"To rewire body, mind and spirit after a brain injury requires lots of helpers." This book helps

loved ones learn the why, what and how of rewiring the brain and all of the body systems from

the perspective of a long-term survivor. The author begins by recounting her motor vehicle

accident and what her life was like prior to her accident. After a chapter on Brain 101 written

in user friendly text and with visuals, Ms. Dolen, provides a summary of the main points

of the chapter with some friendly do's and don'ts. She notes most importantly that, while

 medical personnel are concerned first and foremost with the physical recovery of the person,

there is more to the person's recovery or climb up that mountain of rehabilitation. Often once

the body has physically recovered, it is thought that the person is healed. She addresses all

of the different types of rewiring that need to take place: physical, nutritional, cognitive,

body-mind and spirit, social, vocational, spiritual and emotional; it was the chapter on the

emotional rewiring that I read and read over and over. "Brain injury survivors' deepest

wounds are invisible and hidden - at times even from themselves."

The book touched a chord within me. I am not the loved one, but I am the one living with the

brain injury and like Ms. Dolen, I too was a middle school teacher. As I read through the book

I felt as though I was reading my own story about my own struggles to climb back up that

mountain. Often I have to go back and reread the previous chapter to where I left off to

remember what it is that I was reading. I enjoyed going back through the book and the

different chapters. Often interspersed with the text/content of the chapter is her narrative

explaining where she herself was at that point. The italicized text makes it easy for the reader

to see where she is paralleling her life at that point to the content being presented. It also for

me as the reader personalized the information being presented. I often found myself doing

two things as I read through this book. One is that I would go back just to find her narratives

so I could read them again as they provided some reassurance to me that my experiences

similar to hers were real and needed validation. The second thing I found myself doing is

going to the end of each chapter to read the summary and main points of what the brain

injured person was like in that area of rewiring and how the loved one could facilitate the

rewiring with practical suggestions.

I almost want to carry this book around with me so that when I am doing something awkward

or there is silence in my response as I struggle to think, I can say "see this book proves that I

may do those awkward things or there may be an awkward silence as I try to figure something

out, that I am okay." I will put this book back on the shelf of the lending library for others so

they can see themselves and how to climb that mountain or so that their loved ones can be

the safety belt in getting the survivor to the peak of the mountain. I did however, order for

myself the companion to this book, Brain Injury Rewiring for Survivors and cannot wait for it to

arrive.