Book Review - Ordinary Miracles - Breast Cancer Support

This upbeat and encouraging book focuses on the stories of early stage breast cancer patients and survivors. Dr. Nathanson, a breast surgeon at the Henry Ford Health System (HFHS) in Detroit, Michigan, collected their stories and arranged them along the lines of common experiences. After the doctor opens each chapter with some medical information, he steps aside and leaves each person to tell his or her own story. This gives the reader a rich sampling of voices and attitudes, as they become the "ordinary miracles" that the doctor considers each of them to be.

Sit down with seventy-one early-stage breast cancer survivors, one of them a man, and hear their stories. They will tell you what they experienced, and how they survived. All of them were patients of Dr. David Nathanson, a breast surgeon working in the Multidisciplinary Breast Cancer Clinic at Henry Ford Health System (HFHS) in Detroit, Michigan. Many chapters of this book are arranged in the order that a patient usually experiences the journey of breast cancer: detection, diagnosis, surgery, chemo and radiation. But the author and his patients know that this disease affects more than the body, so they also discuss spiritual connections, emotions, breast cancer support networks and survival issues. Some chapters tell the story of only one patient, as they give us their complete journey.

Dr. Nathanson frames each story with an introduction and afterward, but he steps out of the scene while a survivor tells their own story. Each patient speaks honestly of their fears and challenges, as well as their triumphs. Several of them have gone on to volunteer as peer counselors or fund-raisers. All appear to have benefited greatly from the coordinated treatment given at this clinic.

Survivors and patients who have not been treated within a specialized breast cancer clinic will be particularly interested in how well these doctors and health care professionals worked in coordination on each case. These patients felt well-cared for and treated with respect and consideration. You won't find any negative stories here, except for references to a personality conflict or two. Since Dr. Nathanson solicited these stories from his own patients, that may have influenced the positive tone of this book. I do wish he had included some negative patient experiences, and then shown how these were successfully resolved.