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Synopsis

Healing With Words: A Writer’s Cancer Journey is a unique, compassionate story written by a nurse, author, and mother of three, who at the age of forty-seven found her life shattered by a diagnosis with DCIS with invasion. Five years later she was diagnosed once again to yet another, seemingly unrelated and incurable blood cancer—multiple myeloma. The book includes the author’s experiences, reflections, poetry, journal entries, in addition to writing prompts for readers to express their own personal story.

While coping with her loss, Raab realized that in addition to seeking immediate health care and having a supportive family, her lifeline to survival was writing about her experience. When Raab received her abnormal mammogram report, she pulled out her journal and began writing. She usually wrote first thing in the morning when her thoughts were the purest. Raab considers journaling to be like a daily vitamin—healing, detoxifying and essential for optimal health.

Since early childhood, Raab has drawn strength from the practice of journaling. As the only woman in her family ever to be diagnosed with breast cancer, her journal provided a safe haven and platform to validate her feelings.

The book’s first chapter begins: "There is no breast cancer in my family. No cancer of any kind. Except for mine, that is." She goes on to share her experience of being called back to the hospital because of an abnormal mammogram. She walks the reader through the next few months of tests and decisions, and finally through her mastectomy and reconstruction. She discusses the mourning of her loss, while she and her country were also mourning their losses from the tragic events of September 11th, 2001.

The final chapter, "A Tale of Two Cancers," addresses coping with depression and her development of a second cancer in five years. She stresses the importance of ongoing optimism in the face of diversity, the commitment to regular journaling, exercise, meditation, strengthening diet, and surrounding oneself with positive people.

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