Saturday, March 18, 2006

A Book About Brain Surgery

I read this book called I Had Brain Surgery, What's Your Excuse, or something like that. Maybe the title is a little different, who knows. I suppose if I weren't such a lazy sod I'd get up and find out the precise title but I am so I won't.

It's about a humorist and cartoonist who has been having seizures for a few years and most ignoring them. Then she has one that her girlfriend sees and goes to see the doctor who tells her she has a mass in her parietal region and she needs to have it taken out.

She's told that she might lose the right side of her body but nobody tells her she won't be able to read, write or talk afterwards. Of course I could have if she'd asked me because that's exactly what happened to a friend of mine who had large mass in the base of her brain.

The book is about her recovery and her fears, will she be the person she used to be, if she isn't will she be able to tolerate being the person she has become, stuff like that. It was described as wildly funny but I thought it was terribly sad. Oh sure it made me laugh a few times but maybe if I didn't have the same symptoms she struggles with, if I weren't living the life she fears (what if I can't ride my bike? she wonders.) if I didn't know exactly what she means I might find it funnier.

At one point she says she couldn't bear to go through the surgery again. Well there is someone in my PTC support group who is about to undergo her 26th shunt surgery since the end of 2004. With my own particular disorder repeated surgeries are pretty normal.

But all that aside it's an interesting book and if you want to know what it's like to be gifted with smarts, humor, and talent and worry about losing it all you should pick it up.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home