Backbone

Living with Chronic Pain Without Turning into One

By: Karen Duffy

Narrated by: Karen Duffy

Length: 5 hrs and 58 mins

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.

©2017 Karen Duffy (P)2017 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

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!

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.

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.

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.❤😊

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.

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!

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.

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.