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With humor and heart, Ross shares what it was like being blind for six weeks, how a TV crime drama and a brain-games website played key roles in her recovery, and why a handmade necklace helped her regain her sense of self.
Ross reveals the keys to her extraordinary comeback and how her perspective is forever changed, mostly for the better. Funny, touching and real, this book not only shares an inspirational story of transformation but enlightens readers about the surprising effects of brain injury... and explores the question, "How do our brains define who we are?"
Learning of the brain heals itself and the ways that process can be helped is an area that is of immense interest to me. Within the last fifteen years, brain injuries that were once thought to be permanent, particularly after a certain amount of time (typically a year) after the injury occurred, are now no longer seen as “hopeless” nor “permanent.” When this book was offered as a freebie for my e-Reader, I was eager to read it in hopes of learning more of the progress in how to treat Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). What I got in reading this was not instruction, but inspiration and hopefulness from the point of view of one who has suffered a TBI and has successfully “returned” to a life that is different from before her injury but one that is fulfilling and meaningful.
Maria Ross was a marketing consultant who, with her dedicated husband, Paul, relocated to Seattle from the San Francisco Bay area in hopes of being able to purchase a house. Both were successful, busy people who were able to obtain employment (he with Microsoft, she by developing her own Marketing and Branding business), made new friends (she was a HUGE extrovert) and established life in their new “hometown.” She was eager to become involved in the theatre scene of the Pacific Northwest and began auditioning for parts with local Seattle theatre troupes. In the summer of 2008, she auditioned for a part in one of her favorite play genres. As she concluded this reading, she was struck by a blinding pain in her head. After repeated doctor visits and treatments in the next two months that made the pain (mostly) go away she felt she was on the way to recovery. This changed on August 4th, when the aneurysm that was causing her pain burst. Fortunately, the day this occurred, her husband had decided to work from home, “in case I needed him.” The couple’s home was less than 5 miles from one of the best trauma centers in the nation and she received medical attention within ten minutes of her losing consciousness. She reports having no memory of what happened in the next month (her “recollections” of that time are actually reports of what others told her about this time period).
Over the next seven months, Ms. Ross worked with physical, occupational and speech therapists (those therapies and her hospital care were paid for by the wonderful insurance provided by Paul’s employer) and she diligently attended to the tasks assigned to her by those therapists. Her return to a somewhat different life within a year of her stroke is a tribute to: her health before this intracranial accident (she worked-out regularly), quality medical attention (for which she expressed great gratitude and ponders the need for similar availability to all), support from family and friends (many of whom flew from around the world to lend help to her and Paul), a pet (Eddie, a rescue dog who gave her unconditional love and acceptance ALWAYS) and a great deal of luck. Her life after the stroke was altered but not in a major way; she developed her business in a more concerted manner, she lives within the limits of her injury (e.g., crowds now cause her some anxiety, which she has learned to manage, she travels less due to her being more easily overwhelmed), but she has regained to about 99% of her pre-TBI functioning level.
I would recommend this book to victims of TBI’s and their caregivers. While its content deals with matters of some complexity, there is nothing “adult” to be found in this book.
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Posted December 30, 2012
I bought this book because i have a very dear friend who has been in the hospital for the past 3 months due to a burst aneurysm. I wanted to learn more about what to expect and to find out how i can best support her. This book was so inspiring and full of great insight into how amazing our brains really are. The author wrote from her personal experience and from the heart. A great read, I learned so much and now cherish every day of my good health
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