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Life Disrupted: Getting Real About Chronic Illness in Your Twenties and Thirties | 
 enlarge | Author: Laurie Edwards
Publisher: Walker & Company
Category: Book
List Price: $14.99
Buy New: $8.29
You Save: $6.70 (45%)
New (34) Used (14) from $7.45
Avg. Customer Rating:  9 reviews
Sales Rank: 224829
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.7 x 5 x 0.8
ISBN: 0802716490
Dewey Decimal Number: 618.920478
EAN: 9780802716491
ASIN: 0802716490
Publication Date: June 24, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
An inspiring guide to staying in control of your health care, your life, and your dreams despite having chronic illness, by a popular journalist and award-winning blogger.
Twenty-seven-year-old Laurie Edwards is one of 125 million Americans who have a chronic illness, in her case a rare genetic respiratory disease. Because of medical advances in the treatment of serious childhood diseases, 600,000 chronically ill teens enter adulthood every year who decades ago would not have survived—they and people diagnosed in adulthood face the same challenges of college, career, and starting a family as others in their twenties and thirties, but with the added circumstance of having chronic illness.
Life Disrupted is a personal and unflinching guide to living well with a chronic illness: managing your own health care without letting it take over your life, dealing with difficult doctors and frequent hospitalizations, having a productive and satisfying career that accommodates your health needs, and nurturing friendships and a loving, committed relationship regardless of recurring health problems. Laurie Edwards also addresses the particular needs of people who have more than one chronic illness or who are among the twenty-five million Americans with a rare disorder. She shares her own story and the experiences of others with chronic illness, as well as advice from life coaches, employment specialists, and health professionals.
Reading Life Disrupted is like having a best friend and mentor who truly does know what you’re going through.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...
Must read for anyone touched by chronic illness August 22, 2008
Life Disrupted is a witty and insightful book that can be helpful to those suffering from chronic illness as well as to those who know someone with a chronic condition. Using vingettes from her life as well as the lives of others with chronic conditions, Edwards artfully describes what it is like to be the "sick girl." As a friend of someone with many recurring illnesses, I found Life Disrupted a great tool to help me be a better friend. Thank you, Laurie, for writing such a useful (and funny!) book.
A Good Book for a Healthy Person Coming to Terms with a Friend or Family Member's Illness August 22, 2008
Laurie Edwards' words are by turns wise, humorous, and poignant. I often found myself moved by her plight with chronic illness, yet she never turns to self-pity. I came away from this book with a better understanding of the daily challenges and frustrations the people in my life suffering from illness must face, particularly the psychological toll chronic illness takes on a young adult. I would give this book to any young person growing up under the shadow of chronic illness, as well as to the friends who love them.
A must read August 21, 2008
I developed an autoimmune disease in my late 20's - just married, in the midst of building my career and hoping to start a family. What I would have given to have had a book like this by my side. Laurie has captured the pain and difficulties we face when we're young and our body goes haywire while everyone else is living the life. She's also got the humor and insight so it's not a pity party. Instead you say: Yes! I know that feeling and it's good to know I'm not alone. This is invaluable for people with chronic illness -- their friends, family and caregivers. Rosalind Joffe
A Book That Gets It August 1, 2008
Engaging & in-depth, Life Disrupted addresses many of the vital issues facing young adults with chronic illnesses. The subtitle: "Getting Real about Chronic Illness in your Twenties & Thirties" is right on target - Laurie doesn't gloss over anything, manages to make the chapters not just informative but, entertaining and relatable, and tackles all the tough subjects - employment and family relationships; myths about people with disabilities and how to be a good advocate for yourself; doctor's offices and dating; money, marriage & babies.
It's not just an 'issues' book, though: It's a deeply personal book that shows just how complex it is to be a young person with chronic health problems in our society. Using her own story, and the intriguing stories of others, Laurie illuminates so many of the emotions - pride, fear, love, a sense of otherness, and many, many more - and experiences of being young, sick, and not sure what comes next. She offers advice, but more importantly, she offers understanding.
Having someone who knows, who's been there too, is an invaluable resource for those with chronic illness: best of all? It's not just about being sick, it's about living well.
I highly recommend Life Disrupted - it fills a gap that's existed for too long: People with disabilities and illnesses are facing the challenges & joys of adulthood in unique and complicated ways, and it's fabulous that there's a book that talks about all of these things with humor and honesty.
A wonderful book for people with chronic illness of ANY age July 23, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
I've been reading author Laurie Edwards' blog, A Chronic Dose, for quite awhile, so I knew that I'd enjoy her writing style. But with the title suggesting it's for people in their 20s and 30s, I wondered if at 41 I'd find much to identify with.
No question -- I did.
Despite the vast differences in our health situations, I really felt like I recognized myself in Laurie's writing, whether about herself or the people she interviewed.
I'm an insatiable reader, and since I got sick in 2007 with a "mystery illness" that continues to defy diagnosis but has left me mostly housebound and unable to care for my 3.5-year-old daughter, I've read many books on chronic illness. But fewer than a handful stand out as books I'd recommend, and Life Disrupted is at the top of the list.
The reviewer of the Boston Globe called Laurie in a review "the Carrie Bradshaw of chronic illness" and I'm still wondering how the heck s/he came away from Life Disrupted with that comparison. But I do think Laurie is an inspiration to all of us who either have a chronic illness or love someone who has one. She is so honest about the compromises chronic illness forces, but she still manages to do more than so many so-called healthy people can manage.
I don't know if I'll ever be able to manage my life and my illnesses as well as she does, but she gives me something to aim for as well as the hope that someday there will be more to my life than there currently is.
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