Wednesday 4 March 2015

Book Review: The Cancer Olympics

The Cancer Olympics
My readers have been encouraging me to stay indoors. Our cold temperatures have been awful.  I exchanged books with another Canadian author. I read it, tucked into the couch, under a warm blanket! It is a fascinating, and a horrible read, of doctors making mistakes. It does point out how we must self-advocate and take responsibility for our health.

It is a well-written, well documented journey by a well-educated, well-read woman. She has courage, strength, and many, many friends who helped her on her journey. She has worked hard to make improvements to the healthcare system in her province, Nova Scotia.

It's interesting how, for the most part, it is the individual doctors who make such terrible mistakes. The system usually works well if all fulfill their proper roles. Mind you, it is helpful is we live in larger cities, with more services.

I've been getting many people asking me for help with aging parents. It's been tough to read their stories. Some are so angry and want to sue. It really brings me down. It's different than mistakes.

I was so happy to have the College of Physicians talk my my late father's doctor. It was a terrible state of neglect, in terms of pain relief. Robin wrote about reporting her four doctors who neglected her terribly.

Robin has since been speaking at conferences:
Blindsided by sorrow at patient engagement conference 
"A true story, The Cancer Olympics is a suspenseful and poignant account of advocacy and survival that explores our deepest values regarding democracy, medicine, and friendship. "
The Cancer Olympics is available from  Amazon and Indigo.   Buying from the  FriesenPress Bookstore maximizes the donation to cancer support programs. 

What really helped Robin was a caring community of supporters. They co-ordinated their support of their family though this website: Lotsa Helping Hands, where Robin could list things she needed doing (groceries, raking leaves, a drive to an appointment) and people could sign up for specific ways in which they could help.

6 comments:

pattinase (abbott) said...

A woman in my writing group is writing about her turn toward holistic medicine after so much bad treatment from doctors during her two bouts with cancer. It's enough to scare my socks off.

William Kendall said...

Thank you for pointing this one out, Jennifer.

Lucy said...

Through personal experience I've learned that the doctor isn't always right and it's important to advocate for yourself. It's not always easy to do but it's important to do.

Thanks for the review.

Sarah Laurence said...

That does sound like good advice. Thanks for the review!

Rose said...

We put so much faith in doctors that it is scary to learn that they don't always have the right answers. Glad that Robin had such a wonderful community of supporters.

troutbirder said...

I agree with Lucy. My spouse is a two time cancer survivor with great faith in Mayo Clinic. Still to err is human & we ask questions keep alert for mistakes...