At 57 years old, I thought I was the poster child for fifty-year
old healthiness: I competed in triathlons, rode in 100 mile biking events and
ate a healthy diet chock full of organic vegetables. Then I discovered that I had
a brain tumor the size of my wife’s fist.
My memoir chronicles
the first year I spent addressing tumor-related health issues: preparing for my
first operation, discovering a dangerous skull infection, having the infected
portion of my skull surgically removed, learning about my substantial vision
and cognitive losses, undergoing rehab and radiation treatments, and learning
to live with my “new normal.” And, as best I can tell, the phrase “new normal”
is the medical community’s code words for “You’re alive, so quit bitchin’.”
As my health changed, so did my sense
of humor. My humor started out
superficially light-hearted prior to the first operation; transmogrified into
gallows humor after several subsequent operations; and leveled out as somewhat
wry-ish after radiation and rehab.
Topics I write about in the book
include:
·
How not to tell everybody you have a brain tumor
·
Why it’s a lot of work to die in this country
·
Why I had difficulties in naming my tumor
·
How I negotiated bathroom visits with “Nurse
Don’t-Bother-Me”
·
Why I could prove that I was the “dumbest guy in
the room”
·
Why someone compared the back of my head to a
diseased goat
·
How I flunked a job interview with myself
This is a book for anybody interested in memoirs about people
dealing with personal crises, for patients trudging through rehab, for
caretakers helping victims of serious illnesses, or for anybody looking for an
unexpected chuckle from an unlikely subject.
My Review:What a positive book. John has a way of making very dire circumstances seem comical. I wish that I had the strength at such times to think positive. Throughout the book I was laughing rather than feeling bad for John's ailment. I found good ideas and ways to tell people bad news, that's for sure.
John has taken a horrible experience and turned it into helping others. I am truly in awe of John and his wife. I am giving this book a 5/5 because the author made me leave the book feeling happy, even though it was not a pretty subject. I also learned a lot, about stressful situations and medically. I was given a copy to review, however all opinions are my own!
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