Recommended Reading
- The Patient’s Playbook: How to Save Your Life and the Lives of Those You Love
- Memoir of a Debulked Woman: Enduring Ovarian Cancer
- Cancer Vixen
- End of Life Book Club
- The Widow’s Guide to Healing
- Motherless Daughters – The Legacy of Loss
- Anatomy of the Spirit – Seven Stages of Healing
- The Untethered Soul – Journey Beyond Yourself
- Chicken Soup for the Cancer Survivor
- How to be a Friend to a Friend Who’s Sick
- Anti-Cancer -A New Way of Life
- Lean on Me: Cancer Through a Carer’s Eyes
- When Breathe Becomes Air
- Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End
- Radical Remission: Surviving Cancer Against All Odds
- When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chödrön
- Cancer Made Me a Shallower Person by Miriam Engelberg
- Kitchen Table Wisdom by Rachel Naomi Remen
- Everything Changes by Kairol Rosenthal
- It’s Always Something by Gilda Radner
Caregiver Bookclub
A community resource for ones caring for a parent, spouse, or relative who cannot care for themselves due to age, infirmity, or illness. You’ll find valuable field guides, comforting and encouraging stories, practical advice, wisdom, and real hope.
Conquer Magazine
CONQUER addresses the issues that people getting care, their family members, and caregivers face every day in an easy-to-read format. Issues include personal stories, information on access to care, and articles on lifestyle topics such as nutrition, stress management, personal finance, and legal and employer issues.
Boutique – Wigs and other head coverings
Tips on Getting Ready for a Wig
Many women have found that it is best to cut their hair short before they start chemotherapy. It’s less traumatic to lose short clumps of hair than long ones-and it’s easier to fit a wig over less hair.
If you get used to short hair, you won’t have to wait as long for your hair to grow back to feel like yourself. Shorter is also cooler-an important consideration because wigs can feel hot in the summer.
Since a short-haired wig is easier to wear and care for, if your hair is already short you’ll have an easier time living with temporary hair of a similar length.
OjaiCARES Recommends
Wig Choices
Try to pick out a wig before your chemotherapy begins. You’ll have more energy and the stylist will be able to see your natural hair color and style. You can get used to wearing the wig in trial sessions, alternating with your own hair.
The wig needs to be comfortable, not lined with material that’s going to feel scratchy against your scalp. (Remember that most wigs are designed for women who have some hair.)
Color is probably the most important quality in choosing a wig. Select a somewhat lighter color than your own hair, for two reasons:
Your skin color may be off during chemotherapy. Less contrast is generally more flattering, and won’t call attention to your complexion. Wig hair is usually thicker than your own hair. So while the shade may be the same as your hair color, the wig will appear darker.
Turbans and hats are a lovely alternative to wigs, which some women find hot and uncomfortable to wear. An advantage of the Boutique at the Cancer Resource Center is that people may make a free selection of all kinds of headwear to take home and try out.
The types, colors, and styles of turbans, hats, and scarves are limited only by what is available at any given time at the center. Most have been made and donated by generous women in the area..