My nose was buried in books just after my breast cancer diagnosis. I craved information and thought the pursuit and acquisition of it would somehow help me gain control over a seemingly uncontrollable disease.

For the most part, reading helps me. But sometimes, I read too much -- "Stop reading", my oncologist instructed me one day after I rambled off a bunch of worries I'd gathered from research -- and I've been known to get overwhelmed by statistics and numbers and theories and clinical jargon. When this happens, I usually find refuge in the personal stories of women living with breast cancer. Those who have weathered the cancer storm are often the real experts on cancer and know how to sift through the details, offering just what's important to all who follow.

For more than a decade, two-time breast cancer survivor Pat McRee searched for the perfect guide she could recommend for women she saw at the Flying Colors cancer resource and support center she directs.

"Too long," "Too detailed," "Overwhelming," "Just plain scary," were the responses she heard about the books she had found.

So she decided to think outside the book, to create her own support guide. An unbook is what she calls it. And it's not too long, too detailed, too overwhelming, or too scary.

Support to Go, The Unbook for the Journey through Breast Cancer is instead a compilation of survivor secrets, affirmations, inspiring quotations, poetry, song lyrics, attitude buttons, funny anecdotes, and referrals to expert resources in oncology, radiology, surgery, psychology, and complementary therapies.

McRee considers her book a support group of sorts, a place where survivors can turn their wild rides into unforgettable journeys.

I did not know -- until I was sitting in the Cancer Center receiving chemo for breast cancer last year -- that author Barbara Delinsky is a breast cancer survivor.  My sister handed me a book off the shelf in this infusion center filled to the brim with cancer patients, all seated neatly in a row on pink leather recliners.  I started flipping through the book -- called Uplift: Secrets from the Sisterhood of Breast Cancer Survivors -- when I realized it was written by a best-selling author I had read before.  Her novels have caught my attention on several occasions and have been some of the books I have had a hard time putting down.  This book was no different.

Uplift is a book full of anecdotes and advice and wisdom shared by every-day breast cancer survivors -- and the family, friends, and men in their lives too. Topics include chemo and hair, the workplace, humor, exercise, and religion, among others. And without medical jargon or statistical reports, readers learn from those who have been there -- and want to make the road easier for those who follow.

I had to put Uplift back on the shelf once my infusion was complete but days later, I received a package in the mail from a former co-worker and friend.  Inside the package was my very own personal Uplift.  I have read it and reread it.  I have loaned it out and recommended it and quoted from it.  It is truly uplifting.