Book Nook: Beating breast cancer in the bedroom

INTIMACY AFTER BREAST CANCER: Dealing with Your Body, Relationships and Sex, by Gina M. Maisano (Square One Publishers, $16.95).

Maisano, a two-time breast cancer survivor from Bayville and founder of the No Surrender Breast Cancer Foundation, writes directly to women who've been through what she has: After diagnosis, she says, "In the blink of an eye, you went from being a woman to being a cancer patient. Now that your treatments have ended . . . you must become a woman again and leave the cancer patient behind."

Maisano writes about dealing with fears about relapse, hair loss, early menopause and more.

THE SCOOP About half the book is devoted to sexuality - advice on how a survivor, battered by treatments as well as the disease, can get her libido back. There's even a chapter on "Sex and the Single Survivor."

THE BOTTOM LINEWhen making love, she writes, "Leave Cancer Girl outside the door. She is not who you are anymore."