If Only I Had Known
Integrative and Alternative Paths to Recovery from Breast Cancer
by Aviva Mayers

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Aviva Mayers was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008. Like millions of women throughout the world, she initially agreed to a conventional treatment out of fear and confusion. But she began to question those choices as the treatment progressed. Following her treatment she took herself on a journey to learn about gentler, less invasive treatments outside of conventional medicine. Aviva attributes her current state of good health to the integrative and alternative paths she ultimately followed. This is a book about options… options for treatment, management and prevention of breast cancer outside of mainstream medicine. It is the result of the journey that Aviva took back to health, and many of her choices outside of mainstream medicine are discussed here. The book includes interviews with patients who followed a path to recovery, much of which they attribute to alternative treatments. And it includes interviews with a range of health care practitioners working with patients with breast or other cancers. The professionals share their thoughts on mainstream treatments, discuss integrative and alternative interventions that can help with recovery, and in some cases even replace conventional treatments. The book also offers advice on how to prevent breast cancer in the first place or how to avoid a recurrence. If Only I Had Known is essential reading for anyone diagnosed with breast cancer. It provides a unique perspective on treatments that your doctor may not tell you about. Knowing about these options could improve your life both physically and psychologically. The information contained here is also relevant to people suffering from other cancers, since many of the same inflammatory processes may contribute to their cancers.

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Testimonials This wonderful book explores conventional treatment as well as alternative therapy. The research is excellent. I would like to see this book in waiting rooms for breast surgeons, oncologists, radiologists and radiation therapists. It would provide much comfort and information to patients dealing with the many facets of breast cancer and its treatment. —Patricia H. Saluk, MD, Mammography/Radiology, Southeast Radiology Ltd., Upland, PA, USA As someone who has undergone breast cancer treatment using conventional and alternative methods myself, it is so refreshing to finally read something that validates the importance of integrative and alternative treatments—with expert opinions and substantive research to back it up. I wish I’d had this book when I was first diagnosed as it would have saved me much anxiety around choosing the best treatment path for my body and my disease. —Rosalind Stefanac, patient, journalist

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Aviva Mayers, MSW., is a psychoanalyst and has worked as a clinical social worker in hospitals in several countries. She lived and worked in Canada, the U.K., the U.S. and Norway where she pursued post graduate studies at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, while also teaching and working in private practice. She now lives in Toronto where she treats individuals and couples in her private practice. Her experience with breast cancer has taught her that if we take responsibility for our own health by informing ourselves and employing interventions that make sense to us, we can improve our health and transform our lives.

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Contributors

Author

Aviva Mayers

Foreword

Alvin Pettle, M.D.

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