Head Cases: Stories of Brain Injury and Its Aftermath

Head Case : Interesting stories of what brain does.We feel with our heart and think with our head don't we? That is probably why people call the brain `controller' of the body. What defines us? Ego? Spirit that the creator gave to us? This book does not answer to this philosophical definition of oneself. However, this book can answer some of physiological questions what brain does for us. The author works for neurologic rehabilitation at Okla. His patients, each one of them needs some sort of medical supports not because they cannot breathe but because their environment is not the same as before. All of his patients are strangers to people around them. For who has frequent seizure, everything becomes awkward after regaining himself. The other patient lost her memory of own family, not even her beloved daughter. For these patients and their families the world suddenly becomes a desperate desert like place. They are alone different from others. This book guides us through out how they facing their reality and simple explanation of each patient's condition with physiological terms. Though it is far away from knowing every scientific background of traumatic brain injury, this book surely gives good intuition about function of our brain and aftermath of brain injuries. For those who learning neuroscience or want to learn about, this is the best book I can recommend.

I was cringing all the way through this book, horrified at the accidents and the run-around that the injured get in our pathetic excuse for a health care system. Mason doesn't go too much into neuroscientific details, but focuses instead on how the injury has affected the injured, their lives and livelihood, their friends and family, and how they have learned or failed to learn to live with their deficits. Each chapter is a biography. Some are hopeful, all are illuminating.I hope this book helps to raise public awareness about what a desperate state we are in with regards to being able to provide cost-effective care and therapy for people with TBI. Hundreds of brain-injured soldiers are coming back from Iraq and will need help integrating back into society.Brookhaven Hospital in Tulsa, where the author is based, offers care that is tailored to the needs of each individual. No two brain injuries are the same and no two roads to recovery take the same route. This type of treatment needs to be available at more facilities, and it needs to be available to everybody who needs it, not just the wealthy.Read it, give it to a friend, wear a helmet.

As someone who has suferred rom seizures since the age of 13 I was stunned by the opening chapter regarding the snowboarder who suffered a concussion, and ever since, a lifetime of seizures. He, like so many others, did not know what EPILEPSY was or what it looked or felt like. Only after (another) public seizure and being rushed to the local emergency room and going through the littany of tests (MRI, CT etc) did a neurologist tell him what he had.It was hard to read, because I am that same person - I did not know what it was either. Only until a neighbor said the word did my Mom and Dad think to look for a neurologist. I have been on medication since 13. I am now 44 and suffer from Osteoporosis as a result of side effects of the medication. Hoever, I have no choice BUT to take them,...I am still reading the book but it is a well written very somber view of neurological trauma in the US, and you do not know just how big a problem it is until you read it.

Head injuries are complex and many survivors deal with issues feeling alone and unsupported. Often, their injuries can't be seen physically on the outside. This work brings to light the many issues survivors suffer through. Healing starts with acceptance of the changes. Mason does an excellent job spotlighting different cases and individuals and the struggles they go through on a day to day basis. Many changes still need to be addressed in assisting survivors in recovery and adapting to the changes brought on by brain injury. The most important tidbit to take from this work is to protect your head at all costs. Your life really does depend on it.

I loved this book and read it in one sitting. As the mom of a TBI victim, it was an eye opening book. I felt a little disheartened by the grim reality presented by the author (he is a little gloomy .. ) but I think the book will inspire me to continue to be "a squeaky wheel" on my daughter's behalf.I have QUITE the head injury library at this point, and many are written by survivors or family members with or without the help of a "ghost writer" and i think this leads to some pretty questionable writing and some of them are really hard to get through. HEAD CASES is extremely well written, and was pleasure to read.

The author details the stories of his subjects with stark honesty and incredible compassion and empathy. His subjects are not brain injured people but rather people with brain injuries. He feircely defends their humanity throughout while never losing his own in the process.It is unfortunately necessarily gloomy at times. This is the reality of living with the injury. Each injury is different, though, as each person is different.This book also clearly illustrates how woefully inadequate and unequal to the task modern medicine is in this regard. If people are to survive this and remain people, then we, as a society, need to step up and help them do so.

I guess it speaks more about me than the author, but I wish there was something that could walk away with some call to action about what can be done. Instead I just felt really hopeless. I guess that is often the Case with TBI, but it was a very rough read. like I said its important to understand the epidemic but none the less I wish there was some sort of positive call to action to help or prevent TBI.

I didn't realise that this wasn't a book in new condition, what would probably be considered refurbished. However, this book is absolutely amazing and I would recommend this to anyone dealing with neurological problems or want to study neurology.

This was a really interesting and fascinating collection of stories. Its amazing what people can suffer and what they live with. One story really stuck with me - the young family man who had a brain bacteria which completely changed his life and not in a good way. How something like that can happen to someone and the effect on the family is almost incomprehensible. The author also talks about the 'system' he works in and the treatment options for brain injured patients. It really is sad that we live in a world that is governed by the health system and insurance. People could get much better treatment and hope of recovery if this hurdle wasn't in the way.

Ele descreve bem cada história clínica, mesmo sem ser um livro médico, de forma que o médico que lê cria uma percepção do quadro daquela pessoa. Mas o melhor do livro é ressaltar o aspecto humano daqueles que são portadores de lesões cerebrais e que lutam para reaver suas vidas.