By Janet M. Cromer

This book chronicles the seven year journey Janet shared with her husband after a massive heart attack and cardiac arrest left Alan with a severe anoxic brain injury. In an instant, the brilliant physics professor and prolific author lost his abilities to read, write, walk, talk, think, and remember. With intensive rehabilitation and ongoing cognitive rehab with janet at home, Alan did regain his essential abilities to varying degrees. 

In a memoir brimming with information, Janet describes how the couple composed a new life with meaning and gusto. While a full recovery was not possible, Alan made an equally valuable “Best Choice Recovery” by making the most of every opportunity to learn, contributing to others, and finding new ways to enjoy life.

The story is told from both Alan’s perspective, and Janet’s perspective as his caregiver. She honestly explores the changes in their relationship, ambiguous  loss and grief, caregiver stress, and the process of empowerment and reinvention. The challenges faced and coping strategies shared are relevant to families of adult survivors of all types of brain injury.

About the Author:

Janet M. Cromer is a psychiatric RN, licensed psychotherapist, support group facilitator, educator, and advocate. She speaks widely at conferences, hospitals, support groups, and community events. 

As a freelance writer, Janet specializes in feature articles for publications serving healthcare professionals, patients, and the public. The American Medical Writers Association/NE Chapter awarded Janet a Solimene Award for Excellence in Medical Writing in 2006 and 2008.

Janet also writes personal essays and poetry. As a Registered Art Therapist (ATR), she encourages people to get in touch with their creativity in any form or media. Creativity is much more than an artistic process and product. Creativity is the energy, goodwill, and attitude we bring to daily life.

You may  contact Janet at janetcromer2@gmail.com or visit her web site at http://janetcromer.com/

Professor Cromer Learns to Read: A Couple’s New Life after Brain Injury

By Janet M. Cromer

Professor Cromer Learns to Read: A Couple’s New Life after Brain Injury is the recipient of a Solimene Award for Excellence in Medical Communication and Neal Duane Award of Distinction from the American Medical Writers Association – NE Chapter.

To order, click here!

By J. Lynne Mann, R. Psych. with Michael Rossiter

This guide discusses the emotional trauma and process of healing and recovery that is often overlooked in treatment and rehabilitation of adults with brain injury or stroke. It is based on the belief that it is not only the survivor of brain injury who needs to recover, but also the survivor’s family and friends and most importantly, the caregiver. Written by a mental health therapist and a parent/caregiver, the focus is on practical methods and information for helping people with acquired brain injuries move forward in their lives. The authors give clear explanations with useful strategies that families and survivors can use every day. Worksheets and instructional aides are included in each chapter.

For further information, see below: 

After Brain Injury: Tools for Living: A Step-By-Step Guide for Caregivers and Survivors

By J. Lynne Mann, R. Psych. with Michael Rossiter

The comprehensive how-to guide for psychological wellness after traumatic brain injury or stroke covers understanding the self, recovering emotionally, thinking in new ways, and changing behavior.  

Pocket Guide for After Brain Injury: Tools for Living

By J. Lynne Mann, R. Psych. with Michael Rossiter

This small bound reference guide contains all the concepts in the larger book, After Brain Injury: Tools for Living. It serves as a reminder system for survivors. Clear pictures and descriptions of key concepts in growth and healing are in the Pocket Guide for reminders of information and strategies. Its 3.5 by 5.5 inch size fits easily into a pocket or purse for easy carrying and regular use.

 By Mark Palmer

Is a concise, helpful book for survivors of TBI—or any life-threatening trauma or illness—and their family members, friends, and health care practitioners. Written by a TBI survivor and coach, the book cautions against expectations of a “return to normal” in favor of a more realistic hope: start where you are and strive to be a little better every day. Moving personal stories and practical tips help survivors and their families weather the acute crisis and understand the lifelong journey ahead.

About the Author

Mark Palmer had a traumatic brain injury 40-something years ago, when he was broadsided by a Detroit city bus, and has been rebuilding his life ever since. After 15 surgeries, countless rounds of physical, speech, and other therapies, and years spent refusing to fully accept the extent of his disabilities, Mark has persevered. He has parlayed the lessons learned from his TBI into success as an entrepreneur, CEO, sales executive, and coach–showing companies, sales teams, and individuals how to exceed their loftiest goals. Although Mark has never regained his pre-accident “normal,” he has lived a remarkable life–a possibility he extends to all TBI victims by offering them Realistic Hope: that by accepting their “new normal” they can begin the journey of recovery and live a happy, fulfilling life.

For more information go to Mark’s website at http://realistichope.com 

Realistic Hope: Aspirations for Survivors of Traumatic Brain Injury 

By Mark Palmer

To order click here!

Developed by Dr. Jeff Kreutzer and Dr. Stephanie Kolakowsky-Hayner at the National Resource Center for Traumatic Brain Injury, this series of 3 workbooks voices the many thoughts, feelings, and reactions that survivors, families and caregivers experience but too often do not talk about after brain injury.

Filled with candid discussions, personal insights, and  revelations, both the positive and negative aspects and experiences of survivors and families reveal and explore the complexity and challenges of living a fulfilling life after brain injury. 

The three areas addressed in the series are:

• rebuilding life after brain injury
• living with caregiving
• and exploring work after brain injury

Written in large print with lots of checklists, worksheets, and questionnaires, users will find these workbooks uniquely reflect the real life experiences of the many survivors, caregivers and families who helped develop their content.  There are also plenty of useful strategies, tips, and suggestions that survivors, families and caregivers can readily use to address the many challenges of living a full life.
 
With each workbook organized by 25 great ideas, you will find them a real treasure of information and tools for, as the titles say, living smarter and happier after brain injury.  The workbooks are:

Getting Better and Better after Brain Injury: A guide for survivors for living smarter and happier

This innovative guide provides a framework to help survivors understand recovery, feel better, accomplish more, and improve relationships. Getting better is a skill. Like most skills, improvement comes with practice and hard work.

Getting Better and Better after Brain Injury: A guide for families, friends and caregivers for living smarter and happier

This down-to-earth guide is packed with practical ideas to help those who want to help — family members, friends, and others — but are not sure how.  Taking a frank and pragmatic approach to the stresses, challenges and rewards of caregiving for family and relationships with friends, it is filled with practical suggestions and real life experiences with techniques and coping strategies that caregivers, friends and families have found effective.

Brain Injury Work Book: A guide for living and working productively

With candid discussions of the pros and cons of working after brain injury and the attitudes and barriers of employers, this workbook helps survivors and families sort through the options of going back to the same job, finding a new job, or not going back to work.

a Traumatic Brain Injury Patient

By Terry Smith

My skull was crushed. I was dead. When I came back to life, reality became a psychedelic dream inside billions of bolts of lightening happening everywhere at the same time. This unimaginable constant sound inside my head still trumpets like a symphonic horn section gone mad forever. Only those who hear the sound understand this mysterious reality medically called Tinnitus (defined as: a continual noise in the ear, e.g., a ringing or roaring, usually caused by damage to the hair cells of the inner ear).

If you hear the phantom, become accustomed to its presence and your loss of hearing. Some of us are unable to think, speak, walk or feed ourselves. Some of us are alive because of machines. Others of us are walking, talking, producing, and writing phenomenon’s of life. We head injured exist in great numbers and are growing. This current war in the Middle East has produced in the USA, as of this writing date reported by The Department of Veteran’s Affairs, more than 170,000 head traumas. This is in addition to the usual civilian millions per year. This story is written to help deal with the growth rate of staggering deaths and mental deficiency in our world; both from accidents and combat.

This book is for those who have experienced this skull-awakening shock and for those who love one of us and are dealing with a mystical new person. Doctors will also hopefully be encouraged from something learned. Smith and I were in a ghastly truck accident at United States Marine Corps Officer Candidate School (OCS), Quantico, Virginia, 20 July 1984. I finally understood what he meant after I was hurled at 65 miles an hour from a 3-ton tumbling truck. He talked about sacred life when he was alive. Now, I’m sorry that I did not always listen. I was too busy in my physical real world to hear his theoretical, theological, metaphysical, supernatural philosophy.

Sometimes, you can see the end of life coming in a long grave illness. Dying can also take less than a whole second. Being alive, heroic and healthy with a gleaming future can turn into death before the complete blink of an eye. People die with open eyes everyday. Rose and Smith did not see death coming when they died before blinking. Rose was from California. He dreamed of a sparkling military future. Smith and I were from Florida. We, too, were well adorned for a brilliant star filled career. Smith said that he would one day remove his stars and become Chief in Command of The United States of America. The President. I have no doubt that he would have done just that. That’s the kind of person he was. Sometimes, though, life does not always unfold the way you plan, no matter how ambitious, talented, or genius you are.

On route 619 at 13 hundred hours that July day, a three-ton troop carrier was bouncing around the curves of Quantico extraordinarily fast. Twenty Marine Officer Candidates in the back of the truck were gravely aware of the excessive speed. When the vehicle swerved off the hard narrow winding road onto the rough narrow shoulder, unsuspecting young men saw disaster’s eyes in flashing horror. Three tons of steel traveling in excess of sixty-five miles per hour flipped four and a half times on the unbreakable road. One hundred and seventy-nine feet later, the trampled vehicle came to an upside-down calamitous freeze. The top half of the truck was crushed like a clay toy. Only the burning fire of the canvas top and the remaining spinning wheels could be heard.

Slowly, human sounds of moan and pain came from bodies strewn along the path and inside the wreckage. Nature took a deep breath of silence. The fire was extinguished by those who were thrown yet strong enough to use uniforms to smother the flames. A part of myself died that day.

To learn more about Terry, click here.

Surviving Head Trauma

By Terry Smith

ISBN-13: 9781440176449

108 pages

Published date: October 2009

Order at http://www.terrysmithbooks.com./order%20form.htm

By Rebekah Vandergriff, LMSW ~ 2008

Rebekah Vandergriff takes a “head on” approach to living with a brain injury. By sharing her personal fears, struggles, and challenges, she gives readers an inside view into what it is like to live with a brain injury.  

Despite grim predictions for her recovery, she progressed from learning to walk and talk again to achieving a master’s degree in social work and raising a family. By revealing her family’s reactions and involvement from her early days in rehabilitation to her struggles at home and in the community for independence and self-reliance, she reveals dynamics of siblings and parents.  

It’s more than a documentary on brain injury treatment and rehabilitation. Exploring the changes in her thinking and reasoning, her social skills, and her emotions, she demonstrates this affected her self image and self esteem. She and her family experienced trials and conflicts discovering this new world of brain injury.

She explores the impact of her brain injury on dating and friendships. Becoming a parent changed her life completely again as she moved from being the person who was cared for to caring for her daughter. Going to college added new goals and direction to her life as she looked for work and established a career.

Order “What Day Is It?”

by sending a check of $14.95 + $2.55 shipping = $17.50

to: Rebekah Vandergriff

PO BOX 4446

Overland Park, KS 66204-0046

To listen to the author describe her journey and recovery,

 click here: What Day Is It  

Selecting a Rehabilitation Facility 

By Garry Prowe

What to do first?

You face a maze of urgent, complicated, and time-consuming medical, insurance, financial, legal, family, and personal issues. You have so many questions and you’re not sure where to turn for help. This book—which is based upon the experiences of hundreds of people living with a brain injury, their families, and the medical professionals who treat them—will answer many of your questions. It will teach you:

• The basics of brain injury and the recovery and rehabilitation processes
• The wide range of impairments caused by a brain injury
• Ways to make this stressful and exhausting time easier for you and your family
• What you need to know about health insurance and disability pay
• How a case manager and an attorney can help you
• The factors that influence how well someone recovers from a brain injury
• How to access the wide range of resources available to the families of brain injury survivors

“A brain injury is a devastating, life-altering experience for the patient and the family. As a trauma surgeon for the last thirty years, I see distraught families desperate for comprehensive and easy-to-read information about what the future holds. Successfully Surviving a Brain Injury answers most of their questions in a compassionate and thorough manner. This book is a must read for everyone who wants to confront, understand, and overcome the challenges of living with a brain injury.”

Lawrence Lottenberg, M.D. Associate Professor of Surgery and Anesthesiology, Trauma Medical Director, University of Florida College of Medicine

Successfully Surviving a Brain Injury: A Family Guidebook

By Garry Prowe

Order at www.BrainInjurySuccess.org

ISBN: 978-0-9841974-3-9

246 pages

$17.95

Brain Injury Success Books, Gainesville Florida

All profits from this book will be donated to organizations that support brain injury survivors in the U.S. and Canada.

Book of poetry on loss after brain injury

By Philip Hasouris

When his wife, Linda, sustained a devastating anoxic brain injury, poetry became a vehicle for Philip Hasouris to express his losses, anguish and hope as he struggled to make sense of their altered lives and relationship. 

Families who are touched by brain injury are often isolated and do not have the opportunity to share thoughts, feelings, or experiences with others who have been through it.  With this book, they are no longer alone.  The rest of us will stop and think.

To experience Hasouris’ sensitive and personal words is to become part of this poet’s life.  It is a new and difficult life but one that he is working very hard to adjust to and improve.  From the poem Now and then…

Your name is Linda
this is your house
you painted this room
you have two daughters
their names are Caitlin and Sarah
you, their beautiful mother.
I remember for you

Mr. Hasouris has an amazing ability to capture a moment and feeling with the perfect juxtaposition of words to transport the reader into his living room and his heart.  He takes such care with every word and every phrase in every poem to make the reader feel the emotional upheaval caused by this ax of brain injury that has split the natural progressions of a loving life together.

This collection of poems will enlighten and enrich not only those who are living this journey of brain injury but also the rest of the world who will look at their friends and families going through such a journey with new respect and empathy.  It will change the way the rest of us think, behave, and look at life.

Excerpt from section From life Before by Sandra Topalian, Brain Injury Association of Massachussetts

Order at http://hasouris.homestead.com/Home.html

Poetry, Softcover, 100 pages

Beachcomber Press, MA

© 2009   ISBN  978-0-9840679-0-9

Price $15

By Dixie Fremont-Smith Coskie

This special book about a child’s traumatic brain injury is aptly titled UNTHINKABLE. Facing possible death or life-long disabilities of her child in the early days of hospital care and medical treatment, this mother reveals her fears as she faces an uncertain future.  

After her son’s traumatic brain injury, Dixie Coskie and her family move from horror and despair to find hope, healing, and even greater love.  The simplest of things have new importance —when her son is able to blink his eyelids again, lift his finger, utter a word.  This book on surviving brain injury from a family’s perspective is powerful, moving and very real. Not only are the emotions of parents explored and revealed, but siblings are included as well.

This book will provide emotional support, hope and guidance for other families whose child has had a brain injury.  The tips for caregivers are especially useful with practical suggestions for support, communication, coping, stress reduction and problem solving at all stages of care and recovery after traumatic brain injury.  It is also highly recommended for direct care staff and professionals as it provides insights into the emotional trauma that inevitably accompanies the physical and medical trauma of brain injury.

 Order at www.DixieCoskie.com

ISBN: 978-1-932279-10-8,

224 pages

$17.99

Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing, Deadwood Oregon.

Barbara Stahura and Susan Schuster, M.A., CCC-SLP

This workbook has been developed specifically for survivors of brain injury and blast injury. Based on journaling workshops led by the authors for survivors of traumatic brain injury, it is filled with journaling exercises.  They guide the user through examining and expressing the many ways that the brain injury has affected and altered their lives. Vignettes by individuals give it a personal touch and also serve as examples of journaling.

Breaking it down into sections, users explore…

• changing sense of self
• loss, memory and resilience
• altered relationships with family and friends
• anger and emotions
• grief and loss
• facing the future
• building hope
• moving forward

Journaling is a proven therapeutic tool used to explore one’s inner self by expressing emotions, confronting fears, relieving anxiety, coping with stress, celebrating successes, and preparing for new challenges. By writing for only a few minutes at a time, journalers can heal and cope with crises due to illness, death, or any life-altering event.

After her husband, Ken Willingham, sustained a traumatic brain injury in 2003, she created a journaling workshop for people with brain injury and began co-facilitating it with Susan B. Schuster. Those workshops were the basis for After Brain Injury: Telling Your Story.

After Brain Injury: Telling Your Story, A Journaling Workbook

By Barbara Stahura and Susan B. Schuster, M.A., CCC-SLP

This workbook guides survivors of brain injury and blast injury through the powerful healing experience of telling their own stories with simple journaling techniques. By writing short journal entries, survivors explore the challenges, losses, changes, emotions, adjustments, stresses, and milestones as they rebuild their lives.