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Backbone
- Living with Chronic Pain Without Turning into One
- Narrated by: Karen Duffy
- Length: 5 hrs and 58 mins
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Publisher's summary
Backbone is a life-fulfilling message about managing chronic pain and living a life of purpose. For two decades, Karen Duffy, New York Times bestselling author, former MTV VJ, Revlon model, and actress, has managed to live an enriching life despite living in a state of constant pain. In this powerful, inspirational, funny, and important manual for surviving pain, Duffy draws on her experience as a patient advocate, trained recreational therapist, and hospice chaplain to illuminate gratifying methods people can use to cope with chronic pain and reinforces the sentiment that "circumstances determine our lives, but we shape our lives by what we make of circumstances" (Sir John Wheeler Bennet).
More than one-third of the US population - nearly one hundred million Americans - is currently living with chronic pain, while another 133 million Americans live with some form of chronic illness. Half of the US population suffers from these invisible illnesses where their symptoms are not always obvious to the casual observer. Duffy herself suffers from sarcoidosis, a disorder that causes the growth of inflammatory cells on different organs of the body. In her case, her sarcoidosis is located in her brain, causing her unimaginable pain. Backbone is for the massive population of sufferers who are eager to be understood and helped, and sends the message that despite the pain, there is a way to a good life.
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You get ready to die the way you get ready for a trip. Start by realizing you don't know the way. Listen to a few travel guides. Study the language, look at maps, gather equipment. Let yourself imagine what it will be like. Pack your bags. This book is one of those travel guides - a guide to preparing for your own death and the deaths of people close to you. The fact of death is hard to believe. Sallie Tisdale explores our fears and all the ways death and talking about death make us uncomfortable - but she also explores its intimacies and joys.
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I thought I had more time...
- By Alyssa on 09-09-19
By: Sallie Tisdale
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The Unspeakable
- And Other Subjects of Discussion
- By: Meghan Daum
- Narrated by: Meghan Daum
- Length: 6 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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It's a report tempered by hard times. In "Matricide", Daum unflinchingly describes a parent's death and the uncomfortable emotions it provokes; and in "Diary of a Coma" she relates her own journey to the twilight of the mind. But Daum also operates in a comic register. With perfect precision, she reveals the absurdities of the marriage-industrial complex, of the New Age dating market, and of the peculiar habits of the young and digital.
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Complaining about her dead mom.
- By Erik Hermansen on 11-23-14
By: Meghan Daum
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The Gift of Adversity
- The Unexpected Benefits of Life's Difficulties, Setbacks, and Imperfections
- By: Norman E. Rosenthal M.D.
- Narrated by: Erik Synnestvedt
- Length: 10 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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The noted research psychiatrist explores how life's disappointments and difficulties provide us with the lessons we need to become better, bigger, and more resilient human beings. Adversity is an irreducible fact of life. Although we can and should learn from all experiences, both positive and negative best-selling author Dr. Norman E. Rosenthal believes that adversity is by far the best teacher most of us will ever encounter.
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Book ruined by the narrator
- By David C. on 12-07-22
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Knocking on Heaven's Door
- The Path to a Better Way of Death
- By: Katy Butler
- Narrated by: Katy Butler
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Like so many of us, award-winning writer Katy Butler always assumed her aging parents would experience healthy, active retirements before dying peacefully at home. Then her father suffered a stroke that left him incapable of easily finishing a sentence or showering without assistance. Her mother was thrust into full-time caregiving, and Katy became one of the 24 million Americans who help care for aging parents. In an effort to correct a minor and non - life threatening heart arrhythmia, doctors outfitted her father with a pacemaker.
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A better way to narrate a book about death?
- By MAUREEN on 10-21-13
By: Katy Butler
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Because I Come from a Crazy Family
- The Making of a Psychiatrist
- By: Edward M. Hallowell
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 13 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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When Edward M. Hallowell was 11, a voice out of nowhere told him he should become a psychiatrist. A mental health professional of the time would have called this psychosis. But young Edward (Ned) took it in stride, despite not quite knowing what "psychiatrist" meant. With a psychotic father, an alcoholic mother, an abusive stepfather, and two so-called learning disabilities of his own, Ned was accustomed to unpredictable behaviour from those around him and to a mind he felt he couldn't always control.
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Love and connection permeates through this book!
- By Steve Steinmetz on 06-29-18
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A Dog Walks into a Nursing Home
- Lessons in the Good Life from an Unlikely Teacher
- By: Sue Halpern
- Narrated by: Karen White
- Length: 7 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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At loose ends with her daughter leaving home and her husband on the road, Sue Halpern decided to give herself and Pransky, her under-occupied Labradoodle, a new leash - er, lease - on life by getting the two of them certified as a therapy dog team. Smart, spirited, and instinctively compassionate, Pransky turned out to be not only a terrific therapist but an unerring moral compass. In the unlikely sounding arena of a public nursing home, she led her teammate into a series of encounters with the residents that revealed depths of warmth, humor, and insight Halpern hadn't expected.
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my mistake!
- By joyce on 02-02-14
By: Sue Halpern
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Your Heart, My Hands
- An Immigrant's Remarkable Journey to Become One of America's Preeminent Cardiac Surgeons
- By: Arun K. Singh MD, John Hanc - contributor, Delos Cosgrove MD - foreword
- Narrated by: Shridhar Solanki
- Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Leaving a life marked by crippling setbacks and his father's doubt, in 1967 a 20-something doctor from India arrived in America with only five dollars and the desire to claim his American dream. Faced with an entirely new culture, racism, and the lasting effects of disabling childhood injuries, through hard work and perseverance he overcame all odds. Now having performed over 15,000 open-heart surgeries, more than nearly every surgeon in history, Dr. Singh reflects on his most memorable patients and his incredible personal life.
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Remarkable!
- By Stacey on 12-01-22
By: Arun K. Singh MD, and others
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Messenger
- The Legacy of Mattie J. T. Stepanek and Heartsongs
- By: Jeni Stepanek
- Narrated by: Jeni Stepanek
- Length: 11 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Oprah Winfrey has called him an inspiration, Maya Angelou saw him as a kindred spirit and fellow poet, and Jimmy Carter described Mattie Stepanek as the "most remarkable person I have ever known". When Jerry Lewis received his lifetime achievement award at the Oscars, footage of Mattie played behind him. Five years after his death from a rare neuromuscular disease, Mattie is still being celebrated for his indomitable spirit and message of hope.
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Loved Jeni telling Mattie’s story
- By Hello Mrs. on 12-29-22
By: Jeni Stepanek
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Modern Loss
- Candid Conversation About Grief. Beginners Welcome.
- By: Rebecca Soffer, Gabrielle Birkner
- Narrated by: Meredith Mitchell, Josh Bloomberg
- Length: 7 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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At a time when we mourn public figures and national tragedies with hashtags, where intimate posts about loss go viral and we receive automated birthday reminders for dead friends, it's clear we are navigating new terrain without a road map. Let's face it: Most of us have always had a difficult time talking about death and sharing our grief. We're awkward and uncertain; we avoid, ignore, or even deny feelings of sadness; we offer platitudes; we send sympathy bouquets whittled out of fruit.
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Not What I Was Expecting
- By Bessie Mae on 03-01-23
By: Rebecca Soffer, and others
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Living Life as a Thank You
- The Transformative Power of Daily Gratitude
- By: Nina Lesowitz, Mary Beth Sammons
- Narrated by: Susan Boyce
- Length: 5 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Living as if each day is a thank you can help transform fear into courage, anger into forgiveness, and isolation into belonging. Authors Nina Lesowitz and Mary Beth Sammons present a simple yet comprehensive approach for incorporating gratitude into one's life and reaping its many benefits. The book is divided into ten chapters, including "Ways to Stay Thankful in Difficult Times,” "Gratitude as a Spiritual Practice,” and "Putting Gratitude into Action."
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I can’t take robotic narrator
- By Caryn on 03-25-21
By: Nina Lesowitz, and others
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This Is How I Save My Life
- From California to India, a True Story of Finding Everything When You Are Willing to Try Anything
- By: Amy B. Scher
- Narrated by: Amy B. Scher
- Length: 6 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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When Amy B. Scher was struck with undiagnosed late-stage, chronic Lyme disease, the best physicians in America labeled her condition incurable and potentially terminal. Deteriorating rapidly, she went on a search to save her own life - from the top experts in Los Angeles and the world-renowned Mayo Clinic in Minneapolis to a state-of-the-art hospital in Chicago. After exhausting all of her options in the US, she discovered a possible cure - but it was highly experimental, available only in India, and had as much of a probability of killing her as it did of curing her.
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A great comfort
- By Sue on 07-07-18
By: Amy B. Scher
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A Body, Undone
- Living On after Great Pain
- By: Christina Crosby
- Narrated by: Christina Crosby
- Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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In the early evening on October 1, 2003, Christina Crosby was three miles into a 17 mile bicycle ride, intent on reaching her goal of 1,000 miles for the riding season. She was a respected senior professor of English who had celebrated her 50th birthday a month before. As she crested a hill, she caught a branch in the spokes of her bicycle, which instantly pitched her to the pavement. Her chin took the full force of the blow, and her head snapped back. In that instant, she was paralyzed.
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Extraordinary writer
- By Professor on 01-20-24
By: Christina Crosby
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Don't Leave Me This Way
- Or When I Get Back on My Feet You'll Be Sorry
- By: Julia Fox Garrison
- Narrated by: Joyce Bean
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Julia Fox Garrison refused to listen to the professionals she called Dr. Jerk and Dr. Panic, who - after she suffered a massive, debilitating stroke at age thirty-seven - told her she’d probably die, or to Nurse Doom, who ignored her emergency call button. Instead she heeded the advice of kind, gifted Dr. Neuro, who promised her he would “treat your mind as well as your body.” Julia figured if she could somehow manage to get herself into a wheelchair, at least she’d always find parking. But after many, many months of hospitalization and rehab, Julia not only got into a wheelchair, but she got back out.
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Heroic Story
- By Pamela Harvey on 02-29-12
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The Priority List
- A Teacher's Final Quest to Discover Life's Greatest Lessons
- By: David Menasche
- Narrated by: David Menasche
- Length: 4 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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David Menasche lived for his work as a high school English teacher. His passion inspired his students, and between lessons on Shakespeare and sentence structure, he forged a unique bond with his kids, buoying them through personal struggles while sharing valuable life lessons.
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Truly Inspiring!!
- By Trish on 07-13-14
By: David Menasche
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What listeners say about Backbone
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- EM
- 02-17-20
Entertaining and inspiring!
This book was the most inspiring and uplifting I have read on dealing with the difficulties of life, whether you have physical disabilities or not. Love the author and her narration!
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- Bay Ragni
- 11-13-17
Be educated with laughter on a serious subject
I can never thank Karen enough for writing this book, and letting the world know that people with Sarcoidosis and Chronic Illness are suffering and looking to not only be heard, but solutions. Karen explains the seriousness of the disease with her unique sense of humor, Take the time to read or listen to this, as you are educated with laughter.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 02-24-19
A must for chronic pain sufferers
I loved this book, Ms. Duffy is an inspiration! Ms. Duffy shares her experience with chronic pain and brings a humorous approach to the suffering. I was searching for a book to help me cope with the loss of the person I used to be due to constant chronic pain and I found exactly what I needed.
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2 people found this helpful
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- margaret Coager
- 10-09-19
Inspireing, very helpful and funny! Thank you .
Karen you helped me and made me smile . A worth your wild read. Thankyou again Karen. prayers and peaceful thoughts coming to you and yours.❤😊
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- JSJ
- 07-27-23
Life = Change
This book is an insightful and humorous account of how to live with pain, chronic pain, everyday pain, and inevitable pain. It is a book I will return to as life is change and change involves pain.
Karen Duffy’s story reminds me that what’s important is how we respond to what happens to us and that’s about 90% of how we live our lives; the other 10% this was just what happens to us. It’s our attitude toward external things and even a life in pain can be a great life if you if you wanted to be.
Audible enhanced the reading experience, especially since it was read by the author.
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- Rita1929
- 01-30-18
Excellent ! Thank you for writing this book!
As a fellow “sufferer”, this is the most inspirational, realistic and positive book I’ve EVER read on the subject
Thank you thank you thank you so much for writing this book!
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- MyBleedingInk
- 03-11-24
Chronic Illness sufferers need to read this!
If you have a chronic illness, like I do, you need to read/listen to this book. It won't change your life, I doubt any one book can do that, but it will help you feel less alone. It may even give you good ideas on how to handle your illness, how to see it from a different angle. It will help change your perspective when you're having a bad day. Karen Duffy speaks truthfully and poignantly about her experience living with sarcoidosis.
Ultimately it was nice to feel less alone in this chronic illness journey.
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- NMwritergal
- 11-09-17
Not well written and poorly edited
I have chronic pain and have been on the lookout for a memoir that deals with the subject. Until this popped up, I really hadn't seen anything. Unfortunately, there's little to recommend this book.
1. Duffy is not a very good writer. It was all telling and no showing; As a result, her assertion (and the quotes of others--she's very fond of little quotes) that words fail/are inadequate when it comes to trying to get another to understand pain were even truer. At least if you write a scene the showing might get the point across. But this was just kind of rambling essay--though good essays do have parts that show rather than just tell.
2. Wow. That editor should be fired. Clearly Duffy wrote these as separate pieces/vignettes. There is SO much repetition. How many times did she say she used to work in an old folks home as if it were the first time she said it? I think at least 10. There were all kinds of instances of this.
3. The structure. As in there is none. The first 15 minutes were ok, and then there was what felt like a lifetime about her son and hockey. About one percent of that endless digression related to her illness and chronic pain.
4. The tone. She's so busy making sure nobody feels sorry for her by trying to be funny, sarcastic, and snarky that I didn't feel much of anything--no empathy, sympathy, and I didn't even relate that much. That's a pretty big miss. Granted, I don't have her illness and type of pain, (she's in much worse shape than I am) but that fact alone shows how lacking the writing is.
She had a couple of interesting things to say that I wish she had delved deeper into, such as how society blames peoples who are sick/in pain as if they brought it on themselves when clearly they didn't. Or her distaste of those who claim something like, "Getting cancer was the best thing that ever happened to me because____________"(fill in the blank). But then she turns around and undercuts what she just said by talking about all the positives that have resulted from her truly horrendous illness. Or, she said she's an advocate, and says if not for her pain meds she couldn't function at all. With all the hoopla about the "opioid crisis," why did she not say more about the fact that there are those who really do need pain meds and who use them responsibly. With her attitude, I was kind of expecting her to take a stronger stance. Yet another miss.
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7 people found this helpful