ONE STEP AT A TIME: Living with Arthritis

by Marie Joseph ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 3, 1977

Having arthritis in its acute form, with two small children to look after in a large and drafty house, is a bit like trying to climb Mount Everest in winkle-pickers. There are some days when you don't get very far""--but this affable British import has an uplift of its own. At 25 Marie Joseph charmed her doctors, eschewed the helpful apparatus, and dismissed the idea of disability, although the years were filled with surgery and each new cure. Genially but without bubbling over, she recalls dubious treatments, a ward nurse walking away on ""quarter-to-three feet,"" skipping as promised for two young daughters after a hospital stay, and the triumphant diversion of selling that first short story at 40. Like husband Frank, she believed ""nerves are just things that have to be pulled together, and never never indulged in."" No Pollyanna symptoms here--just the right mix of self-awareness and making-do.

Pub Date: Nov. 3, 1977

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1977

Categories: NONFICTION