Lately I have been choosing to read memoirs over novels, seeking inspiration in real-life stories. No matter what his/her background is, each author imparts wisdom and inspiration in his/her life story. While "Left Neglected" is a novel, it read like a memoir due to its first person narrative and the author's first hand knowledge/experience with the subject material.
The subject material is "left neglect" a neurological condition that occurs as a result of right-hemisphere stroke, hemorrhage or as in the main character's case, traumatic brain injury. Patients with left neglect involuntarily ignore information on their left side, which often includes lack of awareness of the left side of their bodies. ( I remember learning about this condition during my adult motor disorders course in graduate school.) Examples of behaviors exhibited by patients with left neglect include: difficulty moving the left side of their bodies (which results in difficulty with walking and performing routine tasks, such as dressing), not "seeing" objects or people on their left and incomplete output (for example, only drawing "half" of an object, difficulty reading).
Lisa Genova is a neuroscientist at Harvard University. This is her second novel. Her first novel, "Still Alice"
is one of my favorite reads of last year. It chronicles the progression of a middle-aged woman with Alzheimer's Disease. I was fascinated and saddened as I observed the gradual deterioration of her mind and its affect on her loved ones. In "Left Neglect" the main character also goes through physiological, emotional and life-shifting changes; however, a major difference exists between the two characters lives. In "Still Alice", Alzheimer's causes Alice to lose control of her life as her mind deteriorates; the end result is despair.
In "Left Neglect", Sarah's traumatic brain injury initially disrupts her life; however, through rehabilitative care and determination she makes signficant gains and creates a new life for herself; the end result is hope.
The first few chapters of the novel reveal Sarah's life before her traumatic brain injury. A working mother of three, she juggles motherhood with a demanding professional career.
"I juggle a lot of balls-expensive, fragile, heavy, irreplaceable balls. And just when I think I've got as many in the air as I could possibly handle, one partner will throw me another...There are days when there is no room for error, no time to pee, no extra minutes to squeeze one more of anything out of me. On those days, I feel like a balloon blown to capacity, ready to burst."
While driving to work one day and simultaneously attempting to make a phone call, she loses control of her car. This results in a traumatic brain injury in the right hemisphere in which she loses her capacity to attend to her left as she verbalizes to her doctor:
"Intellectually, I understand that there's a left side of the plate, but it is not part of my reality. I can't look at the left side of the plate because it is not there. There is no left side. I feel like I'm looking at the whole plate."
Sarah spends several weeks in a rehab. hospital following her accident. As a therapist, I enjoyed reading about the different therapy strategies (such as visual- painting her left nails a bright color, jewelry on her left hand, tactile- sponge baths). The novel sensitively unravels the stages Sarah goes through as she comes to terms with her condition (denial, acceptance/self-awareness, anger, frustration, fear, determination, hope) through anecdotal recounts of events. For example, the frustration she feels when she realizes the difficulty performing routine tasks (such as going to the bathroom, eating, dressing) to the fear she feels with the uncertainty of her prognosis.
The more therapy I have, the more I realize that this is not a math equation. No one will give me any guarantees...I can work as hard as I've always worked at everything I've ever done, and it might not be any more effective than just lying here and praying. I've been doing both.
Despite the uncertainty, she persists with therapy and has a poignant revalation at the time of discharge, which elevates her spirits-
I go back to the poster. Something is different...The picture is of two hands, not one. And the hands aren't clenched into individual fists, ready for battle. The hands are clasped together. Holding hands. And the word above the hand isn't Attitude. The word above the holding hands is Gratitude.
I start to cry, loving this poster that I'd been looking at all wrong. I think about Heidi (her therapist) and Bob and the kids and my mother and all the help and love I've been given and all I have...I'm going home today, unable to copy a whole cat but able to see this whole poster, filled with gratitude.
As Sarah re-adjusts her life at home, the novel delves into her relationships with her mother who has come to help take care of her and who her son, who has recently been diagnosed with ADD. These relationships play a vital role in her healing process. Her mother's devotion and love as Sarah's primary caregiver brings Sarah to forgive her mother for a painful childhood resulting from her mother's emotional abandonment following her brother's tragic death and they are brought closer. Sarah draws parallels between her neurolological condition and her son's ADD, recognizing that while they both may deviate from "normal", self-awareness and strategies will help them to cope and lead happy, fullfilling lives.
Her self-awareness includes discovering what she can and cannot do. On one of her family's weekend ski trips, as she mulls over her frustration and disappintment of no longer being able to ski, she discovers an
alternative through the NESP's office located in the ski resort town. NESP ((New England Handicapped Sports Association) mission is to help people with disabilities enrich their lives through sports, recreation and social activities. Through the organization she discovers her ability to and eventually her love for snowboarding. Later, when she turns down an offer to return to her former place of employment, she is offered an professional opportunity with the organization which better suits her professional capabilities, current productivity capacity and chosen lifestyle.
This chosen lifestyle is a more healthy balance in life:
And although much of the stillness of the past four months(since her accident) has been a painful and terrifying experience, it has given me a chance to lift my head up and have a look around. And I'm starting to wonder. What else is there? Maybe success can be something else, and maybe there's another way to get there. Maybe there's a different road for me with a more reasonable spead limit.
"Left Neglected", like Lisa Genova's previous novel "Still Alice", is an intelligent and poignant novel. "Left Neglected" reinforces the importance of accepting one's circumstances, treasuring life's blessings and striving to achieve one's dreams. Dreams do not necessarily have to be monumental, but can be our daily pursuit of being the best we can be and nurturing our relationships with loved ones.
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