We’re live in stock
shipping on Amazon!

Here’s the listing! Order now! Be the first one on your block!

How fun is this??

If you haven’t already, help yourself to our “taste of LaughSing”:

• ADVANCE PRAISE has arrived, from Jim Conway (IHI), Elizabeth Coehn (CNN), Roni Zeiger (Google) and Kent Bottles (ICSI). Read it here.
• The introduction is online: three introductory essays by leading thinkers in rebooting healthcare: Dr. Danny Sands, Paul F. Levy, and Matthew Holt. Read it here.
• Links to websites and resources cited in the book

Continue reading to learn how the book came about, and what the title means:

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Laugh, Sing and Eat Like a Pig

How an Empowered Patient Beat Stage IV Cancer
(and what healthcare can learn from it)

Hi, it’s me, the book! I went live on Amazon in July 2010. Follow @LaughSing on Twitter.

My title reflects the mind-powered approach Dave took to his “prognosis is grim” disease. Here, let him tell you:
_________

Dave here … here’s the deal:

What’s the title about??

It’s the approach I chose to take to the news that I had a lethal cancer – a summary of the advice I got in the first few weeks after diagnosis, before I even started my journal:

• “Laugh” is for the healing power of laughter, as famously discussed by Saturday Review editor Norman Cousins in his book Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by the Patient
• “Sing” is the advice my doctor gave. I had asked if I should drop out of my much-loved championship chorus to save energy, but he said, “You don’t want to stop doing life activities that you love – it sends the wrong message.” Wow. So, okay, laugh and sing! Not bad.
• “Eat like a pig” refers to the diet the hospital sent me, to increase my caloric intake, to combat weight loss and prepare for the battle ahead.

In my online community I told people “If I ever write a book about this, that’s what I’ll call it.” And here we are.

Admittedly, that’s not a conventional approach to a deadly disease. But that’s the point. And the whole story’s true.

Why a book with this message?

4,000 people a day (in the US alone) discover they have cancer, and face that moment of “What on earth do I do NOW??” I know that feeling. Some look for what to do next; others don’t even think they can do anything — they just think they’re screwed and go into depression. This book is about hope, getting it in gear, and going “e.” (E-patients are “empowered, engaged, equipped, enabled, and educated.”)

What’s the vision?

I’m committed to a world where healthcare works better – and not just for patients but for the people whose work is to deliver care. I agree with the words of Charlie Safran MD, who said patients are “the most under-utilized resource” in health IT, and I think it applies to all of healthcare.

Healthcare today has unprecedented challenges. Let patients help.

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Again, to stay informed:

• Follow @LaughSing on Twitter.
• To be notified when I’m available for order, email Dave.

Looking forward to meeting you!