Do You Know Someone Who’s Struggling?
Hey there my friends,
The five-star ratings and heartfelt expressions of gratitude I’ve been receiving for Becoming Confortably Numb: A Memoir on Brain-Mending have touched me deeply, and I thank you for your support from the bottom of my heart.
It gives me even more reason to want to help others who struggle to carry a heavy weight that often no one else can see.
By sharing my trials and triumphs after two strokes, from sobbing in a wheelchair to climbing the Acropolis, I hope to inspire others to think outside the box when nurturing your body and healing your soul.
There are so many different ways to cope, and with neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to find new ways to do things, there is always hope.
That’s what I’ve experienced over the past 40 years.
After my first stroke at age 27, three months after delivering my baby girl, if anyone had told me that one day I would kayak solo (by flopping into and out of it like a harp seal) I would have muttered, “get real.”
My entire right side was a burning, stinging, heavy mass. I couldn’t find my arm and leg, nor could I tell what I was touching unless I looked at it.
I became left-handed. In rehab I limped up and down the stroke rehab ward carrying my “sandbag baby” on my left hip. It took three months, and though I came back brittle, with lots of help from my husband and so many others, I returned to my baby girl’s side.
I learned how to drive again, with a left-foot gas pedal.
It can take years and tons of patience, but it’s amazing what your mind can teach your brain.
The second stroke six years later was even more brutal. It took many years to come back, but with several innovations in treatment and surgeries I did, and I even managed to reboot my career.
And now I’m a grandma!
You don’t have to be “disabled.” You can be “differently abled.”
Then you can become even more adaptable.
If you know anyone or their caregiver who’s having a tough time dealing with an illness, an injury or too much stress in their life, this book may make them laugh, cry or even help inspire them to never say never.
PS: Please come to my book signing Saturday, November 9, from 11 am to 1 pm at Books on Beechwood, 35 Beechwood Ave. And grab a bite next door at the Scone Witch, while you’re at it.
If you can’t make it, ask for Becoming Comfortably Numb anywhere books are sold or order from this page on my site.
Happy Trails and Best Always,
Cathy 😎
