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Endless Journey: A Head-trauma Victim's Remarkable Rehabilitation

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Dr. Janet A. Stumbo's fascinating book is about one woman's search for treatment. Dr. Stumbo-a veterinarian practicing in Australia-was in a car crash that left her partially blind, in great pain and with short-term memory problems. Soon after the crash, her husband divorces her and she must use all her strength and determination to procure the rehabilitation she needs. She is determined there must be some help for her vision (one of her greatest joys was veterinary surgery). Her search leads her to behavioral optometry and she does, in fact, regain much of her sight. The book is extraordinary in detailing her therapies and recovery. Anyone who wants to begin to understand the rehabilitation for someone with a brain injury should read this book.

Endless Journey:A Head-trauma Victim's Remarkable Rehabilitation 2nd edition
Dr. Janet A. Stumbo
Copyright 1998 OEP Foundation, Inc. ISBN 0-943299-26-1 196 pages

Reviewed by Janice M. McMahon, OD
Illinois College of Optometry

Dr. Janet Stumbo was a veterinarian in Australia when she was involved in a car accident that resulted in traumatic brain injury. This book is her account of life after a catastrophic event.

Beginning with the preface in this second edition, the reader is able to gain a sense of how long, grueling, and ultimately rewarding her recovery process has been. Dr. Stumbo speaks of the anger inherent in the first edition and how, in the eight years since that time, she has learned to better accept her life and has discovered new possibilities and hope in her future. Turn one page and immediately encounter excerpts from the police accident report and the neurosurgeon's report, a technique that is used throughout the book as a means of detailing the objective and clinical findings that correspond to the author's memory and journey. Initially these various reports paint a bleak and formidable picture, but as the years (and story) progress, we gain a sense of how far the author has come in her recovery when contrasted with the content of these medical reports.

Dr. Stumbo's severe head injuries resulted in immediate brain damage, amnesia of the traumatic event, permanent short term memory impairment, debilitating headaches, and loss of vision and visual field, among many other diagnoses. Her struggles with memory loss and the frustration of dealing with not remembering people, places, and events are written with striking forcefulness and leave a particularly strong impression on the reader. Perhaps because of this memory loss, some portions of the book do read somewhat disjointedly. I did also find the end of chapter notes distracting. Too smooth a writing style, however, would actually belie the difficulties and struggles which have been numerous in her recovery, and the written cadence is an ongoing reminder of the reality of her situation.

Many medical specialties play roles in addressing the needs of patients with traumatic brain injury. Dr. Stumbo includes notes from neurosurgeons, ophthalmologists, radiologists, dental surgeons, chiropractors, speech pathologists, psychiatrists, and other physicians who treated or assessed her condition. She also details how optometry, in particular behavioral optometry and optometric vision therapy, allowed her to regain not only better vision, but an increased ability to track the written word and regain binocularity. These visual skills formed a foundation upon which she was better able to learn and master new information. She also notes how decisively vital a role optometric vision therapy played in her overall recovery.

Endless Journey is a raw, emotional foray into the recovery process of a patient with traumatic brain injury. It brings to the forefront the innate struggles with everyday tasks and the depression and grief faced by people whose lives have instantly and involuntarily been thrown into upheaval. Dr. Stumbo has gradually rebuilt a life after her accident; hopefully her journey will educate and aid those who read it.

Optometry & Vision Development Editor's Note:
This book review is re-printed here with the permission of the editor of Optometry & Vision Development, the official journal of the College of Optometrists in Vision Development. For additional book reviews on a variety of topics, please go to [...] and choose any of the OVD issues available, then check the table of contents to see what book reviews are pulished in each journal. Optometry & Vision Development is indexed in the Directory of Open Access Journals and is available to the public at no charge.
Dominick M. Maino, OD, MEd, FAAO, FCOVD-A, Editor
dmaino@ico.edu