Palliative
Care Book of the Month
SYMPTOM MANGEMENT IN ADVANCED CANCER. 4th Edition
Robert Twycross, Andrew Wilcock and Clare Starke Toller
Palliativedrugs.com Ltd, 2009
447 pp
ISBN 978-0-9552547-3-4
RRP £40.00
Available only from www.palliativebooks.com
This fourth edition of Robert Twycross’ Symptom Management in Advanced Cancer is most welcome. It has been extensively updated and expanded, although it is presented in a more compact, less bulky volume. The clarity and incisive style of previous editions is maintained. The use of content lists and a lot of cross-referencing, together with a comprehensive index, makes the book easy to navigate and the information accessible. The extensive use of lists and tables, perhaps more than in previous editions, is a plus. The text is well referenced. Chapter 12, Emergencies, includes all the emergencies listed in the UK Palliative Medicine Specialty Training Curriculum. Chapter 13, Last Days, is an excellent addition that clearly deals with all those difficult issues with which we grapple from time to time. This book belongs on the shelf, available for quick reference, in any palliative care service and also in any medical or radiation oncology unit.
Roger Woodruff
(October 2009)
Book reviews
CHILDREN’S PALLIATIVE CARE IN AFRICA
Justin Amery (Ed)
Published by OxfordUniversity Press, 2009
Funded by The Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund
444pp
ISBN 978-0-19-956-7966
RRP $US59.95, £29.95
Available to download, free, at The International Children’s Palliative Care Network http://www.icpcn.org.uk/
This book, written by a group with a lot of experience of caring for children with life-limiting illnesses in Africa, and edited by Dr. Justin Amery, aims to explore the key palliative care themes that are crucial to expanding the provision of children’s palliative care. It is divided into several sections including the basics of children’s palliative care, symptoms control, palliative care for adolescents, caring for children at the end of life, caring for yourself, and the newly created African children’s palliative care formulary. The book is very practical in its approach but with a balance between action and reflection. Holistic care including psychosocial concerns and care for the family are emphasised. I think this book has a lot to offer those who work in children’s palliative care in other resource-poor settings outside Africa and, indeed, for paediatric palliative care in settings that are not resource-poor.
SLAUGHTERHOUSE HEART
Afsaneh Knight
Black Swan, 2009
365 pp
ISBN 978-0-55277-465-9
RRP £7.99 (The US prices quoted on Amazon.com varied from $US5.70 to $US48.00!)
A novel about hospice? Yes! This is the story of James, formerly a professional boxer, who is dying with dementia and Parkinson’s, his son Jamie, an actor who lives in LA, and Meryl the hospice volunteer. And I nearly forgot Margaret, the hospice ghost, probably better described as a saint.
I shall not reveal the plot other than to say this is a story about living and dying, love and loathing. With the exception of a few medical hiccups noted below, her description of a hospice and the problems we deal with felt quite real. Google informs me that Knight went to Oxford but not what she read. I doubt that she has a medical or nursing background, which makes her description of the problems encountered in a hospice all that more insightful.
But I did stumble a couple of times. …‘We’re giving him morphine. It’s a high dose…’ What for? The man is dying with Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s or dementia pugilistica and there is no mention of physical pain. Perhaps the message here is that we who work in hospice care need to continue our efforts to educate the lay public that not everyone entering a hospice is automatically given morphine. And there were a number of occasions when James’ cognitive impairment improved unexpectedly (and a bit unrealistically) to move the plot along. But I suppose you can’t let the truth get in the way of a good yarn.
The book seems to have been well received and was described as ‘dexterous, deft and promising’ (The Spectator), ‘a book about love, but not sentimentality’ (Vogue), and ‘an interesting debut by a promising young writer’ (The Times).
I think anyone who works in hospice and palliative care will enjoy reading this well-told and absorbing story.
WHERE DO WE GO?
James F. Weinsier, illustrated by Cliff Beaman
Wondrous Publications, 2008
36 pp
ISBN 978-0-615-23805-0
RRP $US12.95.
This little book, which consists of lots of illustrations with very simple text, is for young children experiencing loss. The author reassured me that, rather than trying to explain something in abstract terms, the book attempts to ‘gently explore imaginative and comforting possibilities by asking a variety of questions encompassing the larger question: ‘Where do we go?’ I think this book is appropriately non-challenging for young children and should greatly facilitate their communication with parents/adults.
Roger Woodruff
(October 2009)
Dr. Woodruff is an IAHPC Board Member. For more information go to: http://www.hospicecare.com/Bio/r_woodruff.htm
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Note for authors: If you wish to have your book reviewed, please send to:
Dr Roger Woodruff
IAHPC Bookshop Editor
210 Burgundy St, Suite 9
Heidelberg, Victoria 3084
AUSTRALIA
Note: Review copies become property of IAHPC and are not returned to the author. Only palliative care related books which are previously approved will be reviewed. Due to the large number of requests, we can't provide exact dates of when books will be reviewed.
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