The morning of December 10, 1996 was a day that changed the course of Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor’s life and sent her down a path of healing. This journey brought her to write My Stroke of Insight, sharing her story with students such as myself and providing an indispensable look into the experiences of a stroke victim. Her vivid recount of the day of her stroke as well as her arduous journey to recovery allow for readers to feel for a moment the bizarre effects of a left hemisphere stroke.
After reading Dr. Taylor’s recount of the day of her stroke, I was surprised with how little coincided with what I predicted one might experience from a left hemisphere stroke. The pain, feeling dizzy and disoriented, loss of feeling in her right arm, inability …show more content…
If any one thing is clear from Jill’s writing it is how passionate she feels about the quality of care needed for stroke patients. Many times she faced a sort of biased she was unaccustomed to, a lack of respect and care that came with the fact that her brain had experienced a temporary malfunction, not something she saw as a disability but rather a brief disadvantage. As mentioned before, the act of energy giving and taking through the actions of those around her were a source of Jill’s dismay with her treatment. Certain nurses, friends, and family drained her. Coming at her with too many requests, speaking too quickly, and excess emotional baggage from their own lives that they would haul into her room with them. This sort of emotional burden that she was especially sensitive to at this time was not conducive to healing. The draining of energy was physically damaging, whilst the lack of respect and faith in her recovery were extremely damaging to her morale and confidence. Insensitive nurses and doctors who treated her as if she were lesser, or those who doubted her ability to fully recover built huge mental barriers for Jill that through will and determination she conquered. This request for basic respect is something all future and present healthcare providers should never take lightly. They hold in their hands the ability to help or hurt someone’s recovery and …show more content…
Jill Bolte Taylor achieved is truly a feat when you examine the extent of the bleed her brain experienced the day of December 10,1996. Through a regimen of diet, exercise, sleep, and mindset change Jill has become the person she never believed she would pre-stroke. She is an individual unencumbered by feelings she sees as counterintuitive and spends her time on things that truly matter to her, allowing herself to constantly learn while appreciating the moment she is in, much like her right hemisphere did when it was unencumbered by the brain chatter her left hemisphere had always had until the day of her stroke. Jill even notes that one of the greatest gifts of her stroke was her ability to explore the world with a childlike curiosity and lust for life. This woman’s amazing ability to rise from the ashes of her condition were eloquently laid out in My Stroke of Insight, giving me an opportunity to explore a world where her brain was operating so differently than my
After reading Dr. Taylor’s recount of the day of her stroke, I was surprised with how little coincided with what I predicted one might experience from a left hemisphere stroke. The pain, feeling dizzy and disoriented, loss of feeling in her right arm, inability …show more content…
If any one thing is clear from Jill’s writing it is how passionate she feels about the quality of care needed for stroke patients. Many times she faced a sort of biased she was unaccustomed to, a lack of respect and care that came with the fact that her brain had experienced a temporary malfunction, not something she saw as a disability but rather a brief disadvantage. As mentioned before, the act of energy giving and taking through the actions of those around her were a source of Jill’s dismay with her treatment. Certain nurses, friends, and family drained her. Coming at her with too many requests, speaking too quickly, and excess emotional baggage from their own lives that they would haul into her room with them. This sort of emotional burden that she was especially sensitive to at this time was not conducive to healing. The draining of energy was physically damaging, whilst the lack of respect and faith in her recovery were extremely damaging to her morale and confidence. Insensitive nurses and doctors who treated her as if she were lesser, or those who doubted her ability to fully recover built huge mental barriers for Jill that through will and determination she conquered. This request for basic respect is something all future and present healthcare providers should never take lightly. They hold in their hands the ability to help or hurt someone’s recovery and …show more content…
Jill Bolte Taylor achieved is truly a feat when you examine the extent of the bleed her brain experienced the day of December 10,1996. Through a regimen of diet, exercise, sleep, and mindset change Jill has become the person she never believed she would pre-stroke. She is an individual unencumbered by feelings she sees as counterintuitive and spends her time on things that truly matter to her, allowing herself to constantly learn while appreciating the moment she is in, much like her right hemisphere did when it was unencumbered by the brain chatter her left hemisphere had always had until the day of her stroke. Jill even notes that one of the greatest gifts of her stroke was her ability to explore the world with a childlike curiosity and lust for life. This woman’s amazing ability to rise from the ashes of her condition were eloquently laid out in My Stroke of Insight, giving me an opportunity to explore a world where her brain was operating so differently than my