MSI Press Blog

  Today's daily excerpt comes from  How to Be a Good Mommy When You're Sick  by Emily Graves. Introduction: My Story   When women with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) get pregnant, their RA goes into remission. At least, that’s what my doctor told my husband, Robert, and me when we went in to discuss the possibility of having a baby. At that time, we both were professors with busy careers. I was 28, and according to my doctors, my RA was on “cruise control”. Thus, we were given a big “thumbs up” from the medical community to get pregnant. I would not trade our son for the world, but, boy, were they wrong! There was no remission for me, not unless remission means running head first into kidney failure and an abrupt pause in my career. After many months of discussions with baffled doctors, biopsies, and blood tests, I was diagnosed with Essential Mixed Cryoglobulinemia Type II—a complication of my RA that was causing kidney failure. I was officially the complicated, rare case “only fou

  This week's book back story features How to Be a Good Mommy When You're Sick by Emily Graves. from the editor -- Unfortunately, the author has been incommunicado for several years, so all I have is a few notes from correspondence with her. It seems that she had some significance first-hand experience in chronic illness, in her case, rheumatoid arthritis at a young age. As she strove to maintain her professorial position and raise her son in a "normal" environment, she learned many useful things that could help others in similar circumstances -- not necessarily suffering from rheumatoid arthritis but from any debilitating illness. Library Journal was impressed with her book and provided an excellent review. And the book was off and running.  Purchase the paperback 25% discount with coupon code FF25 at the  MSI Press webstore . For more posts about this book, click HERE . For more book back stories, click HERE . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow MSI Pr

excerpt from How to Be a Good Mommy When You're Sic k by Emily Graves -  Remembering The following checklists are meant to be used as a quick reference or as reminders as you reflect on areas of your life that you may be able to improve or make easier using the information discussed throughout the book. Sleep •        Establish a sleep routine for your family. •        Be prepared for the initial battle to establish that sleep routine. The first week will be difficult but you can do it. Use your will to make this happen. It will benefit your entire family. •        Make a list of how an established sleep routine would positively impact your and your family’s daily lives. Use this as encouragement during the initial battle. •        Make sure your established sleep routine includes an adequate amount of sleep for each person involved, especially yourself. Being exhausted exacerbates chronic health issues. Do not leave yourself out of this process. •        Include a nap for yoursel