Beautiful Trauma
An Explosion, an Obsession, and a New Lease on Life
1 of 1 copy available
Late one night, while Rebecca Fogg was alone in her apartment, her hand was partially amputated in an explosion. Quick thinking saved her life, but the journey to recovery would be a slow one. As the doctors rebuilt her hand, Rebecca (who also survived 9/11) began rebuilding her sense of self by studying the physical and psychological process of recovery.
Interspersing the personal with the medical, Rebecca charts her year of rehabilitation, touching on the marvelously adaptable anatomy of the hand; how the brain’s fight-or-flight mechanism enables us to react instantly to danger; and why trauma causes some people to develop PTSD and gives others a whole new lease on life.
Told with emotional and intellectual clarity, Beautiful Trauma is a celebration of the resilience of the human spirit and the wonder of the human hand.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
April 4, 2023 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9780593674864
- File size: 196938 KB
- Duration: 06:50:17
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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February 13, 2023
As MBA admissions coach Fogg reveals in her searing debut, her right hand was partially amputated in 2006 by a “sharp hunk of porcelain” sent flying when her toilet exploded. The author, then a v-p at American Express, took a leave from her job as she underwent surgery and physical therapy, sometimes struggling to even “recognize the hand as own.” As she grew frustrated with the recovery process, a friend gave her valuable advice: become an expert on her own injury to appreciate the complexities of healing. Fogg describes thrilling to the “tiny explosions” inside her wrist—an indication that her neurons were regrowing—and finally managing to write a signature “easily recognizable as mine.” Chapters on recovery discuss existential despair and dealing with lack of agency, and alternate with deep dives into the complexities of hand functionality, how the body registers pain, and the ways peripheral nerves regenerate. Through outpatient therapy, follow-up visits, and time, the author recovered most hand function, though not full sensation. Fogg’s blending of emotional and medical insights delivers an original perspective on the usual recovery arc. This enthralls.
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