Palatine author explores the aftermath of brain surgery
Palatine resident Wendy Posey, whose husband, Eric lost his memory and then his life five years after brain surgery for a massive tumor, has written a book about the experience to help others understand and cope in similarly difficult life situations.
She recently held a book launch party at the Rosewood Restaurant in Rosemont to celebrate the publishing of "If You Do Nothing, You'll Die," subtitled "One Wife's Story of Love, Brain Surgery and the Heartbreaking Aftermath."
Posey tells of how the tumor turned her 43-year old husband and father to their two young children into someone who was a corporate executive into a man-child who couldn't hold a job or remember things for even a few minutes, who had violent, psychotic brain episodes that threatened to destroy her family.
She talks of the stress, grief and guilt brought on by caring for a traumatic brain injury victim. "If You Do Nothing, You'll Die" gives guidance to those who care for confused loved ones still in the prime of their lives, and provides answers in a world where solutions aren't readily available.
In her memoir, Posey recounts her struggles through the hospitalization, her efforts to build a life for her transformed husband and family, and her trials as a caregiver dealing with a world that seems perplexed by problems brought on by brain malfunctions. It reveals the daily ups and downs of dealing with a person left incapacitated by brain trauma and hostage to an expensive, daily pharmaceutical regime.
With little support from social workers, the medical community or therapists, Posey began to wonder if anyone else had a husband like Eric, a man with cognitive impairment so severe that he spent every day for more than a year convinced he was late for a non-existent softball game, and increasingly angry when he missed the game.
Posey's days were spent hiding the keys to the car, stopping Eric's phone calls to his former secretary to book imagined airline trips, and dealing with his medications and obsessions in ways that will give others, in similar situations, strategies that even professional therapists found amazing.
Posey peppers her story with stories that speak to the craziness of the moment and her determination to make sense out of an altered life, an example being how she made friends with a blind man on the train who helped Eric find his way to therapy and rehabilitation.
The book is available now from atlasbooks.com and tomexpublishing.com and will be available July 1 on Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.