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“How you deal affects how you heal” is the mantra that author Yvonne DeSousa has lived by since being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. During our podcast, Yvonne deSousa’s reveals details of her multiple sclerosis diagnosis and how it motivated her to write her memoir, MS Madness: A Giggle More, Cry Less Story of Multiple Sclerosis.
My interview with Yvonne discusses several chronic illness strategies including: how to talk to your employer about chronic illness, how to use humor as a way to breakthrough communication barriers with friends and loved one and why sharing a giggle can help someone else through a tough time.
MS Madness: A Giggle More, Cry Less Story of Multiple Sclerosis follows a year of MS-adventures and will make
you laugh while learning the real story of what MS can do to a perfectly normal person. Situations from Yvonne’s life like “accidentally” kicking an officious male doctor in the crotch, becoming an undercover agent to pay for medication made from Chinese hamster ovary cells, discovering the amazing effects of legal speed, and battling her arch-nemesis, the dreaded food group: vegetables are all in the book.
Life with multiple sclerosis can be daunting, but Yvonne shares her giggles at the bizarre world she has unwittingly entered and the new perspectives it has given her on life. MS Madness makes us realize that with a sense of humor, we can survive anything.
Episode Outline
- About Yvonne deSousa
- Being Diagnosed with a chronic Illness
- Talking to your employer about Illness
- How friendships and relationships change
- How to ask for help after being diagnosed
- Transitions from the helper to the help seeker
- Seeking online support and assistance from social groups
- Using humor to communicate with your family and friends
- Examples of humor in everyday situations
- The importance of giggles
- About MS Madness: A Giggle More, Cry Less Story of Multiple Sclerosis Story
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