomplished photographer.

Exploring the HEART of health

I thank NetGalley and the publishers for asking me to review this book, especially the Leifers for sharing their story.

I’d love for you to follow this blog. I share information and inspiration to help you turn health challenges into health opportunities.

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Dr. Aletha

The Leifers’ books are available from Bookshop.org. Visit my online shop at this link.

Bookshop.org is an online bookstore that financially supports local, independent bookstores.

We believe bookstores are essential to a healthy culture and they are dedicated to the common good.

Bookshop.org donates a portion of every sale to independent bookstores.

Celebrating Life after Cancer

Celebration of Life Mural-The mural was created to honor those surviving the disease of cancer. The mural’s tiles are inscribed by cancer survivors and represent the continuous flow of life.

Aletha Cress Oglesby, M.D.'s avatar by Aletha Cress Oglesby, M.D.

5 steps to understand statistics about health risks

The article discusses the role of statistics in understanding health outcomes, particularly in breast cancer and COVID-19. It highlights the importance of epidemiology in guiding medical decisions and emphasizes the need for clear communication of data to prevent misinformation. Understanding statistics can lead to better health choices and disease prevention.

updated June 12, 2025

I reviewed a journal article about breast cancer, and as most medical articles do, it started with statistics.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, you probably weren’t too familiar with the medical science of epidemiology, which is all about statistics.

Epidemiology is the branch of medical science that investigates all the factors that determine the presence or absence of diseases and disorders.

National Institutes of Health

Statistics help us understand what has happened, what is happening, and what may or will happen. Statistics can help determine how something happened.

Epidemiology provides information that can be used to change outcomes in health and disease. Those outcomes may involve life or death.

Health data doesn’t help us much if it stays in medical journals or textbooks. Physicians and other healthcare clinicians use it to counsel patients and make medical recommendations about preventive care, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases.

How doctors use statistics to help patients

You might say we use them as “talking points” to convince people to do things we believe will help them and to avoid doing things we think might hurt them. You’ve seen the same thing happen when public health officials make recommendations about COVID-19 suppression. So a doctor might

recommend you do something -get a mammogram or wear a mask

a mammogram image
a mammogram revealing a breast cancer image source- National Library of Medicine, Open-i
caution you against doing something -smoking cigarettes or gathering in crowds
No Smoking sign with pumpkins
Ask your doctor about ways to help you stop smoking.
encourage a behavior-wearing sunscreen or keeping 6 feet distance
Practice Social Distancing

all based on knowing the epidemiology of breast, lung, and skin cancers, and COVID-19 based on statistics.

Breast cancer incidence and risk

So getting back to the breast cancer article, I think many women overestimate their risk of getting and dying from breast cancer. According to the article, in the

past 5 years, 2.3 million cases of breast cancer

in women have been diagnosed in the United States (breast cancer does occur in men but the number is so low it does not change this total significantly)

The mortality rate for breast cancer is 20 deaths/100,000 women. The most recent number for deaths in 1 year is 42,000. (United States)

chance of developing breast cancer by age 70-National Cancer Institute
Source: National Cancer Institute (NCI)
The majority of women have NORMAL BRCA.

COVID-19 by comparison

There were 27 million cases of COVID-19 February 2020-February 2021

diagnosed in both men and women in the United States. (And many experts suspect that thousands of cases have gone unrecognized.)

The mortality rate for COVID-19 then was approximately 134/100,000 people. The current number of deaths in the past year is 460,000. (These numbers are compiled by Johns Hopkins University and are current as of the original published day of this post)

Photo by Anton Uniqueton on Pexels.com

WHO, the World Health Organization, reports that 2.3 million new cases of breast cancer occurred last year, while in less than a year there have been 105 million diagnosed cases of COVID-19.

Did these numbers surprise you?
Did they cause you to change your mind about something?
Will you change behavior based on these numbers?

What does it matter?

Healthcare professionals use statistics to understand and predict health risks, then counsel their patients about maintaining health and preventing disease, disability, and early death. One way they do so is with screening tests, like mammograms, to detect early breast cancer when it is easier to treat. successfully.

a female physician talking to a male patient

Public health professionals do the same thing, but apply the knowledge to large populations of people, such as infants, children, adolescents, pregnant women, or the elderly. And sometimes to an entire neighborhood, town, state, or nation, as we’ve seen happen with the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, recommending masking, social distancing, handwashing, and vaccination.

But when health, especially public health, becomes politicized, these “talking points” can be used to

  • inflame rather than inform
  • manipulate not motivate
  • confuse rather than comfort
  • cause panic instead of instilling peace.

This is more likely to happen when we don’t understand the statistics and reasoning behind the recommendations. I believe much of the misinformation shared on social media unintentional, but stems from misunderstanding of the intended message.

The Data Detective: Ten Easy Rules to Make Sense of Statistics

This is the title of a new book by Financial Times columnist Tim Harford in which he tries to answer the question

Why do we believe what isn’t true?

In an interview by Erica Pandey, Harford encourages us to be curious and open-minded, and ask the right questions with a desire to understand. When you read or hear some new or disturbing information about any controversial topic, ask yourself if the teller is trying to make you smarter or trying to win an argument.

(AXIOS Today podcast February 5, 2021)

(This is an affiliate link, meaning it may pay a commission to this blog is a sale occurs.)

If we can toss aside our fears and learn to approach them clearly—understanding how our own preconceptions lead us astray—statistics can point to ways we can live better and work smarter.

The Data Detective listing on Amazon

My 5 guidelines for making sense of information

  • RECOGNIZE any bias, inconsistencies, contradictions; does it confirm what you already know? If not, why not? What is it trying to make you believe?
  • RESEARCH other sources and other media, what do they say about the topic, and are they credible?
  • REVIEW all the information you find trustworthy; do you have all the information you need to make a conclusion?
  • RECONSIDER when new information becomes available or circumstances change; if significant, you may need to start the process all over.
  • REMEMBER almost everything is subject to reinterpretation; as the numbers change, so may the conclusions. Statistics give us a chance to learn and understand, but aren’t the best way to prove a point or to win arguments .

final thoughts-Know Your Chances

(an affiliate link)

How to see through the hype in medical news, ads, and public service announcements

be a healthy skeptic. That doesn’t mean you have to be a cynic, simply disbelieving all the health messages you hear.

Instead, it means approaching messages critically: looking out for—and seeing through—common tactics used to exaggerate the importance of health problems or actions you can take to address them.

These tactics include emphasizing unimportant outcomes, avoiding numbers, or presenting statistics in ways that make them seem more important than they really are.

Know Your Chances: Understanding Health Statistics, by Steven, Woloshin, Lisa M. Schwartz, and H. Gilbert Welch. © 2008 by the Regenets of the University of California. Published by the University of California Press. (Read free at this link)

Exploring the HEART of Health

Find up-to-date information about breast cancer from The American Cancer Society and in Breast Cancer Clear & Simple (an affiliate link)

I’d love for you to follow this blog. I share information and inspiration to help you turn health challenges into health opportunities.

Add your name to the subscribe box to be notified of new posts by email. Click the link to read the post and browse other content. It’s that simple. No spam.

I enjoy seeing who is new to Watercress Words. When you subscribe, I will visit your blog or website. Thanks and see you next time.

Dr. Aletha