Diary of a thyroid cancer patient - The Purple Butterfly

 

STOP PRESS!

This book is now available on Kindle!

’The Purple Butterfly’, by Susan Hibberd cameos a year in the life of a thyroid cancer patient. Restrained and sparsely written, it gives the reader a deep insight into the mind of someone who is balancing on the edge of hysteria, yet still feels an obligation to ‘put on a brave face’. A 'must-read' for anyone supporting a friend or relative through a serious illness - this book tells you what he or she never will.

The volume also contains ‘Flying with the Purple Butterfly’, which is a manual for those about to undergo radioactive iodine treatment. Based on personal experience, this the first time this information has been published in the UK.

‘The Purple Butterfly’ is not a work of fiction. It is the real diary kept by Susan from March 2003 to February 2004, and charts her personal thoughts and feelings from before diagnosis, through four operations, and two bouts of intensive radio-iodine treatment

Taken in 2002. An initial ultrasound scan was taken, and the doctors told me it was just a goitre. I was advised to have it removed for cosmetic reasons before it grew....

This book will appeal to a variety of audiences: a) thyroid cancer patients who want to see how someone else has coped with the disease b) friends and families of anyone with a serious medical condition, so they can get an insight to what they might be thinking or feeling c) anyone interested in unusual medical procedures, who will like the details of a treatment which involves drinking radioactive liquid and being confined to a lead-lined room for four days.

Five days after one of the 'neck dissection' operations at St Thomas' in London

After the radiation, I was considered a threat to society , and had to carry this card around with me.

This book can be ordered from Meadow Books, and is available on leading websites such as Amazon as well as from bricks and mortar bookshops.

ISBN: 1846851114 Price: £7.99