From the back cover of the book
"The Challenge of Childhood Diabetes"
For Parents of Children
with Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes
When seven-year-old Danny was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes, his mother Laura Plunkett, a psychotherapist with a private practice in Marblehead, MA, desperately searched for ways to cope with his life-threatening disease.
Struggling to manage her anxiety over wildly fluctuating blood sugar numbers, transform her reluctant family's diet, and educate friends and teachers, she eventually finds unique ways to help Danny attain excellent blood sugar control and a new and comfortable sense of normal.
To help others weather such shockingly new circumstances, Plunkett and her extended family, share their three-year journey from crisis to confidence with humor and warmth. An intimate look at issues of nutrition, exercise, sibling rivalry, medical care, and holistic medicine, The Challenge of Diabetes is the friend, coach, and consultant that the family of every newly diagnosed child will turn to on a daily basis. Written with her mother, former Boston Globe "Ever So Humble" columnist Linda Weltner, the book includes a Survival Guide for those seeking support and a new emotional perspective.
The Challenge of Childhood Diabetes is designed to:
- Offer day-to-day and month-by-month support to parents of children with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes
- Help parents bring their children's Hemoglobin A1c below 7.0, reducing the risk of long-term complications
- Provide guidance on how to create a wholesome diet for the entire family
- Lessen anxiety in parents of newly-diagnosed children
- Foster a co-operative, supportive and loving team approach
- Give examples of how parents can obtain co-operation from their children
- Support the participation of fathers in their children's care
- Encourage parents to consider the benefits of alternative treatments such as acupuncture and herbal supplements
