CREEK ROAD GANG
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My Stroke of Insight
by Jill Bolte Taylor, Ph.D.
Reviewed by Janice Ewing
copyright 2011
“Every brain has a story, and this is mine.” With these words, Jill Bolte Taylor begins her extraordinary account of how she suddenly lost and gradually recovered the use of her left brain. At the age of thirty-seven the author, a neuroanatomist who did brain research at Harvard, had a more direct experience with the functions, or malfunctions, of the brain than she had ever wanted – a massive stroke that disabled her left hemisphere. Dr. Taylor not only takes you back to the day of the stroke and through her rehabilitation and recovery but also to her attempt, during and after her recovery, to hold on to what she learned about herself and the human brain throughout the experience.
Dr. Taylor, with the help of a Gestalt therapist, was able to recreate her experience of the day that the stroke occurred and describes it in almost moment by moment detail. She takes us back to her memory of waking up that morning with a flash of pain and a feeling that something was wrong. As she attempts to proceed with her morning routines in spite of the pain, she paints a picture for us of her increasing difficulty with ordinary tasks and her intellectual realization that something is seriously wrong. At the same time, she is entering a state of great peacefulness, a sense of oneness with the universe, and a desire to surrender to these feelings. As her fading left brain prods her to take action, she struggles to retrieve phone numbers and the working memory and motor skills to place a call for help, only to find that she cannot speak coherently. She does manage to communicate sufficiently to summon help. Her life is saved, and she embarks on an eight year journey to a full recovery. Along the way, there is much that she must relearn, but there are also aspects of her previous life that she chooses to let go of, and significant new learning as well. Taylor’s “stroke of insight” is that she can resume the functions that her left brain manages, but still remain in close touch with the feelings of peace and connectedness that she experienced when her right brain took over, and draw on both hemispheres to live her life in a healthier balance than she had thought possible before the stroke.
One of the reasons for Dr. Taylor’s original interest in brain science is the fact that she has a brother with schizophrenia. When she began her research, advocacy for services for the mentally ill, and lobbying for organ donations, she had no idea that she suffered from a rare congenital disorder that would eventually cause her stroke and subsequent first-hand learning. In the aftermath of the terrible shootings in Tucson, perhaps one positive outcome will be a wider and deeper interest in the functioning of the brain, in terms of the mentally ill and the process of recovery from trauma. Bolte Taylor’s story, compelling to begin with, might now have even more relevance than ever.
Biographical Note: Janice Ewing grew up in the Bronx but has lived her adult life in Philadelphia and its suburbs. She is a writer and adjunct professor. Her earliest memories include weekday afternoon trips to the library and Sunday mornings with the NY Times spread all over the living room. She enjoys reading and writing poetry as ways of understanding the world. She has a husband and two adult daughters, all of whom love to read. See the Author Index for Poetry to read more of Janice's work.
Dr. Taylor, with the help of a Gestalt therapist, was able to recreate her experience of the day that the stroke occurred and describes it in almost moment by moment detail. She takes us back to her memory of waking up that morning with a flash of pain and a feeling that something was wrong. As she attempts to proceed with her morning routines in spite of the pain, she paints a picture for us of her increasing difficulty with ordinary tasks and her intellectual realization that something is seriously wrong. At the same time, she is entering a state of great peacefulness, a sense of oneness with the universe, and a desire to surrender to these feelings. As her fading left brain prods her to take action, she struggles to retrieve phone numbers and the working memory and motor skills to place a call for help, only to find that she cannot speak coherently. She does manage to communicate sufficiently to summon help. Her life is saved, and she embarks on an eight year journey to a full recovery. Along the way, there is much that she must relearn, but there are also aspects of her previous life that she chooses to let go of, and significant new learning as well. Taylor’s “stroke of insight” is that she can resume the functions that her left brain manages, but still remain in close touch with the feelings of peace and connectedness that she experienced when her right brain took over, and draw on both hemispheres to live her life in a healthier balance than she had thought possible before the stroke.
One of the reasons for Dr. Taylor’s original interest in brain science is the fact that she has a brother with schizophrenia. When she began her research, advocacy for services for the mentally ill, and lobbying for organ donations, she had no idea that she suffered from a rare congenital disorder that would eventually cause her stroke and subsequent first-hand learning. In the aftermath of the terrible shootings in Tucson, perhaps one positive outcome will be a wider and deeper interest in the functioning of the brain, in terms of the mentally ill and the process of recovery from trauma. Bolte Taylor’s story, compelling to begin with, might now have even more relevance than ever.
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Biographical Note: Janice Ewing grew up in the Bronx but has lived her adult life in Philadelphia and its suburbs. She is a writer and adjunct professor. Her earliest memories include weekday afternoon trips to the library and Sunday mornings with the NY Times spread all over the living room. She enjoys reading and writing poetry as ways of understanding the world. She has a husband and two adult daughters, all of whom love to read. See the Author Index for Poetry to read more of Janice's work.
