The Cancer Ward is a novel by Alexandr Solzhenitsyn that was first published in 1968. It tells the story of Kostoglotov, a Russian exile who enters a hospital to be treated for a growth on his neck, which turns out to be cancer. He is assigned to the cancer ward, a run down hospital wing where patients live together and sleep side-by-side.

It is interesting to note that all of the issues these characters face are the same ones faced by cancer patients today. Kostoglotov is given radiation and he knows the treatment is not working, it is actually killing him, but he is afraid to resist because the doctors tell him he will be banished from the hospital and further care. He and the other patients discuss alternative cures that they have heard about, but these cures are hard to obtain, impossibly expensive, and have questionable results. They also complain about the food, fall in love with the doctors and nurses, discuss atheism versus religion, and the idea of having a positive versus realistic outlook on their conditions.

Flawless writing, succinct and moving, The Cancer Ward is a novel that all people with cancer and their caregivers will love.

Read an excerpt.

Terms of Endearment is the only film about cancer that I've ever heard of, so even though it was made in the 80's and stars Shirley MacLaine, I decided to rent it. It was only available on videotape.

The two main characters are a mother and her daughter, and the first half of the film focuses on their love lives. Shirley MacLaine plays a bitter and lonely older woman who is bickering with her neighbor, Jack Nicholson (They eventually ball.), while Deborah Winger plays her daughter, who is struggling as a young mother trying to raise a bunch of kids, and who becomes disillusioned in her marriage and has an affair.

There was no mention of cancer for two-thirds of the movie and I was beginning to wonder if I had misunderstood the story, until, an hour and a half into it, the daughter finds a lump under her arm. She dismisses it at first, but after urging from her family, decides to go to the doctor. When she does, she is diagnosed with breast cancer.

While most cancer patients come to see their doctors once a month, and spend the rest of the time at home, going to work, and living "normal" lives, she almost immediately winds up in the hospital, lying Victorian-like on a hospital bed, never to rise again.

She does not lose her hair (from chemo), need oxygen, vomit all of her food, cry in pain when the opiates don't do anything, or get pissed off at the world and Shirley. She lies in bed, pleasantly chats, and raises one arm to lovingly mess up her kid's hair. It seems the only thing that she can't do is lift her head or talk in a strong voice.

There are only about 15 minutes from her diagnosis to her death, which, of course, is also a farce. Shirley and Deborah's husband are sitting in the hospital room (way too homey, beautifully decorated, and private), when the nurse comes in, feels her pulse and says, "She's passed." Then they have a funeral and get over it.

This movie has nothing to do with the real experiences of people with cancer and their caregivers. Don't bother.