{"product_id":"9780993703072","title":"This Thin Place: A chronicle of love, hope and despair in a time of cancer","description":"\u003cp\u003eSurely time should stop, suspended by the tragedy of a serious disease?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSurely life should become embalmed, preserved from the buffets of minutiae.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSurely one should be exempt from laundry.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen Sandy Glum, a high school teacher, was first diagnosed with rectal cancer\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eshe chose to record the ups and downs of her post-diagnosis life in a series of blog\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003epostings. Most of us would choose to keep the challenges of cancer—the ruthless\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003etoll it all takes on the body, family, and life—and the thoughts they provoke, for\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eprivate reflection and introspection. Sandy chose to share so that we could better\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eunderstand the world and life of someone with cancer.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Life is pain, Highness,” said Wesley Buttercup in The Princess Bride, and it is\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ewith these words that Sandy summed up her fears and diminishing hope. Fearful\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eof being a “whiner,” and aware of the need to be strong and courageous for her\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eyoung family, Sandy muses on what she sees as her multiple failed attempts to\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003elive up to her self-imposed expectations of bravery. Her self-deprecating accounts\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eoverflow with endearing and captivating honesty during what is unarguably one of\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ethe most vulnerable times of her life. Tongue-in-cheek, she pores over the bizarre\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003erites of the cancer patient—from PICC lines to hair loss—the distressing changes\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ein relationships, the confounding wrestle with mortality, and the significance of\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003efaith in the light of it all.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis book offers a selection of entries from her blog Damned Near Killed Him.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe entries were compiled by her friend, Sandy Oshiro Rosen (author of Bare—The\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMisplaced Art of Grieving and Dancing), who also contributed the Foreword and\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAfterword.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt offers an honest, unembellished insight into the private life of Sandy Glum as\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eshe bares herself—body and soul—to deliver a touching and inspiring narrative.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Big Tree Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50086919012592,"sku":"9780993703072","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780993703072","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}