A new book for new diabetics
It’s been that long since I last posted? Wow. I had no idea.
Well, I’m not dead, but I was held captive for a time. I wrote messages asking for help, put them in wine bottles, and tossed them out the window. Hey, it worked for Robinson Crusoe, right?
Of course, I had to drink all the wine in the bottles first.
The problem is that I live in a desert. No water. All the wine bottles with messages just piled up in the cactus outside my window. As piles of wine bottles outside of houses are pretty common in my part of the world, no one really gave it any thought.
Yep, my publisher has had me chained to my computer, finishing up my new book.
New book? you ask, with visions of CGM dancing in your head. Sorry, I’ve let you all down once again. Once again, I went off and wrote a book no one was expecting. I promise that I am working on the book about Continuous Glucose Monitoring; I just got distracted by something else. Something I felt the world needed right now.
For background I need to let you know that while I’m still in the trenches at the clinic, I also got a second job. It is only a couple hours per week, but it comes with a great-sounding title:
Community Faculty for the diabetes specialty program of Project ECHO at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center
It doesn’t even fit on a business card. You’d never know it from the title, but what I’m doing is teaching community health workers diabetes education skills via telemedicine. I’m basically attempting to clone myself.
As we designed the curriculum for the program I reviewed a number of diabetes books, especially ones intended for the new members of our club. At the same time that this was going on, we had a ton of newly diagnosed Type-2s stagger into the clinic.
We T-1s have it easy. You really can’t miss the fact you’ve “caught” diabetes. You get really sick, really fast; and if you ignore it you go into a coma and they figure it out at the Emergency Room.
That’s not true of T-2s. They get really sick really slow. Their diabetes creeps up on them a little at a time, allowing them to rationalize the various warning signs. T-2s can actually function walking around with a blood sugar of 600 or 800.
So two things struck me at the same time. First: the books out there for newly diagnosed Type-2s give the Encyclopedia Britannica a run for the money. They try to cover everything you’d ever need to know during your life-time career with diabetes. Second: all the newly diagnosed Type-2s I’ve ever worked with (more than 100) are sicker than dogs and feel like shit. That’s not the best condition in which to try to read the Encyclopedia Britannica.
I realized in a flash that what the newly dx’d Type-2 needed was a survival guide. More than a pamphlet, less than a book. Just a: here read this to survive the first year and then we’ll take it from there. So that’s exactly what I wrote. And I just finished.
It is crafted around my popular tiger analogy that I’ve talked about here before, but that was a while back, so in a nut shell:
Can you have a pet tiger? Sure. So long as you feed it well, groom it, and never turn your back on it, you can co-exist with a tiger in your living room. But if you neglect the tiger, starve it, turn your back on it, the tiger will pounce on you and tear you to shreds. Diabetes is the tiger. Feed it right. Take care of it right. And the two of you will live just fine together.
Thus the title: Taming the Tiger: Your first year with Diabetes.
The release date is August 31st; and just like last time, if you order early you get to save some money!
Of course, I realize that most of you who read LifeAfterDx are not new to the game. But I bet you come across new members of our tribe all the time. This new little book is truly pocket-sized and costs less than a fast food meal (which you really shouldn’t be eating in the first place).
Why don’t you buy a copy and carry it with you? I’ll bet not too much time will pass before you encounter someone who needs it.
Well, I’m not dead, but I was held captive for a time. I wrote messages asking for help, put them in wine bottles, and tossed them out the window. Hey, it worked for Robinson Crusoe, right?
Of course, I had to drink all the wine in the bottles first.
The problem is that I live in a desert. No water. All the wine bottles with messages just piled up in the cactus outside my window. As piles of wine bottles outside of houses are pretty common in my part of the world, no one really gave it any thought.
Yep, my publisher has had me chained to my computer, finishing up my new book.
New book? you ask, with visions of CGM dancing in your head. Sorry, I’ve let you all down once again. Once again, I went off and wrote a book no one was expecting. I promise that I am working on the book about Continuous Glucose Monitoring; I just got distracted by something else. Something I felt the world needed right now.
For background I need to let you know that while I’m still in the trenches at the clinic, I also got a second job. It is only a couple hours per week, but it comes with a great-sounding title:
Community Faculty for the diabetes specialty program of Project ECHO at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center
It doesn’t even fit on a business card. You’d never know it from the title, but what I’m doing is teaching community health workers diabetes education skills via telemedicine. I’m basically attempting to clone myself.
As we designed the curriculum for the program I reviewed a number of diabetes books, especially ones intended for the new members of our club. At the same time that this was going on, we had a ton of newly diagnosed Type-2s stagger into the clinic.
We T-1s have it easy. You really can’t miss the fact you’ve “caught” diabetes. You get really sick, really fast; and if you ignore it you go into a coma and they figure it out at the Emergency Room.
That’s not true of T-2s. They get really sick really slow. Their diabetes creeps up on them a little at a time, allowing them to rationalize the various warning signs. T-2s can actually function walking around with a blood sugar of 600 or 800.
So two things struck me at the same time. First: the books out there for newly diagnosed Type-2s give the Encyclopedia Britannica a run for the money. They try to cover everything you’d ever need to know during your life-time career with diabetes. Second: all the newly diagnosed Type-2s I’ve ever worked with (more than 100) are sicker than dogs and feel like shit. That’s not the best condition in which to try to read the Encyclopedia Britannica.
I realized in a flash that what the newly dx’d Type-2 needed was a survival guide. More than a pamphlet, less than a book. Just a: here read this to survive the first year and then we’ll take it from there. So that’s exactly what I wrote. And I just finished.
It is crafted around my popular tiger analogy that I’ve talked about here before, but that was a while back, so in a nut shell:
Can you have a pet tiger? Sure. So long as you feed it well, groom it, and never turn your back on it, you can co-exist with a tiger in your living room. But if you neglect the tiger, starve it, turn your back on it, the tiger will pounce on you and tear you to shreds. Diabetes is the tiger. Feed it right. Take care of it right. And the two of you will live just fine together.
Thus the title: Taming the Tiger: Your first year with Diabetes.
The release date is August 31st; and just like last time, if you order early you get to save some money!
Of course, I realize that most of you who read LifeAfterDx are not new to the game. But I bet you come across new members of our tribe all the time. This new little book is truly pocket-sized and costs less than a fast food meal (which you really shouldn’t be eating in the first place).
Why don’t you buy a copy and carry it with you? I’ll bet not too much time will pass before you encounter someone who needs it.
posted by Wil | 1:35 PM
3 Comments:
"... T-2s ... get really sick really slow. Their diabetes creeps up on them a little at a time, allowing them to rationalize the various warning signs."
So true. That was me, in denial for years, ignoring the numbness in my feet. I even ignored the blister on my foot that wouldn't heal, until my leg started to turn all kinds of pretty colors. That got me my doctor, who told me I had Type 2 diabetes. The adventure began.
I've really enjoyed your last book, and am excited to see this one too!
I really enjoyed reading your last book and can't wait for the next one. It is already on order.
Will you be signing the preorder books like last time?
It was greatly appreciated!
Thank you.
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