Lung cancer is the number one cancer killer in the U.S., with over 170,000 new cases diagnosed each year. Despite this, it receives little attention from the media and little sympathy from the public. Those with lung cancer suffer more blame and stigma than other cancer patients, even though 50 percent of them are former smokers or have never smoked. Treatments for lung cancer can significantly impact quality of life, and the prognosis for some types and stages of lung cancer, using standard treatments, can be daunting.

In straightforward language, Lung Cancer: Making Sense of Diagnosis, Treatment & Options addresses medical, emotional, and support needs, often in the words of patients and families themselves. Topics include:

• Diagnosis and medical tests
• Characteristics of the lung cancers, factors in prognosis, and the various subtypes and staging systems for the disease
• Treatments, including standard treatments for the subtypes, as well as emerging research and promising treatments now in clinical trials
• Side effects and long-term effects of treatment, including how to cope and how to improve quality of life
• Emotional responses to diagnosis, treatment, remission, possible recurrence, and other aspects of dealing with the condition, including stories from dozens of families living with lung cancer
• Getting support from family, friends, employers, and the broader community
• Comprehensive list of lung cancer resources: organizations, print, online sites
• Other resources, including a pull-out Cancer Survivor's Treatment Record, glossary, bibliography, and technical appendices

Author and patient advocate Lorraine Johnston, with her background in life sciences, emphasizes using knowledge to dispel fear. The content has been reviewed by top medical experts and physicians in the field. Those who read this book will encounter medical facts simply explained, advice to ease their daily life, and tools to be strong advocates for themselves or a family member.

Lorraine Johnston is the wife of an eight-year lymphoma survivor and the daughter of a twenty-year lymphoma survivor. In the years since her husband's diagnosis, she's been involved in a number of support groups that offer emotional and practical support to lymphoma survivors. Her first book is Non-Hodgkin's Lymphomas: Making Sense of Diagnosis, Treatment & Options. In the course of her support group efforts, Lorraine has been interviewed by the Philadelphia Inquirer and by National Public Radio's Marketplace program regarding the best ways to find reliable medical information using a personal computer and various media such as the World Wide Web. She attempts to dispel the myths that access to sound medical information is cloaked in secrecy and that medical literature is impossible to interpret. Using her life-long love of biology and her degree in life sciences, she helps cancer survivors evaluate accurately the material they locate, emphasizing resources such as the National Cancer Institute's databases of treatments and clinical trials, and the National Library of Medicine's MEDLINE, a collection of over nine million published medical research studies. Lorraine's years of study have included many courses in psychology, but she found that nothing in her educational background prepared her adequately for facing the terror and heartbreak of cancer. One of her chief interests is helping the newly diagnosed as well as long-term survivors feel less lonely and less afraid as they confront their diagnoses and weigh their options.