A Complete Plain-English Guide to Living with a Spinal Cord Injury

About the Book

An invaluable resource for anyone touched by spinal cord injury-newly injured patients, longtime survivors, friends and loved ones, and medical professionals-A Complete Plain English Guide to Living with an Incomplete Spinal Cord Injury offers a survivor's perspective on the physical and emotional journey from the time of injury, through the entire recovery process, and on to living a full and happy life.

This thorough, down-to-earth manual delivers solid, factual information and real-world advice from someone who has been there. Carolyn Boyles, a long-term spinal cord injury survivor, translates medical jargon into plain English, and helps you understand everything you need to know about living and thriving with an injured spinal cord.

Boyles' handbook covers surgeries and complications, treatment and rehabilitation, working with medical professionals, dealing with family and friends, understanding your unique injury, prognosis and life expectancy, maintaining hope and faith, working through emotional baggage (including the many forms of survivor guilt), what to expect physically, and how to rebuild a quality life.

She candidly answers all the questions nobody wants to ask, and she even includes statistics, ideas for additional reading and movies, resources, and more. But most importantly, she shows you that a spinal cord injury is not a life-ending event, but rather a new beginning.

About the Author

Carolyn Boyles lives in Arkansas and is a consultant to the Traumatic Brain Injury and Spinal Cord Injury Team of the Delaware Coalition for Injury Prevention. A graduate of the University of Illinois, Urbana, she earned a BA in history, and later received a MBA in marketing from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.