Surviving Illness

Do you live with a chronic, debilitating, yet invisible condition? You may feel isolated, out of step, judged, lonely, or misunderstood - and that's on top of dealing with your actual illness. Take heart. You are not alone, although sometimes it can feel that way. Written by a blogger who suffers from an invisible chronic illness, Surviving and Thriving with an Invisible Chronic Illness offers peer-to-peer support to help you stay sane, be your own advocate, and get back to living your life. This compelling guide is written for anyone suffering with an illness no one can see.

In October 2016, Udo Kischka suffered a severe stroke. A large intra-cerebral bleed, a bleed deep in the right side of his brain. He was not a typical stroke patient: Professor Kischka was a Neurologist and specialist in stroke rehabilitation. Like all stroke patients, he embarked on a journey of recovery. In his case, it was a re-education in his field of expertise. When he uttered the words, 'This is a life-changing event' to his wife a few hours after the stroke, he had no idea just how life-changing it would be or that there would be still be a good life to be had. 

At seventeen, Liz’s world collapses into a place of depression, psychosis and a revolving hospital door. It takes a strong family to help her survive to university life, where she excels despite increasing deafness. But before she can start her career, bipolar disorder - later diagnosed as schizoaffective disorder - returns to threaten all that she has worked towards.

Early in her career, Kelly Turner, PhD, a researcher, lecturer, and counselor in Integrative Oncology, was shocked to discover that no one was studying episodes of radical remission, when people recover against all odds without the help of conventional medicine, or after conventional medicine has failed. She was so fascinated by this kind of remission that she spent eight years travelling through 10 countries to learn what factors that people experiencing this phenomenon encountered.

Richard Carlson Jr. was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia when he was 21 years of age. His illness first manifested when he was an early adolescent. Modern psychiatry greatly failed Richard for over a decade. Then, after an incident involving the police, he truly understood that his diagnosis was real, and finally began the long process of recovery. Over 10 years later, his life is greatly improved. In the course of his treatment, Richard also recovered from depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and lethargy.

Since its first publication in 1983, Surviving Schizophrenia has become the standard reference book on the disease that has helped thousands of patients, their families, and mental health professionals alike. In clear language, this much-praised and important book describes the nature, causes, symptoms, treatment, and course of schizophrenia, and explores living with it from both the patient’s and the family’s point of view.

One morning in June, Abi had her to-do list—drop the kids to school, get coffee and go to work. Jacob had a bad headache so she added 'pick up steroids'. She returned home and found the man she loved and fought and laughed with for 20 years lying on the bathroom floor. And nothing would ever be the same again. But this is not a pity memoir. It's about meeting your person. And crazed late-night Google trawls. It's about the things you wished you'd said to the person who matters then wildly over-sharing with the barista who doesn't know you at all.

Each year, more than 230,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer, and 30 to 40 percent of patients who are diagnosed will eventually relapse. But the good news is that more men are being cured of this disease than ever before. Now in a revised third edition, this lifesaving guide by Dr. Patrick Walsh and award-winning science writer Janet Farrar Worthington offers a message of hope to every man facing this illness. Listeners will discover their risk factors, simple changes that can reduce the risk of developing the disease, treatment options, and more.

Weeks after giving birth, Holly Frances went from being a healthy 26-year-old new mom to paralyzed and on life support—in less than 72 hours. Diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disorder called Guillain-Barre Syndrome, Holly was trapped in her body, unable to move, speak, or hold her newborn daughter. Life Support tells the story of how Holly struggled to overcome the despair, hopelessness and physical pain, to regain her health and get back to being a mother to her daughter.

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, the shocking mortality figures obscured the fact that death is not the only adverse outcome associated with the virus. Today, as many as 30 to 50 percent of COVID-19 survivors still experience symptoms long after their acute illness has passed, with problems especially prominent in the areas of cognitive and mental health. In Clearing the Fog, neuropsychologist Dr. James C. Jackson offers people suffering from Long COVIDand their families a roadmap to help them manage their 'new normal'.

Wise and embodied, fearless and necessary, Being (Sick) Enough is both a wild awakening and a love letter to your whole self: the pains and suffering, joys and brightness, and vital connections that hold each of us as we navigate what it means to be here, like this, right now.

Edie Falco, Sheryl Crow, Athena Jones, Heidi Heitkamp, and an inspiring array of other breast cancer survivors and "previvors" lend their voices to this collection of powerful stories.

The book offers a look at prepping ideas that can be used if the Ebola outbreak hits our shores. In addition to stockpiling essential supplies the book highlights when it might be prudent to bug out and gives details about the best items to pack in a bug out bag. The bug out bag is probably the first thing that anyone wanting to be prepared should produce. In addition to a response to the Ebola outbreak, these prepper ideas can be applied to any "Doomsday situation".

What if you could use cancer to evolve more fully into love? David Maginley has been there - four times. His cancer led to a near-death experience and a career helping thousands face this disease. Through profound storytelling, David brings you to the core of the cancer journey to discover the hero within.

Approximately 12 percent of men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer. The good news is with improving information and technology more men are being cured than ever before. Learn the risk factors, treatment options, and more in this simple and easy to understand program.

Surviving Myotonic Dystrophy is about Ann S. Woodbury’s struggle to care for her family who have a rare disease - myotonic dystrophy (DM). Ann’s four children and her husband have DM. In 1998, at the time of the diagnosis, even the doctors didn’t know all of the effects of DM or that it was a brain disorder. Listening to this book will take you on a journey of understanding this disease and its effects on Ann’s family members. 

Despite all her best efforts to break the cycle of catastrophic, destructive patterns of mental illness, Anna Berry found herself at the end of her rope - unemployed, penniless, homeless, and in the throes of a psychotic episode that threatened to destroy her life. Alone and unwell, she manages to find her grip on life, seeks the help she needs, and embarks on a life and career that illustrate that mental illness does not have to be ruinous.

In My Two Elaines, author Marty Schreiber, former governor of Wisconsin, watches his beloved wife, Elaine, gradually transform from the woman he fell in love with in high school, and who diligently supported his political career, to the Elaine who knows she is declining and can’t remember how to cook a meal, and finally to the Elaine who no longer recognizes Marty or their children. Beyond sincere, practical advice, My Two Elaines gives the listener permission to feel the full spectrum of emotions, including humor, even in the face of this relentless illness.

Cancer is a disease in which cells in the body grow abnormally and out of control. Normally, cells in the body divide and grow in an orderly way, and old or damaged cells die and are replaced by new cells. However, in cancer, cells divide and grow in an uncontrolled manner, forming a mass of tissue called a tumor. There are several ways you can do to protect yourself and lessen the chances of getting cancer and this audiobook will teach you how.

The son of a Salvadoran mother and Scotch Irish mechanic father, Marcos spent much of his life trying to break away from his Southern Appalachian past and the trauma experienced there and striving to get closer to his Salvadoran heritage. His journey includes steeping himself in the Spanish language and Latin American literature, especially the work of Gabriel Garcia Marquez; a stint in Nicaragua with Witness for Peace, followed by missionary work in Guatemala; and social-justice work with Mexican migrant farmworkers in Alabama.