a stroke survivor story

I must say that it looks great. I will have some people look over it to make sure that there are no corrections that need to be made, but, assuming that everything is okay, it should only take a few weeks to get the final product. This is a very exciting time for me. Again, if you are interested in buying a copy, please let me know.

As I near the end of the process for publishing my book, "Living the Life of a Miracle", Hannah Crawford, my editor, asked a very good question: Do I just want to do word of mouth advertising or do I want to hire a publicist that will arrange book signings, speaking engagements, etc. for me. If I hire a publicist, does that not carry with the connotation that I am willing to do more than just "dabble around" with speaking engagements and book signings? I guess what I am asking, then, is for those of you what have followed my blog for a long time to give me some input: should I hire a publicist or be content with word of mouth advertising? I am truly interested to know your thoughts.

I have found some interesting pictures...I have a copy of the scans from after my surgery. The first picture will be of a healthy cerebellum; the second will be a picture of my cerebellum. The areas that are white show areas that have been removed. The third picture will be of a healthy brain stem; the fourth will be my brain stem. The larger and smaller white spots are areas that show the stroke in the stem. As I have said before, the neuro-surgeon told my family that, normally, when the brain swells to the point that the brain stem is compressed resulting in ONE brain stem stroke, you normally do not recover; however, when there are TWO strokes, and the bigger one is quite large, there was no hope given for any significant recovery.

I signed the contract for my new book, "Living the Life of a Miracle"; it should be done by early to mid June. I am quite excited to get things done. It will be available in bookstores or directly from me for $15 ($12 for the book and $3 for shipping and handling). Please note your name, address and number of copies. Please make the checks payable to New Covenant Church and mail the payments to "Living the Life of a Miracle - 1510 West Madison - Knoxville, IA 50138". Always remember - Life is a gift!

These are some of the notes from the Disability exam: 12/12/08 MRI of the brain and skull reported craniectomy changes of the posterior fossa; extensive areas of infarction of the cerebellar hemispheres in the PICA distribution as well as the pons and middle cerebellar penduncles. 4/23/09 VA neurology note: noted to have mild nystagmus on lateral gaze and mild 6th cranial nerve palsy with slight left facial droop. 1/6/1 1 DIAGNOSES: Stroke, affecting the bilateral cerebellum and pons, due to dissected vertebral artery, with the residuals of: fatiguing, mild dysphagia, mild aphasia, left hemiparesis with mild weakness and fatiguing and lack of endurance of left extremities, episodic tremors, episodic dizziness, headache from occipital muscle tension headaches, intermittent tinnitus. Although there is no evidence of damage to cranial nerve VI nor VII per se; the veteran has had damage to the pons, the area where the cranial nerves originate, the dizziness and tinnitus are consistent wi...

I came across the "official" diagnosis from my stroke: Essential dissection of vertebral artery resulting in bilateral cerebellar infarctions involving the pica distribution, hydrocephalus and posterior fossa swelling, extensive PICE infarcts of the bilateral cerebellar hemispheres. Decision made to proceed with craniectomy due to swelling that was causing compression of the brain stem. operation report indicates a burr hole . The suboccipital region was exposed, a series of burr holes were placed in this region and then working side to side decrompression was accomplished with removing successive segments of bone, once the necrotic tissue was removed the cavity was ultimately closed with the use of dural patches allowing the dura to balloon slightly outward in order to accommodate any future swelling in the area of the posterior crainial fossa bilaterally. There are other interesting tidbits that will be posted later, but this might give a little insight into the severity o...