Gilda's Disease : Sharing Personal Experiences and a Medical Perspective on Ovarian Cancer

STEVEN PIVER

1 Great Primer on Ovarian Cancer
I was healthy, young and active when,out of the blue, I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. The next thing I knew they cut me up, filled me with poison (chemo), blasted me into premature menopause and made my hair fall out. I was so overwhelmed.

A kind friend gave me this book. It gave me a clue about what was happening. I read and re-read it and began to understand my disease. With understanding comes hope.

If you know someone with ovarian cancer -- give them (and yourself) this book.

2 Gilda's Disease
A great first read after diagnosis. Very informative about the why's and wherefore's regarding ovarian cancer made personal with excerpts from Gilda's Radner's book: It's Always Something (a great second read).

The author writes with authority and compassion, a rather rare combination in the medical profession. A welcomed book at a time when one needs facts combined with heart.

3 I laughed as I wept; life-or-death questions answered.
One of the most feared cancers is ovarian cancer, with good reason. It may be asymptomatic; what early symptoms do appear are vague, diffuse, and often are not taken seriously by either women or their doctors. As a result, the disease is often advanced before diagnosis occurs--as in the tragic case of Gilda Radner.

This book lives up to its subtitle: sharing personal experiences and a medical perspective on ovarian cancer. The personal experiences are excerpts from Gilda's book "It's Always Something", excerpts from letters to Gene Wilder, and comments from him. I defy any one to be unmoved by these pages. The voice of the cancer victim and the cancer survivor come through, sometimes tragic, sometimes comic, always honest.

The medical perspective, interwoven with the pertinent experiences, is equally valuable. I think it is superb. Dr. Piver has a remarkable talent for clear and succinct treatment of such complex and scary topics as surgical staging, the 30 different types of ovarian cancer, survival rates and alternative therapies. His historical perspective and obvious mastery of the field enable him to answer the most difficult question-- with a minimum of gobbledegook, and with up-to-date information. This book is almost like having a humane and sympathetic gynecological oncologist across the desk.

Of course, this book could save your life or that of someone you love. Information is one of the best weapons we have against this killer. I am in awe of how much information and wisdom these gentlemen have packed into 184 pages. I could not recommend it more highly.

4 Great source of information
The book explains the experiences of Gilda and Gene. It provides an understandable decription of the symptoms, treatment, and the experience of having Ovarian Cancer.It helped me understand what had happened, and was about to happen to my Mother. How the Cancer could have gone so far with so many doctors looking for a cause of all the symptoms they could not find a cause for, till it was too late