-
Dexamethasone. Kepra. Rage. Sleeplessness. Impatience.
I meditate. Take calming breaths. Read, nap, chat. It isn’t fair to lash out at anyone — but it’s so hard to keep the lid on. Kepra reduces the likelihood of seizures and leads to emotional instability. The dexamethasone is a cortico-steroid use to reduce brain inflammation … and leads to disordered sleep, anxiety, and […]
-
Seizures Suck
July 2023. Started having seizures. Learned it was brain cancer. June 2024. Surgeries successful. Radiation successful. Immunotherapy successful. But I had a seizure while riding a bike. Hundreds of people on the Bronx River Parkway, closed for cyclists Sunday. I’m eternally grateful to the people who matter-of-factly helped me off the bike and onto the […]
-
Reading with Brain Damage
The first book I read after brain surgery was Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood. You don’t know me well enough to understand how incongruous that is. I read cyberpunk, travelogues, dark mystery novels, and math journals. Not romance novels with a science bent. But here’s the thing. Hazelwood writes clearly. There are only […]
Here’s my reading list as I worked through the first year of recovery.
- Left Neglected. Lisa Genova (2011). Fictional first-person narrative of the struggle to come to grips with living after TBI
- Where is the Mango Princess? A Journey Back from Brain Injury. Cathy Crimmins (2001). TBI from the point of view of the caregiver.
- Lifting Heavy Things: Healing Trauma One Rep at a Time. Laura Khoudari (2021). Recovering from trauma using strength training.