THE VICTORIA'S SECRET CATALOG NEVER STOPS COMING: And Other Lessons I Learned from Breast Cancer

After she discovered that a close friend from high school days was diagnosed with advanced metastatic lung cancer, Nash (Altared States: Surviving the Engagement, 1992), a freelance writer, knew intuitively that a tightness on the left side of her chest was a sign of breast cancer. Her first mammogram was negative, but at a six-month follow-up, 35-year-old Nash was diagnosed with the disease. In this forthright memoir, the author recalls in a series of chapters labeled "lessons" what she learned from going through the ensuing mastectomy and breast reconstruction. In Lesson #2 ("Bad News Does Less Damage When It's Shared"), she explains how the support of her husband, who lost his mother to breast cancer, her family and friends was a "critical component" to her recovery. In another touching but almost lighthearted lesson ("Courage Doesn't Always Dress in Camouflage"), Nash describes a party that she attended shortly before her operation, where she turned heads by uncharacteristically wearing a sexy red dress. Although she did not require chemotherapy or radiation (her margins were clean), Nash did suffer from the physical aftereffects of a free-flap reconstructive surgery that she nonetheless never regretted having. She shares the difficulties of discussing the illness with her two daughters, aged three and seven, and other stressful family events: during her recuperation, a feud developed between her husband and her mother that was obviously a result of the emotional toll her illness took on them. This honest account of a young mother who survived breast cancer will be helpful to others in the same situation. (Oct.)