Mayo Clinic Guide to Living with a Spinal Cord Injury

Patients with spinal cord injuries (SCI) are now having shortened hospital stays. The result of this circumstance is less time in hospital for patient education. The Mayo Clinic Guide to Living with a Spinal Cord Injury: Moving Ahead with Your Life is an outstanding educational resource for patient and family use that offers the extensive information needed to help a SCI patient on the path to recovery.

Anyone who has had a major health crisis with permanently life altering effects can attest to the mind numbing shock that occurs immediately after the doctor shares the news. Patients are deluged with information in an effort to start the healing process promptly.

Speaking from my personal experience from the day I was newly diagonsed with systemic lupus... I can vividly recall all the overwhelming changes occurring with no time for my mind to catch up. I was seeing numerous specialists, being prescribed medications, having to make abrupt lifestyle changes and being recommended books to purchase, websites to visit, handouts to read... everything getting lost in a clutters of papers because I was too confused by the immediate situation.

I wish I had had a manual like Mayo Clinic Guide to Living with a Spinal Cord Injury: Moving Ahead with Your Life . This manual takes all those informational handouts and gathers them together in a highly readable and organized manner. The emphasis for SCI treatment is patient AND family involvement for a successful rehabilitation. The handbook is written to include the patient's caregivers (who usually are family). The writing is concise and addresses topics that I would think many patients would either be too embarrassed to discuss... or wouldn't even had thought to ask questions about.

Beyond the educational value for patient and family, this book would definitely be beneficial as an instruction manual medical social workers. The book outlines a multitude of social and emotional challenges that a SCI patient and family will face. As a social worker I would definitely use this book in counseling sessions as a springboard for discussion.

(4 out of 5 stars)

Mayo Clinic Guide to Living with a Spinal Cord Injury is available at LBL Book Store

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

Mayo Clinic

http://www.mayoclinic.org/spinal-cord-injury-rehabilitation/

Paralyzed Veterans of America http://www.pva.org/site/PageServer

CLEANING UP by Tania Glyde

DATE OF RELEASE: JANUARY 2009

Cleaning Up: How I Gave Up Drinking and Lived is the frankly written personal story of author, Tania Glyde's, journey away from living with alcohol.

Actually, Tania Glyde gave up much more than alcohol. She had been a “poly drug” user, but admits in a radio interview that the book title would have just been too long to have included the list of substances she had used.

Alcohol is THE gateway drug according to Tania Glyde.

I happen to strongly agree with her. But, although her story is interesting, I could not relate.

I set aside the book and ruminated. I actually kept thinking about Glyde’s story weeks after having set it aside. I have known so many people who have struggled with alcohol. There was something nibbling about… something in her book that I missed.

I passed her book along to someone who expressed interest. The response he had to
Cleaning Up: How I Gave Up Drinking and Lived was visceral. Through his eyes Glyde’s story took on a much deeper meaning. I returned to her pages and found myself reading and re-reading whole sections.

With the driest of humor, Glyde offers tips on how to get on with giving up drinking even though society is not going to help you out with that. Glyde’s wit offers the reader friendly ways to navigate through the protestations of friends who will refuse to accept the “I’m not drinking” change. There is no self-pity here, just the truth and nothing but the painful raw truth.

Tania Glyde’s personal battle with alcohol is the same one faced by uncountable numbers of people who are “social drinkers” living in a society that encourages overindulgence. For American readers, one must be aware that binge drinking is a major problem in the United Kingdom (Alcohol Problems Costing Britain 3.3 Billion (pounds) ). Her book also addresses the “trivialization” of depression and alcoholism. Her experiences of being refused treatment are gut wrenching.

I would strongly recommend this book to any one who has asked themselves if they are a problem drinker. This book is also perfect for those on the road of sobriety who haven’t quite found their “niche” (i.e.: Alcoholics Anonymous, Support Groups, etc.). And, as I have learned through the reading of this book if you know someone who is struggling with alcohol and/or other drugs, Tania Glyde’s story may be a stepping stone to being able to discuss these challenges more openly.


(3 out of 5 stars)

Cleaning Up available at You Are What You Read Book Store

FROM THE COVER:

Imagine not drinking a bottle of wine before making a pass; not moving in like a starving cat when someone is at the bar; not apologizing for something you don’t remember doing. Once upon a time, Tania Glyde couldn’t imagine living any other way, and to the outside world she seemed fine – despite the constant hangover from drink and drugs and the bottle of vodka stashed in her handbag.

At the end of her 23 year love affair, Tania Glyde remembers her inner white wine witch and questions our powerful sense of entitlement to drink until we fall over: Cleaning Up describes why women drink, how to stop and what life after alcohol is really like.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Tania Glyde is an author and journalist. She has written two novels to date, Clever Girl and Junk DNA. Her short stories appeared in the Disco 2000 and Vox 'n' Roll anthologies. She was Time Out’s sex columnist for two years.


ADDITIONAL LINKS

Tania Glyde

Drunk for a decade: Successful novelist Tania Glyde reveals her secret battle with alcoholism Mail Online

avr from Meryl Zegarek Public Relations, Inc.

Giving Thanks by Iyanla Vanzant (Audio)

I have entered a new terrain; the world of audio books.

Our public library system now has OverDrive--Library Services which allows one to download library audio books from the comfort of the home computer.

I have gotten totally hooked.

Though, I have discovered that having fiction read aloud doesn’t work well for me. I don’t want to hear someone else interpret the characters’ voices or their pacing. I don’t want be distracted by the narrator’s vocal idiosyncrasies.

But, when I get to non-fiction works…WOW!

Put the headphones on and let those babies go!

I have been gulping down biographies, political science, business books, and on a lark I downloaded an inspirational piece from a name I am familiar with, Iyanla Vanzant, although I really couldn’t tell anyone why that name would be familiar.

The whole UNABRIDGED audio book plays through in 90 minutes. Much of this time is spent listening to the narrator (who happens to be the author) b-r-e-a-t-h-i-n-g… very, very, very…s—l—o—w—l—y.

I realized that this book was not meant for me. While listening to this woman’s pleasant voice, I felt the experience to be too intimate. Her resonant voice sliding directly into my brain via my heavy duty headphones was… um, well… embarrassingly overwhelming.

I was looking for inspiration and I got meditation.

Although her topic is quite a good idea… live life with an attitude of gratitude… reciting my gratitude for my strong healthy hips just didn’t float for me. The author also spoke of attracting the positive to one’s self.

I lurch at anything that smacks of the latest wave of “laws of attraction” in which people attract gobs of wealth to themselves. I found my mind drifting during the listening wondering if this was another one of those “you get what you deserve” mantra.

That whole wishing for stuff spirituality is older than old. I remember fondly in the 1980’s when my friend, Ellen, entered into a yoga group. I think she was seeking enlightenment. After a few of these yoga classes Ellen informed me over a glass of wine that the group was about “meditating for toasters” and other snappy household items. I laughed, she shrugged, and she avoided yoga classes for over a decade after that experience.

I sure hope that is not what Iyanla Vanzant ‘s work is about.

Unfortunately, this morning while preparing this review, I found out that the author appears on Oprah’s television show frequently.


Uh-oh.

May I mention that I have acquired an Oprah aversion? I fear that the mighty O is getting an empress complex.

So who may benefit from this audio cd?

I can think of several people.

If you are feeling down about your body image, this work is for you. If you need help with anxiety, this work is for you. If you feel overwhelmed by life, overloaded by a cascade of negative experiences to the point where you can not see one shimmer of light… yes, this would be a good one for you to listen to.

As for me and my unenlightened happy to be middle class messy big hipped self? Thanks Ms. Vazant for the reminder to be grateful for what I already have.

Amen to that!


Giving Thanks available at You Are What You Read Book Store

Last Dinner on the Titanic by Rick Archbold with Dana McCauly

The year of the Titanic.

1997.

We saw the movie THREE times at the theater. Film lovers that we are... even still, this was excessive for us. And when the video came out... bam... we bought it. I can not tell you how many times we have watched that ship sink.

What is the fixation?

We were living in the world before September 11th.

The story of the Titanic asks that great question...

How would you behave if you knew you only had moments left to live?

Would you panic?

Would you fight tooth and nail to survive?

Would you be the villian or the hero?

And the love story brought to life in James Cameron's magnificent film reignited that wonderful spark that my husband and I share. We were Jack and Rose. I was in a suffocatingly rigid life that was killing me inside. My husband was, and continues to be, the scamp who rescued me from that world and opened the door of a life of adventure to this day.

So the passion for the Titanic lives in our home.

Wanting to please my husband I bought him this book for the Christmas of 1997.

He is a gourmand, and the thought of preparing a meal worthy of the first class of many decades ago was irresistable.

He prepared the lobster thermadore from the recipes, and the vegetables... exotic to our modern tastes with an unusual combination of flavors that were the common fare of the wealthy in the turn of the last centruy.

That feast was our New Year's meal for the dawning of 1998.

We never ate one more recipe from that book.

I don't know... if you really think about the whole... it is rather morbid to be feasting on something that was literally the last meal on Earth for a bunch of folks.

I am not the first one to mention that in regards to this book.

The plight of the 1500 hundred passengers has been dimmed by post September 11th.

The Twin Towers, the Titanic of the modern era, came tumbling down on that firey day. Along with the symbol of this nation's military power at the Pentagon. And those trapped in Flight 93... I mean wouldpeople be writing recipe books about their last airline meal?

No.

But, I still recommend this book.

And, yes, do try some of the meals.

Reading about an era gone by is one thing, but to actually experience the sensations of that time through the power of taste and smell is an indescribable experience.


LEARN MORE ABOUT THE TITANIC: Titanic [Article] - World Book Online Reference Center (American English)


THE AUTHORS:


RICK ARCHBOLD: Powell's Books - Search Results
DANA McCAULY: Dana McCauley and Associates - food trends, cookbooks, concept architecture


MORE BOOKS ABOUT THE TITANIC:
Amazon.com Books: titanic
Titanic [Article] - World Book Online Reference Center (American English)


FILMS:


Titanic (1943)
Titanic (1953)
Titanic (1997)
Ghosts of the Abyss (2003)


VIDEO:


Titanic (1993) (V)


TELEVISION:


Titanic (1996) (TV)
Beyond Titanic (1998) (TV) : Details the culture of Titanicana and the films


POSTSCRIPT.... OOPSIE.


After I published this entry, much to my embarassment, my husband informed me that we have eaten SEVERAL meals from the Last Dinner on the Titanic!
Firthermore, the lobster thermadore did happen, but not the year I thought I recalled the occurence.
Such is the spongy memory of a drifty reader.
:)

Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt

Bookreporter.com - Author Profile: Frank Mccourt


July 1999.

That summer was blistering hot and full of anticipation. Waiting for my beautiful son to arrive into our arms from Korea.

I had just finished up working full time in a children's Day Treatment program. I wanted the summer to "nest"...

to prepare for my son's arrival.

I spent the past two years of my social work career, day after day, listening to the stories of children.

Suffering.

And when permitted the children would allow me to enter their world and join them on their healing journey.

This work provided the daily miracles that can so easily be missed in any other setting.

Kids laugh, they pull pranks, they love to open gifts, they are still just kids in spite of the worst that humanity can toss at them.

Not even three weeks out from this counseling job, I picked up Angela's Ashes.

I don't know why... I just did.

In Frank McCourt's book, I found comfort. I found that optimism grows like a lotus flower out of the mud. I found the voice of an angel in the poverty stricken dirty streets of Limerick. I found the voices of all those kids who spilled their secrets behind my closed office door... lightening their load while I tried my best to make their world better... one kid at a time.

Frank McCourt is a ruddy angel with an acerbic wit and a gift for seeing things as they truly are.

I love ruddy angels.

This is a book that needs to be on everyone's to read list.

Yes, it is that good.


-----------------------------------------------------


Heaven has itself a ruddy angel... Frank McCourt died today, July 19, 2009. Thank you, Mr. McCourt for sharing your life and your wisdom, you will truly be missed.

NEWS REPORT: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8158451.stm

BOOK SUMMARY: Bookreporter.com - ANGELA'S ASHES by Frank McCourt

READING GUIDE: Reading Group Guide ANGELA'S ASHES by Frank McCourt

FILM: Angela's Ashes (1999)