Monday, March 1, 2010

4th Stop on its world tour......ENGLAND!

With Verite Reily Collins


The book has made its fourth stop on its world tour!  How amazing and eye opening!  This has turned out to be quite a journey not only for the book, but for me as well.  The people I have met, the wonderful stories, the help and support; are a blessing, a learning curve, and truly wonderful!

Upon writing the book and my process with it, I was looking up different cancer sites on the web when I came across Having Fun After Cancer.  Well of course with my approach and trying to get some humor out there just the name caught my eye.  I thought..great someone else who is just trying to shine some humor on a bad situation.  Upon looking up the site, I got more than just that.  I was impressed by all the information, the honesty and hard work that was put into finding answers, addressing questions and helping with just  the everyday experience of cancer. For those of us who have gone through the disease, this is so refreshing.  It is hard to get answers at times and equally hard is answers to what to really expect. Not everyone likes to hear the hard brutal truth and because of that we get the "sugar-coated" end or sometimes even worse, we are just expected to deal with what is sent our way.  Not with Verite Reily Collins!  Ms. Collins tackles some of the tough questions, and the biggest one of all Tamoxifen!  For those who do not know, in simple terms, Tamoxifen is a hormonal drug that is given to breast cancer survivors to inhibit their hormones and to help fight off the cancer, prolonging our life.  It is a drug that is taken for five years after your completion of chemo, radiation, or the measures taken that were specific to your cancer.  It is a very hard drug to deal with.  It has incredible side effects, that may not address everyone, but in my experience most.  But... for example in my case, by the time you are beat up with chemo, surgeries, radiation and you finally make it through to the end just the words, it will help the cancer to not come back and prolong your life...I just dealt with what came my way, no questions asked. 

But Ms. Collins, who lives in England and explains that their medical systems may be a bit different than ours, decided she was not going to stand for it.  She was not going to just take the side effects and the un-answered questions any longer and started her research.  Through her research she looked at different countries and for information they may have and were given.  She looked at the web, asked Doctors and found answers.  With this information, she decided it would best distributed on the web, were millions could view it in hopes that they might get answers to questions, information and the realization that they were not alone and had the same effects and feelings.

By no means did Ms.Collins suggest or decide not to take Tamoxifen, quite the opposite.  Of course you want to take a drug that will prolong your life; you just need to figure out the "nasty" side effects.  This is her philosophy "But for every "nasty" that comes up, there is probably a gorgeous treatment or super product that helps with side effects - these make life easier and more fun.  I call these Having Fun After Cancer".

Ms. Collins is not a Doctor, and does not claim to be an expert, but she has an abundance of information so you can find your own answers, look up information on different subjects that might be helpful to you, and move forward well educated and in hopes of a better understanding. Plus to have fun with some of the things you can do to take care of the side effects!  It is a wonderful site and definitely worth the look!


She is kind, funny, and has been a delight for me to come in contact with.  It was my pleasure to send Ms. Collins my book to have it signed and reviewed.  And with that said, I hope to honor her with this blog for all the help. I am sure with her website she has given millions of women in Great Britain as well as women around the world help in having fun and a look at the brighter side of dealing with the effects of cancer!!

My hats off to a Lovely Lady ...across the pond!!

Read Ms. Collins review of the book!