We revue a goodish number of books here at the 'Mine, but it's not much that I've base myself reviewing a book with chapters written by so numerous people I'm lucky enough to know! That was what made reading My Sweet Life: Successful Work force with Diabetes whol the more amazing for Pine Tree State.

Before I opened the pages to starting line reading, I wasn't expecting much to a higher degree an obligatory book look back: a handful of fellow guys with diabetes, sharing their stories, that are belik yet at any rate, right? I unsurprising that I've beautiful much detected most of these stories before, indeed this wasn't going to rise to any special level of matter to…

But boy, was I wrong!

What I found was an array of emotions jumping out at me as I understand through the pages of these fellow men with diabetes — workforce who seaport't allow diabetes run their lives operating room prescribe what they can or can't do. My reactions ran the gamut from laughs and smiles, to machination and peculiarity, weeping, rage, and heart-melting tenderness. In short, what I constitute in this 259-page anthology of essays was an emotional experience — I'd eventide tell an empowering unmatched.

This was completely pulled together past Dr. Beverly S. Adler, PhD, CDE, whose first book in 2011 was the female-focused My Sweet Life: Booming Women with Diabetes. (Our editor AmyT has a chapter therein one.) In that next edition of the series, all detail starting with the creative cover art makes you want to dive in (Sir Thomas More along the cover art shortly).

Right away, Beverly hits at a point I've thought myself at times: "Piece women with diabetes have a website devoted to our sisterhood, there is no comparable website devoted to the brotherhood of men with diabetes. This book is the premier of its type: stories of triumph for men with diabetes, written by those successful men with diabetes." Indeed true that thither International Relations and Security Network't As often out there devoted specifically to men with diabetes.

Some well-known names from the Diabetes Community are featured in the book, like D-bloggers George "The Ninjabetic" Simmons and Scott Johnson; athletes like Charlie Kimball and Tony Cervati; medical pros like CDE Gary Scheiner; and dLife TV personalities like Benno Schmidt and Jim Turner. Each has contributed an autobiographical essay on how they've managed to succeeded in life, either because of operating room in spite of their diabetes. They vary in age and type of diabetes, and they all share their personal stories about their D-diagnosis and how diabetes has wrought their lives.

One of my favorites is from Marc Blatstein, WHO is a karate-tournament achiever that's been life with type 1 for to a higher degree a half century and just became a certified wellness coach earlier this year. I loved his stories about his ma going away to buy a "diabetic pound coat" for him right after his diagnosing in 1960, then a boxful of "diabetic chocolates" — some of which turned him murder of those food choices permanently… Hah!

History fascinates me, and so I loved reading or so R. Keith Campbell, who's been living with type 1 for more than 60 years and was a institution member of the American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE). His chapter examines his thoughts on some of the biggest advances in diabetes care through the decades, and particularly engrossing to me was how Keith actually had to look into the hospital to commencement using a "continuous extract insulin pump" on Feb. 1, 1979 — the very day that I was born! How cool is that little arts conjunction?!

With my background signal as a sound newsman, I found information technology entrancing to read the stories of some fellow PWDs who are attorneys and have done legal mould that includes winning cases in close to of the highest courts in the U.S.! Some of it's been connected to diabetes, alike PWD John W. Griffin in Texas who got a federal evaluator to overturn a blanket BAN on UPS drivers with diabetes, and likewise waged a heptad-yr legal struggle to allow PWDs to answer as police officers. Even Jay Hewitt, most known as a type 1 record-setting Ironman jock, is also a practicing lawyer in South Carolina. He does that alongside running his Finish Line Vision business as a motivational Speaker.

And a story that strike a chord particularly was Scott Johnson's, about his experience of going low and the paramedics beingness known as in a scary situation for him and his wife… a "reduced level" that started him happening the path of writing about diabetes and connecting with fellow PWDs!

The preface aside TCOYD father and fellow PWD Dr. Steven Edelman beautiful much sums it up: "This book will inspire you, and your loved ones, to embracement diabetes. The book's message, by way of example, is not to let diabetes slow you down, but sort o make it a incontrovertible squeeze in your life." Atomic number 2 mentions that after his own diagnosis at mature 15 in 1970, he wishes he would've had role models look-alike the men in this book.

I couldn't harmonize more.

As far as the unique cover art, Beverly says she carried over the theme from the women's book, which has "curvy" trees on the cover that embody women's curves, while the path is a metaphor for the journeying that we move on as PWDs.  For the men's book, she used a varied artist to draw the cover, with a similar theme, except that the color schema and the trees are to a greater extent "masculine." The river is also a metaphor for the journey we call for, with many twists and turns in life.

Beverly says some of the men included were recommended by contacts, and she found many others via the Internet. She says 25 stories was an discretionary number to include; she had approached many more men nearly existence included, only they declined for various personal reasons. Her goal was to include a diversity of men — geographically, and by age, careers, and diabetes experiences. To be included, she says all the men had to believe that "diabetes is a blessing in disguise" and share that philosophy in their chapter.

Mission accomplished, I'd state. Completely of the chapters had an empowerment message and were inspiring, without existence iterative. I enjoyed reading all of them and this indefinite's by all odds a keeper for my own diabetes ledger shelf.

You can verification out this men's book for yourself by snagging a copy along Amazon.com for $24.95 (the going price in 2012, at least)