When someone you love is diagnosed with breast cancer — or any life-threatening disease — the diagnosis changes at least two lives.
The first belongs to the patient. The second belongs to the person who's suddenly become a caregiver.
When prize-winning journalist Woody Weingarten's wife, Nancy Fox, was diagnosed with breast cancer, he found himself thrust into a caregiver's role, one for which he had no preparation. Rollercoaster chronicles the couple's journey through diagnosis, treatment, fear, uncertainty, recovery, and the lasting aftermath of illness.
But this is more than a memoir.
Drawing on Woody's experience as Nancy's loving aide, his decades leading a support group for male partners of women with life-threatening diseases, and extensive research, Rollercoaster explores what caregivers themselves go through — and offers information, perspective, and resources to help them cope.
Now extensively revised, this second edition of Rollercoaster: How a caregiver can survive a partner's breast cancer or any other lethal disease brings the story and the science into the present, with up-to-date information about breast cancer research, treatments, medications, and sources of help.
Woody candidly explores the rollercoaster of emotions caregivers can experience: fear, love, helplessness, joy, anger, guilt, and exhaustion, along with intimacy and sexual issues and the struggle to know what to say and do. He also addresses an often-overlooked reality: caregivers need care, too.
Rollercoaster can help caregivers understand that their own reactions matter, that relationships may change under the pressure of illness, and that seeking support is an integral part of surviving the journey.
IN THIS SECOND EDITION
Readers will find:
• Updated information on research, treatments, and medications
• Current resources for patients, caregivers, and their families
• Practical guidance drawn from decades of experience with caregivers
• An honest look at how serious illness affects relationships and intimacy
• Insights into the emotional and psychological impact of caregiving
• Woody and Nancy's personal love story of confronting cancer together — and living with what came afterward
• Although Rollercoaster grew out of one couple's experience with breast cancer, its message reaches far beyond a single disease or a single couple.
• Anyone caring for a spouse or partner facing cancer or another life-threatening disease may recognize themselves within these pages.
You may not have chosen to become a caregiver. But you don't have to figure out how to survive the ride alone.
