Also by Terry Crawford Palardy:
- Teaching Vol. 2: Stories Reflecting the Classroom
- Georgetown at the Turn of the Millennium
- Teaching Education and Academics at the Turn of the Century
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Published: April 16, 2012
Words: 40,153 (approximate)
Language: English
ISBN: 9781476494913
Short description
The true story of a middle-aged woman being unexpectedly diagnosed with a young person's disease: multiple sclerosis. The journey to diagnosis and the reality of the treatment brought a premature end to her career as a public school teacher. Making decisions about disease modifying drugs and their side effect/benefit ratio; receiving the support of a loving spouse; questioning the diagnosis.Extended description
The true story of a middle-aged woman being unexpectedly diagnosed with a young person's disease: multiple sclerosis. The journey to diagnosis and the reality of the treatment brought a premature end to her career as a public school teacher. Life in "the sandwich generation" of adults caring for both their elder parents and their children, while balancing full time employment, is discussed with gentle empathy. The difficult economics and the changes in family responsibilities are also a part of this story. The consistent, caring support of family and friends and a mutual respect between patient and doctors is essential in living with a chronic condition such as Multiple Sclerosis.Tags
love, depression, teaching, self esteem, decision making, self confidence, neurology, classroom, nutrition, brain, anxiety, chronic pain, vegetarian, pharmaceuticals, health insurance, prescription, emergency room, diagnosis, spinal cord, side effects, family support, central nervous system, caretaking, hospitalization, multiple scleros, self injections, disease modifying drugs, magnetic resonance imaging, cerebral angiogram, immune disorder, lesions, telemonitoring, nursing by phone, anti depressants, anti anxiety medication, syncopy, blood tests, healthy food choices, self advocacy, medical choices, patient involvement, work related side effects, medical leave of absence, student responsibility, teaching responsibilities, economic difficulty, hmoAvailable ebook reading formats
Single purchase gains access to all formats. How to download ebooks to e-reading devices and apps.| Format | Full Book | Sample First 20% |
|---|---|---|
| Online Reading (HTML, good for sampling in web browser) | Buy | View sample |
| Kindle (.mobi for Kindle devices and Kindle apps) | Buy | Download sample |
| Epub (Apple iPad/iBooks, Nook, Sony Reader, Kobo, and most e-reading apps including Stanza, Aldiko, Adobe Digital Editions, others) | Buy | Download sample |
| PDF (good for reading on PC, or for home printing) | Buy | No sample available |
| RTF (readable on most word processors) | Buy | No sample available |
| LRF (Use only for older model Sony Readers that don't support .epub) | Buy | Download sample |
| Palm Doc (PDB) (for Palm reading devices) | Buy | Download sample |
| Plain Text (download) (flexible, but lacks much formatting) | Buy | No sample available |
| Plain Text (view) (viewable as web page) | Buy | No sample available |
Reviews
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Review by:
Susanna a/k/a Cat Mahoney
on May 08, 2012 :
This story is a honest look inside the world of a multiple sclerosis patient and woman trying to adjust to the MonSter.It is a good beginner's guide about plotting through the world of auto immune diseases.
She is honest and refreshing sharing her thoughts with the readers and tells the pros and cons of this vague disease. She has a strong support system and knows how to advocate to the physicians for the treatment all ill individuals deserved.
I like the upbeat positive attitude she is developing along her journey to transform her life from a Type A personality to a mellow lady with I do not care attitude and lives for each day.
She was brave enough to put in the Almighty's hands and release herself from Western medication and looking for an better approach to deal with the symptoms of loss muscle and cognitive capabilities.
She explains how it affects her and her husband and the adjustments they made to learn how to dance and not be furious with a personal storm some of us experience everyday.
Kudos for sharing your experiences and trials with others who might of just received the news "You have MS". This is a good book to start to comes to terms with the diagnosis of any autoimmune condition.
(reviewed within a month of purchase)
Review by:
Dana Gagnon
on April 27, 2012 :
In "MS: An Enigma," author Terry Palardy takes a reader along with her through the process of her MS diagnosis. This book, however, is not just for MS patients and their families, and it’s not just a list of medical tests. Readers will relate to many of the author’s experiences: childhood memories, combining work days with family and illness responsibilities, and caring for aging parents. Terry’s writing style is easy to follow, and the book is well-edited. I read the ebook edition, and was happy to find the pages well-formatted.
From the first chapter of the book, Terry is completely transparent with her readers, inviting them to share the emotion and frustration of the moment. She also shares the support she receives from her husband, Rick. The author does not separate descriptions of the illness and treatment from her daily life, and instead tells a story.
In this book, it’s clear that a diagnosis is not an event with a date that can be marked on the calendar, but rather a series of moments that begin early in life. Terry begins with moments in her childhood, and her writing is engaging as she creates in herself and her family complete characters for us to follow. Rather than simply list medical tests she was subjected to, she tells the story of how the test impacted her work day and how the constant interruptions affected her emotions. A careful description of her MRI experience will encourage anyone about to go through the same test.
Terry ends her story with a treatment experiment, and I hope she revises the book at some point to include her results. As the author is about the same age as my own mom, I was also looking for her experiences telling grown-up kids about her diagnosis and their reactions—but perhaps that is a story for them to write.
True to her academic roots, Terry ends the book with a section of reliable resources readers can turn to for information about multiple sclerosis, along with a list of online forums readers can go to for a community of encouragement.
(reviewed within a month of purchase)