R.V. Bullough Jr., Santa Fe, NM: Sunstone Press, 2011, 246 pages, $22.95, ISBN: 978-0-86534-809-7.
Adam's Fall: Traumatic Brain Injury, the First 365 Days, written by the father of a traumatic brain injury (TBI) patient, details the 1-year journey of recovery, beginning with the injury and culminating 365 days postinjury. Although the book is geared toward the lay audience, health practitioners would gain valuable insight into the emotional struggles involved in the recovery of TBI from initial injury and hospitalization through the rehabilitation process. The book is dedicated to the men and women of the Surgical Intensive Care Unit of Mission Hospital.
The foreword, authored by Randy Jensen, MD PhD, Professor of Neurosurgery, Radiation Oncology, and Oncological Sciences at the University of Utah, provides a brief summary of expectations of the book. Following is a preface by the author detailing the start of his family's journey through TBI, a summary of the organization of the content of the book, and words of appreciation to those contributing to the work. Mary Kay Bader, RN MSN CCNS, penned the afterward in the perspective of the healthcare practitioner and outlines the effects of the TBI on not only the family but also the staff caring for the patient with TBI. More important, Ms. Bader stresses the importance of patient advocacy during and after injury.
The content of the book is comprised of the personal diary of Mr. Bullough during the first 365 days of TBI, excerpts of memories of his son from the past, brief summaries of medical information, and entries from CaringBridge, a Web site created by Mission Hospital providing patient progress updates to families and friends of critically ill patients. Overall, the book is a casual summary of the TBI, the hospitalization, the inpatient rehabilitation, the outpatient rehabilitation, and the struggles of dealing with insurance companies throughout the process of recovery. In addition, the author provides a family's prospective in coping with the effects of TBI and the long journey to recovery. Furthermore, the book provides a prospective of the struggles of the patient recovering from TBI and his reentry into everyday life. Providing more insight to the realness of the situation, the author has included pictures of his son-the patient-through injury to rehabilitation.
As a healthcare practitioner, it is important to recognize there is more to TBI than the acute phase; TBI has profound, lifelong effects on patients and their families. Adam's Fall reinforces this aspect regardless of the audience. All in all, this book is enlightening and reminds us how quickly life can change.
Reviewed by Jennifer Woods, MSN, Section Editor.