Pain Was My Middle Name - Couverture souple

Chun, Anita

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 0595349145 ISBN 13 : 9780595349142

Synopsis

A memoir of suffering and salvation elevated by its heroine/narrator. In 1950, Chun's graduate-school career was cut short when she was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, an incurable autoimmune disorder that causes the body to attack itself. The author spent the next 50 years trying to be a model wife and mother while plagued by bouts of disabling pain and fatigue. For this book, Chun draws on the 53 volumes of journals she kept for 50-plus years, which provide a minute-by-minute record of the progress of her life and illness. Her account is less self-help and more memoir, but readers are privy to Chun's experiments with Chinese medicine, acupuncture, vitamin and herbal supplements, and the rigorous food and exercise plans that she developed over the years to supplement Western medicine's inadequate solutions for her ailment. The author is deeply Christian, ascribing to the positive philosophies of Rev. Robert Schuller of the Crystal Cathedral Ministeries. Her urge to other rheumatoid arthritis sufferers to "think possibility" echoes Schuller's "Possibility Thinking" and message of positive faith. At times, Chun relates too closely to Job, and there is a fair bit of evangelizing, but those who share her beliefs won't find this a deterrent. Throughout the book, the author is a lively and agreeable companion. The litany of flare-ups, hospitalizations, failed drug treatments, surgeries and more could be overwhelming, but frequent relief comes in the form of her grandmotherly digressions about her daughter's wedding, her beautiful grandchildren, vacations to Hawaii and Europe, and visits to China. In the last third of the book, Chun shares suggestions for day-to-day relief from rheumatoid arthritis, including specific dietary tips and exercises illustrated with cute line drawings. An autobiography of an illness that unfolds, like a photo album, into the story of a happy family.-Kirkus Discoveries

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

My main purpose in writing this book has been to share my experiences and triumphs with my fellow victims of rheumatoid arthritis. We don't have to be ashamed or embarrassed just because we have rheumatoid arthritis. The disease is not a crime or sin. It does, however, sentence us to life imprisonment. But there are ways to parole ourselves from this prison. Together we can combat this terrible disease with phenomenal results. I am living proof. Am I so different? Don't we all in the end have to learn patience and more patience, discipline and tenacity? My advice couldn't be simpler: "Think positive, think possibility and never give up." My RA is about as severe as it gets, but even with all my pain in the early years, I've managed to live a happy, full life. I'd even say "a normal life"-but who's normal? No one! My hope is that my experience will give you shortcuts for finding the normal life unique to you.-Anita Li Chun, author of Pain Was My Middle Name

Biographie de l'auteur

Anita Li Chun was born in Shanghai in 1924. She received her master?s degree in secondary school administration from Columbia in 1948, but at age twenty-five, rheumatoid arthritis prevented her from completing her doctorate.

Détails de l'édition

• Date d'édition: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0595349145
• ISBN 13: 9780595349142
• Reliure: Broché
• Langue: anglais
• Nombre de pages: 144
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible