Full Description
WHY ME?" These were the first words that Bill Torres spoke after waking up from his stroke. Like many survivors, Bill lived his first days and weeks after stroke in a dark, heavy cloud of depression. Depression creates feelings of hopelessness, guilt, helplessness, and decreased energy—all symptoms that stand in the way of a survivor's efforts to regain mobility and speech. Yet, rather than dwelling on asking "WHY ME?" Bill's second words were, "WHAT NOW?" He set his mind to getting better, little by little, every day. As researcher and author, Peter Levine (2013) suggests, stroke survivors must "fall in love with the process ... [and] see the process of recovery as an opportunity for growth".
Falling in Love With the Process: Cultivating Resilience in Health Crises tells Bill Torres' story of recovery and advocacy. The book is structured long two different timelines—the timeline of Bill's early life and the timeline of his life from stroke onward. Chapters are alternated between Bill's stories of growing up in San Diego and chapters that provide accounts of Bill's journey of stroke recovery. These two separate storylines come together near the close of the book as we explore Bill's approach to advocacy and mentorship as a stroke survivor.
Falling in Love With the Process: Cultivating Resilience in Health Crises is divided into three parts:
Part One: Picking Up the Pieces; Connecting the Dots explores the aftermath of Bill's stroke and discusses the ways in which stigma, depression, and internalized ableism shaped Bill's initially difficult emotional response to stroke but also offer accounts of how his communication with key health care providers reinforced Bill's drive to work on his own rehabilitation.
Part Two: Persisting Through Recovery considers both Bill's capacity to structure his own rehabilitation routine and the ways in which his close network of friends supported him throughout his recovery process.
Part Three: Communicating as an Advocate explores how Bill transformed his survivor narrative into a tool for advocacy. It explains the strategies Bill used to successfully work with other stroke survivors and also describes the compassion fatigue that can accompany this kind of communicative labor.
Contents
Part 1: Picking up the Pieces; Connecting the Dots
Chapter 1. "Something Is Wrong": The Stroke That Changed Everything
Chapter 2. "Do It to the Best of Your Ability": Cultivating Resilience
Chapter 3. "I Just Knew I Would Get Better": Waking Up to the Realities of a Stroke
Chapter 4. "Always Searching for Something": Love, Loss, and the Will to Live
Chapter 5. "I Wanted to Go Home and Hide": The Emotional Journey of Stroke Recovery
Chapter 6. "I Was Always One Step Ahead": Memories from "Our Man on Maui"
Part 2: Persisting through Recovery
Chapter 7. "If Kirk Douglas Can Do It, So Can I": Persisting in Stroke Recovery
Chapter 8. "I Just Fell in Love with It": The Birth of a Sport, a Change of Career
Chapter 9. "Anybody He's Helped Is His Friend Forever": Recovery through Supportive Friendships
Chapter 10. "What's My Next Adventure?": From Sailor to Salesman
Chapter 11. "I'm Always Full of Coincidences": Larger-than-Life Tales of Success
Part 3: Communicating as an Advocate
Chapter 12. "You Sincerely Care about What Happens to Other People": From Salesman to Advocate
Chapter 13. Becoming an "Independent Contractor": Advocating Beyond the Hospital
Chapter 14. "I Set Myself Up for Being Disappointed": The Emotional Challenges of Advocacy
Chapter 15. "We Shine a Big Light" on Advocates: Expressing Gratitude
Epilogue
