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The Beginning of Everything
- The Year I Lost My Mind and Found Myself
- Narrated by: Andrea J. Buchanan
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
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Summary
A PEN / E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award Finalist
A real-life neurological mystery and captivating story of reinvention by the New York Times bestselling author of The Daring Book for Girls.
Andrea Buchanan lost her mind while crossing the street one blustery March morning. The cold winter air triggered a coughing fit, and she began to choke. She was choking on a lot that day. A sick child. A pending divorce. The guilt of failing as a partner and as a mother. When the coughing finally stopped, she thought it was over. She could not have been more wrong.
When she coughed that morning, a small tear ripped through her dura mater, the membrane covering the brain and spinal cord. But she didn’t know that yet. Instead, Andrea went on with her day, unaware that her cerebrospinal fluid was already beginning to leak out of that tiny opening.
What followed was nine months of pain and confusion as her brain, no longer cushioned by a healthy waterbed of fluid, sank in her skull. At a time in her life when she needed to be as clear-thinking as possible - as a writer, as a mother, as a woman attempting to strike out on her own after two decades of marriage - she was plagued by cognitive impairment and constant pain, trapped by her own brain - all while mystifying doctors and pushing the limits of medical understanding.
In this luminous and moving narrative, Andrea reveals the astonishing story of this tumultuous year - her fraught search for treatment; how patients, especially women, fight to be seen as reliable narrators of their own experiences; and how her life-altering recovery process affected both her and her family.
The mind-brain connection is one of the greatest mysteries of the human condition. In some folklore, the cerebrospinal fluid around the brain is thought to be the place where consciousness actually begins. Here, in the pages of The Beginning of Everything, Andrea seeks to understand: Where was “I” when I wasn’t there?
What listeners say about The Beginning of Everything
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- beckstar
- 21-09-23
An accurate and honest account of the immense suffering from a spinal CSF leak
I was so happy to finally find this book on audible because I struggle to actually read much these days due to an ongoing leak/ arachnoiditis/ CSF pressure fluctuations. So had not had a chance to read it previously.
Andrea’s story was beautifully honest and raw and describes so well the immense wrestling’s, debilitation and challenges of having a spinal CSF leak and getting diagnosis and treatment.
It was also read so beautifully. I appreciated her raw honesty and also the record of ‘life continuing to happen around you’ in her case family challenges and divorce - whilst also being so incredibly unwell. When you are ill long term some parts of your life stop to a certain extent … but much keeps on going - sometimes to the chronically ill persons bewilderment. As we/ they try and ‘do’ and process life and family commitments - when in reality there is still so much we can’t actually do. I also appreciated the record of the long road to recovery and it’s confusing ups and downs. Things are usefully never simple in ‘spinal CSF leak’ and rebound high pressure land. Often all we can do is describe our own experiences and some of the theories behind that - rather than having clear answers for every strange thing going on in our body and brain.
Story really is so powerful! And true real life story poignantly connects with us especially if we have had something of a similar experience. So thank you Andrea for this very honest account which also raises awareness of these often misunderstood conditions.
Becky Hill
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