A Life of Control

With health care reform on the horizon and the cost of managing chronic disease impacting our economy, the doctor-patient relationship is often quantified in merely economic terms. Through personal stories about living with diabetes, Graber's patients show 'control' is more than insulin, blood sugar testing, and managing one's diet, and a successful doctor-patient relationship is a lot more than what's reflected by billing procedure codes. --Kim Emmons-Benjet, mother of a child with Type 1 diabetes and blogger for Healthcentral.com This is a unique and well written volume describing personal experiences with diabetes of those who have it, their families and their providers of medical care. It yields valuable insights that will help with the issues for everyone who has to deal with this challenging disease. --Mayer Davidson, MD, Director of the Clinical Center of Research Excellence at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in Los Angeles, past president of the American Diabetes Association, and author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Diabetes One of the largest challenges people living with diabetes face is taking care of themselves on a day-to-day basis, which means assuming responsibility that, in many other cases, is left up to the doctor. A Life of Control depicts 40 years of diabetic patients' stories through the narration of the doctor and nurse practitioners who collected them, acknowledging the often complicated relationship between people living with diabetes and their doctors. A cleverly organized group of stories, which reveals the difficulties, both physical and emotional, that come along with diabetes, but leaves the reader feeling confident about taking control. --Steven Edelman, MD, Founder and Director, Taking Control of Your Diabetes, Del Mar, California Named a Best Consumer Health Book of 2010 by Library Journal In these touching stories, you will hear real-life tales that are funny, sad, life-affirming, aggravating and more. Read this and realize that you are not alone. --William H. Polonsky, PhD, CDE Dr. Graber and his team share a collection of stories that not only educate but motivate. As a healthcare professional with diabetes I have learned most of the really important lessons about control from my patients. These stories are very engaging and you will find this book both enlightening and inspirational. --Virginia Valentine, certified diabetes educator; co-author of Diabetes Type 2 and What to Do (1994 & 2000) and Diabetes--The New Type 2 (2008); former member of board of directors of American Diabetes Association A Life of Control will greatly interest not only those with Type I or Type II Diabetes, but their family members, physicians, and clinicians. --Publishers Weekly

Alan L. Graber is an endocrinologist; Anne W. Brown and Kathleen Wolff are certified diabetes nurse practitioners. In 1986, while in private practice, the authors organized one of the first Outpatient Diabetes Education Programs in the country recognized by the American Diabetes Association. They later worked together for many years at the Vanderbilt Eskind Diabetes Center.