Three Cheers for "Life Disrupted"

Laurie at A Chronic Dose has written a terrific primer on living well with chronic illness. "Life Disrupted: Getting Real About Chronic Illness in Your 20s and 30s" is part memoir, part sage advice, part narrative about living with an assortment of conditions like diabetes, cystic fibrosis, and, in Laurie's case, a blend of lung ailments and celiac disease that has impacted her life since birth.

The book draws heavily on Laurie's experience as a patient whose childhood, adolescence, college years and early 20s were a blend of the typical (studying hard to become valedictorian, attending Catholic school and later Georgetown) and the atypical (any cold or respiratory problem invariably turned into a hospital stay, usually with an emergency room arrival.) As a professional patient, Laurie gives practical tips about how to become remain proactive and smart about one's own chronic condditions while dealing with health care professionals and others who range from well-meaning to incompetent, from disinterested to life-saving. It's incredible that Laurie has remained as upbeat and down-to-earth as she has.

Several others are profiled, somewhat briefly, as they handle other conditions such as cystic fibrosis, fibromyalgia, and type 1 diabetes, and their insights are rewarding as well. But it's Laurie's deft handling of her own ailments that stands out, giving perspective and guidance to the 125 million of us who live with chronic illness. With "Life Disrupted," Laurie teaches how not only to live with chronic illness, but to live well and thrive.