What do you think?
Rate this book
The Chronic Illness Experience: Embracing the Imperfect Life
"An excellent book that demonstrates that it's our thoughts, not our body, that determine how much peace of mind we experience in life." ---Gerald G. Jampolsky, M.D. Though seldom visible, chronic illness remains a constant presence in the consciousness of those who live with it. This inspiring book probes the psychological and emotional realities of living with chronic illness. Based on the author's experience with Caroli's disease and interviews with people who live with diseases such as multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, diabetes, and asthma, this book reveals how people faced with chronic illness can achieve meaningful lives. Tracing the impact of such illness on emotional health, self-image, relationships, work habits, and aspirations, this book also offers a penetrating look at the etiquette of chronic illness, stigmatization, the good patient, and parenthood with limitations. According to Cheri Register, the chronic illness experience tells us a great deal about the basic human need to give life meaning--and as her book eloquently demonstrates, happiness and fulfillment are not the exclusive preserves of the healthy. Cheri Register received her B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Chicago. A writer and speaker, she lives in Minneapolis with her two daughters.
- GenresHealthNonfiction
368 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1999
4 people are currently reading
137 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 6, 2014
A thorough commentary on what it's like to live with a chronic illness, from the perspective of a person of faith. Deeply insightful, I often felt as though I could have written this book. Unfortunately, it seems to be a book mostly read by patients- and we already know most of this stuff! If only I could get my friends and family members to read it....
May 4, 2008
This is the first book I discovered on GoodReads. I wouldn't have read (or even known about it) it if I didn't notice it here. I was looking for a recommended book on adoption via an author search when I discovered Cheri Register had also written on chronic illness. The adoption book is still sitting on my shelf to read, but I finished this one!
Register identified all aspects of her life affected by illness, wrote her story and then interviewed others for their perspective as well. Her interviewed subjects are all given names to protect their privacy, but they suffer from numerous ailments: (her own) Caroli liver disease, diabetes, asthma, cardiac disease, lupus, immune dysfunction syndromes, fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, manic depression. She states that she has chosen to focus on "invisible illness"... "Though we can avoid some of the stereotyping and discrimination that those with obvious disabilities encounter, illness is still a constant presence in our lives, with a profound impact..." (from introduction). The chronic conditions I struggle with and my experiences with them were well covered.
Throughout most of the book, Register's approach is effective, but there were sections I found tedious, and the chapters vary somewhat between 20 - 30 pages. Topics are: Diagnosis (process and reaction), Adjustment, Etiquette (every day challenges associated with interacting with healthy people), Friendship, Work, Growing up Sickly, Marriage, Parenthood, Being a Patient, Death & Dying. I found these chapters to be helpful, and often identified with one or several of the views expressed. It was comforting to hear thoughts/ struggles/ ideas I've developed or encountered expressed by others, which somehow makes my responses and reactions feel more "normal" or "acceptable". It was also helpful to see how illness does impact all these areas of life and see how I'm doing, take time to really THINK about how I feel and process the reality of my illness in an orderly way. I've never had the assistance to be able to do that before, and that experience makes this book extremely valuable.
There are also three other chapters, that I thought got a bit long, entitled "Patience as a way of life" and "From Patience to Passion", and one on Religion & Faith. When Register digresses into her own attempts to philosophize or find meaning in her illness, I found the book far less satisfying (the Religion section also bordered on this). While a Christian, her theological approach and worldview vary significantly from mine, and I simply cannot hold onto the same mental constructs she finds empowering, nor recommend them to others.
Given these negatives, I probably would have assigned this book 3 stars - if the subject matter weren't so unique. I've never encountered another book like this, and that created additional enjoyment and captivation for me. And so, inspite of the negatives, I would recommend this as a unique book that was helpful to me. I found myself interested in seeing if there are other books around that cover the topic, and even tempted to contemplate contributing some work of my own to the discussion.
Register identified all aspects of her life affected by illness, wrote her story and then interviewed others for their perspective as well. Her interviewed subjects are all given names to protect their privacy, but they suffer from numerous ailments: (her own) Caroli liver disease, diabetes, asthma, cardiac disease, lupus, immune dysfunction syndromes, fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, manic depression. She states that she has chosen to focus on "invisible illness"... "Though we can avoid some of the stereotyping and discrimination that those with obvious disabilities encounter, illness is still a constant presence in our lives, with a profound impact..." (from introduction). The chronic conditions I struggle with and my experiences with them were well covered.
Throughout most of the book, Register's approach is effective, but there were sections I found tedious, and the chapters vary somewhat between 20 - 30 pages. Topics are: Diagnosis (process and reaction), Adjustment, Etiquette (every day challenges associated with interacting with healthy people), Friendship, Work, Growing up Sickly, Marriage, Parenthood, Being a Patient, Death & Dying. I found these chapters to be helpful, and often identified with one or several of the views expressed. It was comforting to hear thoughts/ struggles/ ideas I've developed or encountered expressed by others, which somehow makes my responses and reactions feel more "normal" or "acceptable". It was also helpful to see how illness does impact all these areas of life and see how I'm doing, take time to really THINK about how I feel and process the reality of my illness in an orderly way. I've never had the assistance to be able to do that before, and that experience makes this book extremely valuable.
There are also three other chapters, that I thought got a bit long, entitled "Patience as a way of life" and "From Patience to Passion", and one on Religion & Faith. When Register digresses into her own attempts to philosophize or find meaning in her illness, I found the book far less satisfying (the Religion section also bordered on this). While a Christian, her theological approach and worldview vary significantly from mine, and I simply cannot hold onto the same mental constructs she finds empowering, nor recommend them to others.
Given these negatives, I probably would have assigned this book 3 stars - if the subject matter weren't so unique. I've never encountered another book like this, and that created additional enjoyment and captivation for me. And so, inspite of the negatives, I would recommend this as a unique book that was helpful to me. I found myself interested in seeing if there are other books around that cover the topic, and even tempted to contemplate contributing some work of my own to the discussion.
March 10, 2012
This is a book written by someone that has lived with a horrific chronic illness and really knows what she is talking about whne it comes to offering advice to others in similar situations.
This book is great if you have a somewhat relapsing and remitting disease. But I must say I found very very little here for coping with very severely disabling disease with no breaks! The type that is only rarely fatal, but is very disabling for years on end.
No one disease type is any worse than another, but the way one lives with a disease that is scarily life-threatening now and then but sometimes leaves you pretty much well for years at a time (as was the case for the author) is very different to some extent to how ones copes with a disease that is very severe and disabling to the point of making a person bedbound, housebound and almost unable to speak or read or write at all and so on.
I don't even remotely envy the author this type of disease, not at all, her experiences were really horrifying to read about. One cannot compare differnet types of diseases, horrific is just horrific.
I don't mean all this even as a criticism of the book really, as I am sure this book is suitable for many poeple and it is very engaging. Perhaps I am too picky but I just want to add this comment about it not fitting some disease types as well as others for the benefit of readers such as myself who will not get as much out of this book as some others might and may be somewhat disappointed with it. Horses for courses!
This book seems pretty great overall though. It contains much more than the usual superfical and commonly given advice. The author clearly knows this topic well and is passionate about the topic, and writes well.
(A note to my fellow M.E. patients: This book described a very different illness experience to severe M.E. so much of what was said wasn't relevent. For example, the author faced life and death medical emergencies now and then, but then was almost perfectly well for years. This is so different to what M.E. is like. This is a high quality book just perhaps not suited to M.E. patients and severe M.E. patients.)
Jodi Bassett, The Hummingbirds' Foundation for M.E.
This book is great if you have a somewhat relapsing and remitting disease. But I must say I found very very little here for coping with very severely disabling disease with no breaks! The type that is only rarely fatal, but is very disabling for years on end.
No one disease type is any worse than another, but the way one lives with a disease that is scarily life-threatening now and then but sometimes leaves you pretty much well for years at a time (as was the case for the author) is very different to some extent to how ones copes with a disease that is very severe and disabling to the point of making a person bedbound, housebound and almost unable to speak or read or write at all and so on.
I don't even remotely envy the author this type of disease, not at all, her experiences were really horrifying to read about. One cannot compare differnet types of diseases, horrific is just horrific.
I don't mean all this even as a criticism of the book really, as I am sure this book is suitable for many poeple and it is very engaging. Perhaps I am too picky but I just want to add this comment about it not fitting some disease types as well as others for the benefit of readers such as myself who will not get as much out of this book as some others might and may be somewhat disappointed with it. Horses for courses!
This book seems pretty great overall though. It contains much more than the usual superfical and commonly given advice. The author clearly knows this topic well and is passionate about the topic, and writes well.
(A note to my fellow M.E. patients: This book described a very different illness experience to severe M.E. so much of what was said wasn't relevent. For example, the author faced life and death medical emergencies now and then, but then was almost perfectly well for years. This is so different to what M.E. is like. This is a high quality book just perhaps not suited to M.E. patients and severe M.E. patients.)
Jodi Bassett, The Hummingbirds' Foundation for M.E.
October 24, 2007
This is a marvelous book. It helped me so much. It's like someone looked into my heart and wrote just the book I needed.
August 10, 2009
This is the best book I have read on living with a chronic illness.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews