Thanks for the Mammogram: Fighting Cancer With Faith, Hope, and a Healthy Dose of Laughter

Rating:
Summary: Laughing through the Pain
Review: "Almost everyone - whether it's your friend, neighbor, coworker, wife, mother, or sister ? has been touched by breast cancer. The cancer survivors I've talked to over the years say that what helped them through their ordeal was faith and often humor." ~Laura Jensen Walker

What is more healing than laughter when you are faced with a situation you can't control? Even science has shown the healing power of laughter. Cancer isn't funny, but somehow the author finds a way to heal through her own vibrant wit. Many of the chapters are rather serious until the end when she gives the punch line.

This is a book about courage, hope and humor. Laura Jensen Walker demonstrates her ability to face the challenge of cancer and fight it with faith, hope and "mild/laid back" humor.

I learned a lot about reconstruction, chemo and was amazed at how Laura's husband stood by her through the entire process.

"How to Lose Thirty Pounds in Thirty Days: The Chemo Diet Way. The original Slim-Fast liquid diet. (But not one I'd recommend.)" was an interesting chapter to be sure. This spells it all out, tells you what chemo is all about and it isn't fun especially if your nurse forgets to give you "zofran." Yes somehow Laura finds a way to appreciate the effects of rapid weight loss even when it is the result of chemo.

If you want to understand what a cancer survivor goes through, this is the book. I recently read "Knowing Stephanie" which I can also recommend for the detailed information and pictures.

The last chapter on what really matters was also quite inspirational.

You may also enjoy:

Mental Pause
Through the Rocky Road and into the Rainbow Sherbet

Rating:
Summary: Funny, moving, poignant... and fearless.
Review: (Okay, I'm a bit older than eight, but the site wouldn't let me tell you my real age. National Security or something...) Thanks for the Mammogram is Bombeckian (as in Erma). Laura Jensen Walker not only tells us that laughter can heal, she shows us. Her ability to live on the bright side glimmers from each page and through her, we learn to face difficult facts: breast cancer strikes one in eight women, but 100% of their spouses. Yet we can choose our response to the disease; we can decide not to let it ruin our lives.

Alternately showing herself to be our big sister, best friend and cheerleader, Walker has, er, bared all in the higher interest of exposing the stigma associated with breast cancer for what it is: a killer.

But she doesn't stop there. Walker shares perhaps the most telling detail of all, that her own mother is a breast cancer survivor, and passed a steely will and hearty sense of humor on to her daughter. An inheritance that may have saved Laura's life. Discover that as one quote used in the book puts it, "Whoever is happy will make others happy too." (Anne Frank)

I'm decidedly not a crier, but I did cry through the chapter written by the author's husband. I recommend this read-it-all-in-one-sitting title for anyone with breasts.

Rating:
Summary: If you are battling cancer, fight it with this book in hand.
Review: As a breast cancer survivor and writer, I find this book appealing in both facets. Laura manages to find the humorous while being brutally honest about the downside of chemotherapy, hair loss, masectomies, and cancer. I laughed out loud several times, recalling my own experiences, thankful that I could now laugh with a fellow breast cancer survivor. I would recommend this book to anyone who is battling cancer or has a loved one who has been diagnosed with cancer. Laura deals with a difficult subject with faith, humor, and honest. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Silly, Real, Refreshing
Review: Breast cancer is a big deal. Serious stuff. Many women die from it. Other women endure masectomies. Why make light of such a heavy topic? Simple: humor is healing.

Laura Jensen Walker has something to say about breast cancer. She's a survivor. She has faced this beast, and now is able to articulately help readers smile in the midst of a tough time.

In "Thanks for the Mammogram!" Jensen tells her story. Most of the book details a narrative of her diagnosis, treatment and how she survived. However, in reflecting through the most difficult of moments, she draws us in ala Erma Bombeck into candid silliness. It is as practical as it is funny.

Boldly bringing humor into a discussion of cancer marks this book as a standout among its peers. Having lost my mother to lung cancer and flipping through too many solemn tomes of pop-psychology, I read through Jensen's book refreshed. I wished my mom could've read this book. At a certain point, cancer is cancer, and anyone with any cancer would enjoy "Thanks for the Mammogram!"

Each page is a different view of her situation. For example, she spends a delightful chapter on the end of her chemo, and how she and her husband (a 'Disnoid') celebrated this landmark at Disneyland. We read of her struggle to find a decent book to read (unless Mickey Mouse's various adventures appealed to an adult woman, that is).

The chapters are in very chewable chunks--none too long.

With chapters like, "To Baldly Go Where I've Never Gone Before" (a consideration of Capt. Jean Paul-Luc Picard, Michael Jordan and other sexy baldies, she looks for the upside of a hairless head), you, like me, might find a new way of seeing what so many people go through.

She admits her fears, but pushes also the benefits of having a realistic, yet positive view of dealing with breast cancer. Jensen explains her husband's point of view in the whole matter (even letting him write a chapter, "Her Body, His Pain"). She walks the reader through the process, citing how she related to people who had or didn't have cancer.

I fully recommend "Thanks for the Mammogram!" by Laura Jensen Walker. It is a very worthy gift for those whom you love who have cancer, or know someone who does.

Anthony Trendl

Rating:
Summary: great cheer up/ get well gift
Review: i got this book for my mother-in-law after her mastectomy. she went very quickly from finding a lump to getting diagnosed to having surgery. she is a very lively person who is usually very active. being stuck at home recovering from surgery, i bought a bunch of books that i thought might help her pass some of the time. this was her favorite. she laughed so hard her stiches almost popped! she has not stopped talking about this book.

i think this is one of those things you can give someone when you really dont know what to say. it offers a little bit of cheerfulness to an otherwise somber subject. instead of a "thinking of you" card...get this book!!!!!

Rating:
Summary: A must-read for anyone facing breast cancer
Review: I have never been diagnosed with breast cancer, but I am certain anyone facing this disease would want a copy of Laura Walker's "Thanks for the Mammogram." Mrs. Walker remarks that this book was the hardest thing she ever had to write. Like any good memoir, it takes in the uncomfortable, even embarrassing moments as well as the lighter and uplifting ones.

Walker includes a lot of detail, from procedures like reconstruction, chemotherapy right down to the day-to-day patient care and how she felt emotionally. But this is not a gruesome story--instead it is intended to help anyone else along the road to recovery. The best chapter "Where do I go from here" gives eight important points (such as taking charge of your treatment, talking to your family, dropping the Wonder Woman cape for women who do it all) and also useful addresses and a list of books.

This book is interesting reading for any woman, but if you have a loved one facing this challenge or if you are a woman who has been diagnosed with breast cancer, you should get this book. Nothing I have read comes close to this book for frankness and assistance.

Rating:
Summary: I laughed and I cried...
Review: I was inspired by Laura's courage and strength in her book, Thanks for the Mammogram. Her laughter and humor was remarkable in what could have been a devastating experience. Her husband's account of their journey into breast cancer was equally touching as together they turned a "negative" into a positive, building experience. Her courage and candor was refreshing to me as a breast cancer survivor myself. I laughed and I cried...what more can I say!

Rating:
Summary: Thanks from a Breast Cancer Survivor
Review: Laura Jensen Walker was an author before she had breast cancer - so her cancer experience is very well written! She takes the reader through chapters which share just enough, but not too much, of her personal life. She gives background such as her Air Force days with diets, her love for Broadway musicals, and her relationships with family, friends, and especially with her husband that influenced her walk with cancer. Each chapter leaves the reader inspired, informed, and encouraged. Laura shares how faith, hope, and laughter help cancer patients. I laughed, cried, and laughed some more through every chapter! I recommend this book for cancer survivors, as well as for others, too. The ladies in my Book Review Club really enjoyed it - all readers will be lifted!

Rating:
Summary: Thanks from a Breast Cancer Survivor
Review: Laura Jensen Walker was an author before she had breast cancer; so her cancer experience is very well written! She takes the reader through chapters which share just enough, but not too much, of her personal life. She gives background such as her Air Force days with diets, her love for Broadway musicals, and her relationships with family, friends, and her husband which influenced her walk with cancer. Each chapter leaves the reader inspired, informed, and encouraged. Laura shares how faith, hope, and laughter help cancer patients. I laughed, cried, and laughed some more through every chapter! I recommend this book for cancer survivors as well as for others, too. The ladies in my Book Review Club really enjoyed it - all readers will be lifted!

Rating:
Summary: Thanks for the Mammogram
Review: Thanks for the Mammogram is a great book, even my young teenage daughter read through it quickly. Laura's style of writing is very easy and fun to read even on the subject of breast cancer. I would highly recommend this book to everyone. It helps to face some of the fears of Breast cancer and really gives you hope and a lot of chuckling. The incident in the bathroom with her plumber and a prosthesis is a MUST READ!! Even if you are not facing breast cancer, this is a great book. The author is quite vulnerable without weighing the reader down with heaviness. I would also feel very comfortable purchasing this book for someone who has breast cancer, which could certainly be a lifeline of hope during a very rough time.