But My Brain Had Other Ideas

A Memoir of Recovery from Brain Injury

By: Deb Brandon

Narrated by: Helen Lloyd

Length: 9 hrs

Publisher's Summary

When Deb Brandon discovered that cavernous angiomas - tangles of malformed blood vessels in her brain - were behind the terrifying symptoms she'd been experiencing, she underwent one brain surgery. And then another. And then another. And that was just the beginning. 

The book also includes an introduction by Connie Lee, founder and president of the Angioma Alliance. Unlike other memoirs that focus on injury crisis and acute recovery, But My Brain Had Other Ideas follows Brandon’s story all the way through to long-term recovery, revealing without sugarcoating or sentimentality Brandon’s struggles - and ultimate triumph.

©2017 Deb Brandon (P)2018 Deb Brandon

Worst book I've ever read

Time jumps around, so I can't follow anything - it was almost stupid to start each chapter with a time frame. The narrator sounds no younger than 75, so it was impossible to connect the character with her age. Her husband is an asshole, and she's too naive. I laughed when she didn't want to take psychotropic meds because "bipolar people have issues" yet she's a complete nutcase. She kept building uplo to things that were then anticlimactic. Like spending time writing of her fear of jumping from 400mg to 600mg of Lamictal because you're supposed to Hi and 50mg at a time, then..... nothing. No Steven Johnson's rash, no side effects.... so stupid. And MRIs for the kids... but her brother's a geneticist? Um, couldn't he just check for the gene?

I pushed myself REEEEEAAAALLLLY hard after chapter - who knows, they didn't match up even close to the chapters of the Audible- but about ¾ through, then I just started fast forwarding until the end because every single thing was a let down after the surgeries. All over the place time wise, and going from 1st person to 2nd person describing flooding was annoying.

By the time I started getting angry at her, I just started disliking her to the point that I wish I knew her to real life so I could give the btch a tab of acid to REALLY screw with her senses.

This person has no business writing a book. Stick to calculus, lady.

Fascinating!

Interesting glimpse into brain injury recovery. At times, I felt as though it was happening to me.

Brain Injury Survivor

I still remember the feeling of inability to move, speak, relate. Confusion entrapping me. This book was wonderful! It’s so well written and helps explain so many things I experience. It was very good, full of information!

A Better Understanding...

My wife suffered a bleed and underwent brainstem surgery a year and a half ago. I had no idea what a Cav Mal Angioma was, much less what she was going through or how to affectively help. Deb’s wonderful articulations through her own accounts were immensely inspiring and it gave me a front row seat on how to better empathize and assist with my beautiful wife’s new normal. Deb’s descriptive stories are a road map of sorts to what my wife is experiencing and it affords me the experience, through Deb, to be able explain and reassure her that this is a natural part of the process post surgery.
Thank goodness for Deb’s courage and fortitude to be able to capture such an amazing chapter in her own life, without much understanding of how impactful and helpful her story has been in our journey. The little things are so very beautiful, now more than ever and thanks to Deb for sharing her little victories as they provided soo much more clarity to our gifts as they continue to unfold...