I was recently offered a handbook by Natrelle, the maker of silicone implants. (An Allergan company)
It's a darling little book, completely pink with the ubiquitous ribbon in a cut-out design. A scrapbooker must have designed it.
If you hate pink, like me, you'll need a cover if you plan to carry it around. Alternatively, if you pull it out at, say, a sporting event, you are pretty much announcing "Hey, I have breast cancer!" Maybe somebody will buy you a beer.
It is compact, purse-sized, and gives a good and simple overview of breast health, cancer, treatment and reconstructive choices. There is even a section on augmentation for healthy women - they are, after all, an implant company. They didn't leave out women who choose flap procedures either. There are also survivor stories with quotes from women who have gone through a variety of treatments.
It starts with breast health too, so it's not only for cancer patients - if I had a teenage daughter, I would give her a copy, so she would know how to do exams, know what normal "abnormalities" are and when to know if something is wrong.
The most valuable aspect of the book for the cancer patient is, in my opinion, are the lists of questions to ask each doctor at every stage of your treatment.
Best, of all, it's free.
To get your own book, find Natrelle on Facebook and like them. Or, fill out the form located here and expect one in the mail soon.
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I always wonder about marketing these books to the patient community. I'm happy to do it because all information is good information and this is a nice little book. But, are you really going to choose your plastic surgeon based on whether he puts Natrelle implants in over Mentor? Are you going to ask for a specific brand? I didn't. Maybe others do? If you are one who preferred one brand over another, leave a comment below, I am curious as to why.
Ann, I received that same book, so I guess I'm supposed to write something like this too! I agree, it's a handy little book, even if it is pink!
ReplyDeleteI don't have a clue what brand my implants are! Guess I could look at my handy little card to see. I figured I picked the Surgeon I thought was best and he picked the implants he thought were best. Never crossed my mind to research brands!
ReplyDeleteI have that book and didn't find it useful at all -- was given to me long after it would have been useful. I have it handy to give to someone that's newly diagnosed in case they would find it helpful but have found that a conversation with someone in that time of their journey tends to offer them far more information than that propaganda book does. No offense, I just don't like how these product companies put these things out and by the time they get to us they're of no use.
ReplyDeleteNo offense taken, Julie, I didn't write it. :) I wasn't thinking it was useful to me or you, but maybe it would be to somebody brand new to the cancer thing.
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