I'm M.D. Birmingham and to be honest I haven't been able to do much leisure reading since Feb 11th, 2007. The year of 2007 after awakening (emerging & merging) from my 63 day non-responsive coma reading wasn't an ability that I was easily capable to do. It's not because I couldn't read and comprehend (as with illiteracy), or my earlier stages of hand dexterity deficits (no gross motor skills). It wasn't because of shortened attention span due to stimuli overload; it was my double vision (best generally explained as a side effect from my coma and injury nature of DAI). Whether it was a large magazine page or typically sized book, whenever I looked at the words on the page it was like staring at a “wordsearch.” All the letters were jumbled on the page and it took much consistent effort to retrain my vision to follow the page line by line; along with my mind. Aside from books and pages with writing, typical exit signs and labels with writing (on doors, etc) that I encountered in my "world" (inpatient hospitalized stay) were seen either as a “wordsearch” or double. The double vision caused the same object to appear as you would see if you were to cross your eyes while reading this. One set of the writing is slightly off to the other side (left or right) and a bit lower than its "twin." I did overcome this challenge through the help of time and creating my own strategies to no longer see double but only one object (like 1year olds or younger, vision tests were obviously not possible). Needless to say, that was only one challenge I overcame to write my own autobiography titled Getting There... and yes I did type it entirely prior to submitting as a galley; along with this whole message. For other groups that I belong to I will cut and paste this information regarding the topic question of introducing myself as it is truth to who I am. During the final days to my book’s “being” before becoming "live" to the public I made the website www.getting-therebook.com which contains links to the web address (photos, etc) mentioned in the book. You are welcome to follow my trail of "crumbs" that will lead you to both desire more and satiation.

Hello to all and I'd like to begin by thanking you for allowing me to be a member of this group to share with its members and whom ever stumbles across this group. I would like to add to what "Sturgis" wrote by saying that at some point during our lives we are all guilty of "overlooking." We overlook things as though the possibility of "it" occuring to us is an "impossibility." My autobiography titled Getting There...(The story within the life becoming the life within the story) tells of a one in a billion experience that is for both injured and non-injured people. After closed head Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI where cranium is not broken), Spinal Cord Injury (SCI fractures and dislocation to vertebrae C5, C6, C7, & T1), Diffuse Axonal Injury (DAI), 63 days of non-responsive coma, the options for me by the surgeon was to be a vegetable or dead, but I am here writing you with the belief that my experience needs be "shared." It is important not because of the rarity of my recovery from the fatal injury I received on Feb 11th, 2007. The autobiography is more than a “simple” account of my injury. It is best understood as the fact that as long as I am alive breathing on my own accord, it is enough reason to know that life is worth living. The breath of life to see and enjoy the gift of a new day exemplifies nothing less than true love. It would only be wrong of me to “overlook” my gracious gift and think of it as something taken for granted and expectedly deserved. I want you to know that the book best describes the most important strategy involved in my recovery; optimism/hope. view pics and bk info at www.getting-therebook.com or view my FB page Getting There. It's availability for purchase can be found within the website (direct, amazon, barnes and noble, and soon borders).

A year ago, I had heart surgery to repair the Mitral Valve in my heart. I used to think that was for people much older than me. Not so, it can happen to anyone. My book I believe is a look back at the perspective of not only my experiences, but my family as well during this very trying time. I would really appreciate your constructive feedback on my capturing these thoughts and transforming them into something that anyone who reads this could benefit from. http://stores.lulu.com/store.php?fAcctID=49414981 Thank you - Sturgis