Inspired by an award-winning series of Esquire magazine articles on the author's own survival of colon cancer, The Colon Cancer Survivors' Guide shows how a person diagnosed with cancer stops becoming a patient and starts becoming a survivor. The book draws on medical research, Pesmen's and other survivors' personal experiences, plus insights from renown health care professionals on how to help simplify and enrich life after cancer from the first CT follow-up scans to the hallowed five-year-cure finish line. Above all, it offers advice on the healing of scars, both physical and emotional, how to leave cancer behind, and how to move confidently forward. It's a new type of cancer book focusing on the survivors, not the patient as a target market. While it contains the grit, the personal, and the shock surrounding of the battling cancer, it also stresses the new (diet, treatment and other self-care) options of a modern colon cancer case. Written not only for survivors, but also for their family, friends, oncologists and other healthcare professionals. Cancer Survivors' Guide Reading Curtis' accounts of his experience, impressions and reactions has changed the way I practice medicine. -- Mark Lane Welton, MD, Chief, Colon and Rectal Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine [The Colon Cancer Survivors' Guide] is a great perspective on what it is like to live through diagnosis and treatment for cancer. It's got many good resources for patients and family members as well. I would recommend this book for people who are working in cancer control and to people who are diagnosed with or caring for someone with cancer. --Margaret E. McCusker, M.D., M.S. Public Health Medical Officer, Comprehensive Cancer Control Section, California Department of Health Services [The Colon Cancer Survivors' Guide] allows readers to see and feel what the writer is expressing. The book also provides very practical, fact-based information about diet, tips for caregivers, insurance, and questions to ask healthcare providers. -- Barbara D. Powe, PhD, RN, Associate Editor, Oncology Nursing Forum, Oncology Nursing Society I think the book would be very useful for colon and other cancer patients. It is an open, honest story of living through the early phases of diagnosis and treatment. [Pesmen] expresses the full range of emotions that we know most patients experience--but hearing it from him as the person with cancer is touching, inspirational and informative. Pesmen does a nice job of referencing credible sources/resourcesAll in all, I think this would be a very useful resource for cancer survivors. --June Ryan, MPA, Program Manager of the Nebraska Comprehensive Cancer Control Program, Nebraska C.A.R.E.S. (Cancer Awareness, Research, Education and Service, National Comprehensive Cancer Control Programs) The candidness and originality of Curtis Pesmen's writing serve as guides along the cancer journey with insights that are both practical and moving. --Melissa Weber, Managing Editor CURE magazine Regardless of the type of cancer you had or have, this guide is a window into a world best described as the 'new normal' -- Louise Bates, survivor/chairwoman, Colorectal Cancer Network "