Living and Dying with CancerCambridge University Press, 2004 M06 24 - 194 pages Living and Dying with Cancer is a powerful and moving account of the experiences of those affected by one of the most common causes of death in the Western world. Through a series of individual narratives based on extensive interviews carried out by the author, the book explores the impact of being diagnosed with cancer on those with the disease and the people around them. It follows the different trajectories of the disease from the very first symptoms, through treatment to death and shows how the experience of the disease and even the way it develops is affected by the social context of the people involved, as well as their own physical and psychological characteristics. This 2004 book will be an invaluable resource not only for social scientists and health professionals but also for those coming to terms with the impact of cancer on their own lives |
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appeared asked aware behaviour believed biopsy bone cancer brain tumour breast cancer breastfeeding cancer diagnosis carers chemo chemotherapy Claire Clive comfort consultant continued cope daughter Derek desperate died difficult disease doctor dying trajectory Eilish emotional experience experienced explained extent fear feel felt Field-notes friends fuss pot Gerry Gerry's Gita going happen heightened hope hospital husband illness individuals initial interview Janet knew Kubler-Ross learning leukaemia live looking Louise Louise's lump lymph nodes lymphoma Macmillan nurse mother night nurse observed oncologist pain Palliative Care patients perceived physical problems psychological radiotherapy reaction realised reality relationships respondents result role Rose Rose's shock sick sick role situation social group someone stage Steve Sue-Ellen survival Susan symptoms syringe driver talk tell testicular cancer thing thought told treatment tumour United Kingdom whilst wife worry
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Page v - Death is no enemy of life; it restores our sense of the value of living. Illness restores the sense of proportion that is lost when we take life for granted. To learn about value and proportion, we need to honor illness, and ultimately to honor death.
Page v - Only when dedicated to such action, my life counts; its termination, its being-no-more, my death, is no more a senseless, absurd, unjustifiable occurrence: not that sinking into the emptiness of nonexistence it once was - that vanishing which changes nothing in the world. Through making myself for-the-other, I make myself for-myself, I pour meaning into my being-in-the-world...