It's Time You Knew: The Power of Your Choices to Prevent Women's Cancer

by Valena Wright

Your annual doctor visit isn’t enough to prevent disease and cancer—you have the power to protect your health with the right conversations.

When women’s cancer surgeon Valena Wright, MD lost her older sister to Stage IC Ovarian Cancer, she knew she had to speak up. Her younger sister was saved through cancer prevention measures—but nobody was explaining how those measures could save more women.

Information on healthy choices for women is overwhelming. What prevents cancer? How can you spot early warning signs? What symptoms mean you should call your doctor and seek medical care? Daily health and lifestyle choices are the key to cancer prevention and early detection. But what choices?

In It’s Time You Knew learn from a gynecologic oncologist with over 25 years of experience about:
- Twenty-eight women’s stories of patient experiences from symptoms to diagnosis and the path they took to cancer recovery.
- The types of testing that your doctor may not have told you about but could save your life.
- The daily and annual habits to adopt to lower your chance for disease, including the role weight, diet, sleep, and exercise play.
- The wisdom to speak up when it matters—it just may save your life or the life of your loved ones.
Family history isn’t the only factor when it comes to women’s cancer. Listen to your body and take control of your health with 28 lessons straight from an oncology doctor. Committing to your health daily could be the simple step to cancer prevention. Buy It’s Time You Knew and uncover how to decrease your risk of women’s cancer through daily choices and ultimately protect your greatest asset: your health!

Genres: Nonfiction, Health

202 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 18, 2021

About the author

Valena Wright, MD is a a women’s wellness expert and board certified gynecologic oncologist at Beth Israel Lahey Health and Hospital in Boston, MA with over 25 years of experience. She is a member of The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The Society of Gynecologic Oncology, and The American College of Surgeons, and was previously President of the New England Association of Gynecologic Oncology.

Valena completed her medical training at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia as well as postgraduate training at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, an affiliated Harvard teaching hospital. She has been recognized numerous times by Castle Connolly Regional Top Doctors List, Boston Magazine, North Shore Magazine, and as an Exceptional Women in Medicine. She teaches as an Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor of OB/GYN at Boston University School of Medicine.

When her sister, Debbie, passed away from Stage IC ovarian cancer, it strengthened Valena’s medical philosophies to encourage proactive cancer prevention in women to hopefully avoid a cancer diagnosis altogether.

A dual US and Canadian citizen, Valena is an empty nester and mother of three who lives in Charlestown, MA. Learn more at ValenaWrightMD.com.

Reviews

[Alicia Bayer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was so excited to see this title, as I've long been frustrated by the lack of information for the public about things that make a real difference in cancer prevention like diet and lifestyle choices. For instance, did you know that every month of breastfeeding lowers your statistical chance of breast and ovarian cancer? Every live birth also dramatically lowers your risk (not that anybody should have children just to lower their cancer risks, of course). Well, you still won't know it after reading this book. It does give some good information, but most of it is centered around the same points again and again -- don't ignore pain or abnormal bleeding, have well-woman checks, advocate for yourself and get HPV vaccinations. Wright uses short chapters with stories about women she treated to drive home her points. There are about three dozen chapters but most of them repeat the same basic points. She does let the reader know fairly often that excess weight is a risk factor (not just for getting cancer but because it can make it harder to detect) and there's a small amount of mention about diet and exercise, but mostly her expertise is in diagnosis, surgery, radiation and chemotherapy and that's where we get the most focus. I was shocked to read that hysterectomy has such a terrible effect on life expectancy (especially with heart disease) but most of the information is also more centered towards women of reproductive age.

I read a digital ARC of this book for review.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dr. Wright's It's Time You Knew provides an excellent reminder of just how in change of our health we can be. Using poignant stories of women who both survived and succumbed to their cancer diagnoses, she gives us timely clues to look for when examining any abnormal symptoms we may be feeling. I think a lot of the focus has been placed on breast cancer and its awareness, but this book is an excellent reminder of how complex women's bodies are and the many other instances of cancer that can attack our systems. Using a clear and communicative style, Dr. Wright relays this important information, which includes a helpful glossary of medical terms at the conclusion. These stories are not easy to hear and many will break your heart (she begins the book by honoring her sister's death from cancer), but will ultimately give you hope that a diagnosis is not necessarily a death sentence and there is plenty we can actively do for prevention.

Thank you to NetGalley and Irish Moss Press for providing a copy of this book in exchange for a review.

[Wulfwyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every Woman Should Read This Book

Abnormal test results are scary. Abnormal vaginal bleeding is scary. With both the first fear is cancer. This book gives several stories of women whose fear became reality. There is a lot more hope in this book than I expected. By using case studies, the author, (and doctor), was able to break things down to be easily understood. The importance of early diagnosis is stressed as is the importance of women being able to talk to and trust their doctor. Many cancers can have a better outcome with early detection and patient/doctor trust. If you don't trust your doctor, you need to find one you do trust.
I won a copy of this book in a Goodreads giveaway. I can't stress enough how happy I am to have it. There is a lot of information in this short book. It only took me a couple hours to read it. Referring back to it though will be ongoing. I wish I had this information when I was younger. I encourage all women to read it. I plan to share it with my daughters.

[Florencia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since it's something we aren't really taught, I'm always looking to learn more about women's health. I think that this book has a lot of valuable information for women.

Each chapter is a case study about a woman's health and what was wrong, the symptoms, how she reacted, and the outcome. Then it draws some lessons from it and advises what we as women should know or how to respond to our body's signals.

The topics are broad and I learned a lot from it.
It really makes the point that with information about what our body's health should look like we can catch cancer early on.

Great read!

[Kylene · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an important book for women. The examples really help bring the idea home that we are allowed to be the caretaker of our bodies. When we know something is wrong, we KNOW and should feel good speaking to doctors.

[Teri Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very informative. There’s a lot of good information in this book that every woman should read.