Hope for the Best, Plan for the Rest: 7 Keys for Navigating a Life-Changing Diagnosis

by Dr. Sammy Winemaker, Dr. Hsien Seow

The essential guide for every patient and family

The doctor’s office called. It’s not good news. What comes next? When you are diagnosed with a life-changing illness, it can be overwhelming. While your diagnosis cannot be changed, the way you experience your illness can.

In Hope for the Best, Plan for the Rest , Dr. Seow and Dr. Winemaker have combined their decades of palliative care research and experience in caring for seriously ill patients. They have harnessed the advice of thousands of patients to create a roadmap that every patient and family will benefit from. In it, they share the 7 keys to unlock a better illness experience and reveal stories, tips and exercises to improve your journey right from diagnosis. These two compassionate experts empower you with practical tools to take charge of your life-changing diagnosis and navigate the health care system with confidence, knowledge, and calm.

This book is about hope in the face of uncertainty. It’s about how to live well, be fully informed, and be activated. How to feel more like a person, not a patient. But most of all, how to be hopeful and prepared at every step along the way.

Genres: Nonfiction

272 pages, Paperback

Published September 19, 2023

Reviews

[Lindsey Sieders · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book that should be on your bookshelf. I wish I had read something like this in the year before my mother-in-law passed away. “You can find hope in the uncertainty. you can live well, be fully informed, and be activated - and feel more like a person and less like a patient. But most of all, you can be hopeful and prepared at every step along the way.” (taken from the back cover).

This book helped me feel seen as a care provider/helper for people I love deeply.

[Connie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I should give this book five stars because it gave me exactly the right information I needed to support and advise a friend giving end of life care to her husband.
This is not a book you judge on its writing style, which is pedestrian, but it is co- written in clear layperson language by a Canadian palliative care doctor and a cancer researcher. Dr Sammy Winemaker and Dr.Seow are experts and it shines through their Seven Keys to keep in mind if you or someone close to you is dealing with a life limiting or terminal diagnosis.

Dr Winemaker advises anyone in this situation to “walk two roads”. By that she means: exercise cautious optimism about your condition. Be hopeful, but don’t be deluded, or as she puts it, don’t fall into “toxic positivity”. Keep in mind the question “what if?” What if I am facing the end of my days? What if my condition can’t be remediated? Tough questions for sure. She makes a strong case for being realistic, and for understanding the limits of medicine. She explains doctors’ limitations, their difficulty in giving bad news, their reluctance to initiate tough conversations with patients and families.

As a hospice volunteer with no medical background I have read quite a few books about death and dying. This is the single most helpful one I’ve read. I recommend it to anyone navigating the stormy waves of a serious diagnosis. And to their friends, caregivers and family.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful book. This provides a roadmap for individuals with life changing or life shortening diagnoses with healthy means of approaching healthcare. It’s just as beneficial for the families of these people. Being proactive and supported in your health care journey is essential to creating a meaningful, comfortable illness, decline, and eventual death.

[Michelle Goetz · Rating 5 out of 5]

A guide for patients and family with serious illness to advocate for themselves with important questions, ideas to consider, and ponding to engage.
Different illness trajectories of sudden/acute, prolonged, and intermittent/episodic. Helpful strategies to consider along each journey.

[Tammy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for anyone going through a serious illness or is a caregiver/inner circle of one. Shows how to go from being "in the dark" to "in the know" as a patient in the system. How to have open conversations with your loved ones and bridge the gap with your health care professionals. How choosing quality versus quantity is a fluid movement throughout one's disease.

[Penny Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just ordered my 3rd copy of this because I keep giving mine away! As a hospice nurse I think everyone who is going to die someday (which is all of us) and especially anyone currently facing serious illness can benefit from this comprehensive guide to navigating and understanding healthcare.
FIVE stars!! Great book!

[Deirdre Casey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book. Very thorough and insightful advice on how to navigate your way once diagnosed with a serious or terminal illness.
Well organised with cheatsheets at the end of each chapter and a comprehensive notes section at the end of the book.

[Sherry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a needed resource and information. As a caregiver for my husband with pancreatic cancer going through this process, it's so important to have good information...yes hope but pragmatic hope. The on-going resources are a godsend. Thank you.

[Marissa Slaven · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a palliative care physician I highly recommend this book to patients, family and friends and to healthcare practitioners. It is very well written, warm and engaging but full of very useful, practical and honest information.

[Diana Weintraub · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very helpful book, my sister is the one with a life limiting disease and first read this book, I soon after began to read it. Excellent insights, information, steps to take in preparing for this diseases, what to do, and still seeing the hope.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is full of useful tips for patients and their caregivers to negotiate major health issues. As many of us are caregivers in this world, it's helpful to know more about the role and the path of dying. Written right here in Canada, it connects with our version of healthy care.

[Dorothy Mahoney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Informative and empowering!

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly revolutionary! Everyone needs a copy of this book. Check out their website "The Waiting Room Revolution" and podcasts on YouTube. Coming soon: a companion workbook.