Over My Head could be to traumatic brain injury what Oliver Sacks' The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat is to neurology, or The Cracker Factory is to alcoholism recovery. It is a triumphant story about coming to terms with profound loss and rebuilding a happy, productive life. The author, a 42-year-old doctor and clinical professor of medicine, describes the aftermath of a brain injury nine years ago that stripped her of her beloved profession and her livelihood, and for years deprived her of intellectual companionship and the ability to handle the simplest undertakings including reading a book, shopping for groceries, or sorting the mail.
She finds help when she is admitted into the prominent Head Trauma Program, a part of the New York University Medical Center Rusk Institute.
Her progression from confusion, dysfunction, and alienation to a full, happy life is told with restraint, great style, and considerable humor. Scenes such as the great meltdown, her urology exam, her hilarious practice job, and a graduation luncheon at a Chinese restaurant with her rehabilitation peers will make you laugh out loud.
Just as powerful is the other side of her story -- coming to grips with what she and her eleven fellow trainees lost and can never have back. Through their daily adventures and struggles, we learn the effect of scrambled neurons in thatawesome computer called the brain.
In non-medical language, we are introduced to the process of rehabilitation and the techniques for coping with daily living. It is a story made all the more poignant because of the restraint in its telling, and the genuine absence of self-pity.
