Here are some ideas for chapters or whatever that would appeal to me - off the top of my head:

1. a very brief history of the disease - discovery and naming, no treatment days, advancing knowledge and tx possibilities

2. First symptoms - the stuff that puzzled us all - and often the first 10 docs we saw, too

3. Diagnosis - age, place, methods, how we were told, our reactions and our families' reactions

4. Treatments - standard and benefits/problems

5. Treatments - alternative and complementary

6. Treatments - development of and clinical trials - and fraudulent modalities

7. Social relations - with friends and family

8. Personal/intimate realtionships

9. Work

10. Disability

11. Community Support and advocacy

12. Research (maybe sections divided out by main areas) and how to access information

13. Personal hopes and what we do to sustain ourselves and one another socially, emotionally, vocationally, spiritually, avocationally....etc


What do you think? Am I way off the mark? How do others envision this?