-
The Beginning of Everything
- The Year I Lost My Mind and Found Myself
- Narrated by: Andrea J. Buchanan
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $20.00
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's 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?
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Invisible Kingdom
- Reimagining Chronic Illness
- By: Meghan O'Rourke
- Narrated by: Meghan O'Rourke
- Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A silent epidemic of chronic illnesses afflicts tens of millions of Americans: These are diseases that are poorly understood, frequently marginalized, and can go undiagnosed and unrecognized altogether. Renowned writer Meghan O’Rourke delivers a revelatory investigation into this elusive category of “invisible” illness that encompasses autoimmune diseases, post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome, and now long COVID, synthesizing the personal and the universal to help all of us through this new frontier.
-
-
Humbling. Heart-Opening. Disturbing.
- By Melissa E. Penn on 03-02-22
By: Meghan O'Rourke
-
How to Keep House While Drowning
- A Gentle Approach to Cleaning and Organizing
- By: KC Davis LPC
- Narrated by: KC Davis LPC, Dr. Raquel Martin
- Length: 3 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If you’re struggling to stay on top of your to-do list, you probably have a good reason: anxiety, fatigue, depression, ADHD, or lack of support. For therapist KC Davis, the birth of her second child triggered a stress-mess cycle. The more behind she felt, the less motivated she was to start. She didn’t fold a single piece of laundry for seven months. One life-changing realization restored her sanity—and the functionality of her home: You don’t work for your home; your home works for you.
-
-
Pleasantly surprised
- By Kathy Moberly on 06-05-22
By: KC Davis LPC
-
When Breath Becomes Air
- By: Paul Kalanithi, Abraham Verghese - foreword
- Narrated by: Sunil Malhotra, Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 5 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade’s worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated.
-
-
Phenomenal book!
- By A. Potter on 01-16-16
By: Paul Kalanithi, and others
-
In Shock
- My Journey from Death to Recovery and the Redemptive Power of Hope
- By: Dr. Rana Awdish
- Narrated by: Dr. Rana Awdish, Teri Schnaubelt
- Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Shock is a riveting first-hand account from a young critical care physician, who in the passage of a moment is transfigured into a dying patient. This transposition, coincidentally timed at the end of her medical training, instantly lays bare the vast chasm between the conventional practice of medicine and the stark reality of the prostrate patient.
-
-
Read this book!
- By CT on 11-08-17
By: Dr. Rana Awdish
-
Little Big Steps
- A Life-Changing Injury and the Inspirational Journey to Overcome the Odds
- By: Arash Bayatmakou
- Narrated by: Arash Bayatmakou
- Length: 6 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After 30 years of a healthy, rewarding, and exciting life, I wake up in a hospital bed unable to move. The neurosurgeon leans down and breaks the news: You won't regain any function in your body and you will never walk again. My medical insurance sends me home, discontinues my care, and tells me to "adapt to my new life". Little Big Steps is the story of the pivotal moments, interactions, and breakthroughs following the injury that turned my life upside down.
-
-
An absorbing story of courage and willpower
- By Patricia Lawrence on 05-15-22
By: Arash Bayatmakou
-
The Center Cannot Hold
- By: Elyn R. Saks
- Narrated by: Alma Cuervo
- Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Professor of psychiatry Elyn R. Saks writes about her struggle with schizophrenia in this unflinching account of her mental illness. In The Center Cannot Hold, Saks draws readers into a nightmare world of medications, a misguided health-care system, and social stigmas. But she would not be defeated. With a strength and force of will that most can only imagine, Saks reclaimed her life and went on to achieve great success.
-
-
Schizophrenia Inside Out
- By Pamela Harvey on 07-23-09
By: Elyn R. Saks
-
The Invisible Kingdom
- Reimagining Chronic Illness
- By: Meghan O'Rourke
- Narrated by: Meghan O'Rourke
- Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A silent epidemic of chronic illnesses afflicts tens of millions of Americans: These are diseases that are poorly understood, frequently marginalized, and can go undiagnosed and unrecognized altogether. Renowned writer Meghan O’Rourke delivers a revelatory investigation into this elusive category of “invisible” illness that encompasses autoimmune diseases, post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome, and now long COVID, synthesizing the personal and the universal to help all of us through this new frontier.
-
-
Humbling. Heart-Opening. Disturbing.
- By Melissa E. Penn on 03-02-22
By: Meghan O'Rourke
-
How to Keep House While Drowning
- A Gentle Approach to Cleaning and Organizing
- By: KC Davis LPC
- Narrated by: KC Davis LPC, Dr. Raquel Martin
- Length: 3 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
If you’re struggling to stay on top of your to-do list, you probably have a good reason: anxiety, fatigue, depression, ADHD, or lack of support. For therapist KC Davis, the birth of her second child triggered a stress-mess cycle. The more behind she felt, the less motivated she was to start. She didn’t fold a single piece of laundry for seven months. One life-changing realization restored her sanity—and the functionality of her home: You don’t work for your home; your home works for you.
-
-
Pleasantly surprised
- By Kathy Moberly on 06-05-22
By: KC Davis LPC
-
When Breath Becomes Air
- By: Paul Kalanithi, Abraham Verghese - foreword
- Narrated by: Sunil Malhotra, Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 5 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade’s worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated.
-
-
Phenomenal book!
- By A. Potter on 01-16-16
By: Paul Kalanithi, and others
-
In Shock
- My Journey from Death to Recovery and the Redemptive Power of Hope
- By: Dr. Rana Awdish
- Narrated by: Dr. Rana Awdish, Teri Schnaubelt
- Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Shock is a riveting first-hand account from a young critical care physician, who in the passage of a moment is transfigured into a dying patient. This transposition, coincidentally timed at the end of her medical training, instantly lays bare the vast chasm between the conventional practice of medicine and the stark reality of the prostrate patient.
-
-
Read this book!
- By CT on 11-08-17
By: Dr. Rana Awdish
-
Little Big Steps
- A Life-Changing Injury and the Inspirational Journey to Overcome the Odds
- By: Arash Bayatmakou
- Narrated by: Arash Bayatmakou
- Length: 6 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After 30 years of a healthy, rewarding, and exciting life, I wake up in a hospital bed unable to move. The neurosurgeon leans down and breaks the news: You won't regain any function in your body and you will never walk again. My medical insurance sends me home, discontinues my care, and tells me to "adapt to my new life". Little Big Steps is the story of the pivotal moments, interactions, and breakthroughs following the injury that turned my life upside down.
-
-
An absorbing story of courage and willpower
- By Patricia Lawrence on 05-15-22
By: Arash Bayatmakou
-
The Center Cannot Hold
- By: Elyn R. Saks
- Narrated by: Alma Cuervo
- Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Professor of psychiatry Elyn R. Saks writes about her struggle with schizophrenia in this unflinching account of her mental illness. In The Center Cannot Hold, Saks draws readers into a nightmare world of medications, a misguided health-care system, and social stigmas. But she would not be defeated. With a strength and force of will that most can only imagine, Saks reclaimed her life and went on to achieve great success.
-
-
Schizophrenia Inside Out
- By Pamela Harvey on 07-23-09
By: Elyn R. Saks
-
She Danced with Lightning
- My Daughter's Struggle with Epilepsy and Her Boundless Will to Live
- By: Marc Palmieri
- Narrated by: Marc Palmieri
- Length: 7 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Eleven-year-old Anna has lived all her life with severe epilepsy. Despite the ravage of thousands of violent seizures and heavy medications, she has thrived at school, athletics, and her greatest passion—dance. As she approaches her twelfth birthday, Anna's condition takes a dire turn. Her health declines quickly and a new diagnosis is revealed, leaving the family only one excruciating choice.
-
-
Remarkable
- By Sheila Valaer on 01-08-24
By: Marc Palmieri
-
Brain on Fire
- My Month of Madness
- By: Susannah Cahalan
- Narrated by: Susannah Cahalan
- Length: 7 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When 24-year-old Susannah Cahalan woke up alone in a hospital room, strapped to her bed and unable to move or speak, she had no memory of how she’d gotten there. Days earlier, she had been on the threshold of a new, adult life: At the beginning of her first serious relationship and a promising career at a major New York newspaper. Now she was labeled violent, psychotic, a flight risk. What happened?
-
-
A must read for anyone in the medical field, and anyone who has ever gone undiagnosed.
- By Sarah M Valentino on 05-13-20
By: Susannah Cahalan
-
All That Moves Us
- A Pediatric Neurosurgeon, His Young Patients, and Their Stories of Grace and Resilience
- By: Jay Wellons
- Narrated by: Jay Wellons
- Length: 7 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tumors, injuries, ruptured vascular malformations—there is almost no such thing as a non-urgent brain surgery when it comes to kids. For a pediatric neurosurgeon working in the medical minefield of the brain—in which a single millimeter in every direction governs something that makes us essentially human—every day presents the challenge, and the opportunity, to give a new lease on life to a child for whom nothing is yet fully determined and all possibilities still exist.
-
-
The best narration I've heard in a long time.
- By Zoe on 10-29-22
By: Jay Wellons
-
Unshattered
- Choosing a Beautiful Life After Unspeakable Tragedy
- By: Carol J. Decker, Stacey L. Nash
- Narrated by: Stacey L. Nash
- Length: 5 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On June 10, 2008, Carol Decker walked through the hospital doors a healthy woman with flu-like symptoms and early labor contractions. Three months later, she returned home a blind triple-amputee struggling to bond with a daughter she would never see. Unshattered recounts Carol's fight for survival against sepsis and its life-shattering complications. From excruciating skin grafts to learning how to function in daily life without lower legs, a left hand, and her sight, Carol takes us on a personal and raw, yet inspiring journey.
-
-
inspiring !
- By Cindy Tortorici on 12-03-18
By: Carol J. Decker, and others
-
Salt in My Soul
- An Unfinished Life
- By: Mallory Smith
- Narrated by: Mozhan Marnò
- Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at the age of three, Mallory Smith grew up to be a determined, talented young woman who inspired others even as she privately raged against her illness. Despite the daily challenges of endless medical treatments and a deep understanding that she’d never lead a normal life, Mallory was determined to “Live Happy,” a mantra she followed until her death.
-
-
inspiring and sad
- By valerie on 03-27-23
By: Mallory Smith
-
Brainstorm
- Detective Stories from the World of Neurology
- By: Suzanne O'Sullivan
- Narrated by: Christine Williams
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Brainstorm follows the stories of people whose medical diagnoses are so strange even their doctor struggles to know how to solve them. A man who sees cartoon characters running across the room; a girl whose world suddenly seems completely distorted, as though she were Alice in Wonderland; another who transforms into a ragdoll whenever she even thinks about moving. The brain is the most complex structure in the universe. Neurologists must puzzle out life-changing diagnoses from the tiniest of clues, the ultimate medical detective work.
-
-
Not As Compelling...
- By Douglas on 11-08-18
-
Love You Hard
- A Memoir of Marriage, Brain Injury, and Reinventing Love
- By: Abby Maslin
- Narrated by: Abby Maslin
- Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Abby Maslin shares an inspiring story of resilience and commitment in a deeply affecting new memoir. After her husband suffered a traumatic brain injury, the couple worked together as he recovered - and they learned to love again.
-
-
The Maslin Family
- By Zack on 07-15-19
By: Abby Maslin
-
A Series of Catastrophes and Miracles
- A True Story of Love, Science, and Cancer
- By: Mary Elizabeth Williams
- Narrated by: Mary Elizabeth Williams
- Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
After being diagnosed in her early forties with metastatic melanoma - a "rapidly fatal" form of cancer - journalist and mother of two Mary Elizabeth Williams finds herself in a race against the clock. She takes a once-in-a-lifetime chance and joins a clinical trial for immunotherapy, a revolutionary drug regimen that trains the body to vanquish malignant cells. Astonishingly, her cancer disappears entirely in just a few weeks. But at the same time, her best friend embarks on a cancer journey of her own - with very different results.
-
-
Believe!
- By Mary on 08-22-20
-
Ask Me About My Uterus
- By: Abby Norman
- Narrated by: Abby Norman
- Length: 10 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the fall of 2010, Abby Norman's strong dancer's body dropped 40 pounds, and gray hairs began to sprout from her temples. She was repeatedly hospitalized in excruciating pain, but the doctors insisted it was a urinary tract infection and sent her home with antibiotics.
-
-
A fantastic memoir and history of female pain
- By kateRb on 03-29-18
By: Abby Norman
-
Don't Leave Me This Way
- Or When I Get Back on My Feet You'll Be Sorry
- By: Julia Fox Garrison
- Narrated by: Joyce Bean
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Julia Fox Garrison refused to listen to the professionals she called Dr. Jerk and Dr. Panic, who - after she suffered a massive, debilitating stroke at age thirty-seven - told her she’d probably die, or to Nurse Doom, who ignored her emergency call button. Instead she heeded the advice of kind, gifted Dr. Neuro, who promised her he would “treat your mind as well as your body.” Julia figured if she could somehow manage to get herself into a wheelchair, at least she’d always find parking. But after many, many months of hospitalization and rehab, Julia not only got into a wheelchair, but she got back out.
-
-
Heroic Story
- By Pamela Harvey on 02-29-12
-
Rise and Shine
- The Path to Life
- By: Simon Lewis
- Narrated by: Kelsey Grammer
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Crushed between a truck and a tree, Simon and his wife were both pronounced dead at the scene of a horrific car accident. Enduring a broken skull, jaw, arms, clavicle and pelvis, followed by a coma, Simon lives to tell his remarkable journey from tragedy to triumph.
-
-
Amazing opportunities for healing!
- By Leah on 04-29-17
By: Simon Lewis
-
Critical Care
- A New Nurse Faces Death, Life, and Everything in Between
- By: Theresa Brown
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 5 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In her former career as an English professor, Theresa Brown had been shielded from the harsh reality of death. That all changed the day she decided to become an oncology nurse. In Critical Care, Theresa writes powerfully and honestly about her first year on the hospital floor. With great compassion and a disarming sense of humor, she shares the trials and triumphs of her patients and comes to realize that caring for a patient means much more than simply treating a disease.
-
-
Excellent all the way around!
- By Susan on 10-12-17
By: Theresa Brown
Related to this topic
-
In Shock
- My Journey from Death to Recovery and the Redemptive Power of Hope
- By: Dr. Rana Awdish
- Narrated by: Dr. Rana Awdish, Teri Schnaubelt
- Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Shock is a riveting first-hand account from a young critical care physician, who in the passage of a moment is transfigured into a dying patient. This transposition, coincidentally timed at the end of her medical training, instantly lays bare the vast chasm between the conventional practice of medicine and the stark reality of the prostrate patient.
-
-
Read this book!
- By CT on 11-08-17
By: Dr. Rana Awdish
-
Don't Leave Me This Way
- Or When I Get Back on My Feet You'll Be Sorry
- By: Julia Fox Garrison
- Narrated by: Joyce Bean
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Julia Fox Garrison refused to listen to the professionals she called Dr. Jerk and Dr. Panic, who - after she suffered a massive, debilitating stroke at age thirty-seven - told her she’d probably die, or to Nurse Doom, who ignored her emergency call button. Instead she heeded the advice of kind, gifted Dr. Neuro, who promised her he would “treat your mind as well as your body.” Julia figured if she could somehow manage to get herself into a wheelchair, at least she’d always find parking. But after many, many months of hospitalization and rehab, Julia not only got into a wheelchair, but she got back out.
-
-
Heroic Story
- By Pamela Harvey on 02-29-12
-
Rise and Shine
- The Path to Life
- By: Simon Lewis
- Narrated by: Kelsey Grammer
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Crushed between a truck and a tree, Simon and his wife were both pronounced dead at the scene of a horrific car accident. Enduring a broken skull, jaw, arms, clavicle and pelvis, followed by a coma, Simon lives to tell his remarkable journey from tragedy to triumph.
-
-
Amazing opportunities for healing!
- By Leah on 04-29-17
By: Simon Lewis
-
Critical Care
- A New Nurse Faces Death, Life, and Everything in Between
- By: Theresa Brown
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 5 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In her former career as an English professor, Theresa Brown had been shielded from the harsh reality of death. That all changed the day she decided to become an oncology nurse. In Critical Care, Theresa writes powerfully and honestly about her first year on the hospital floor. With great compassion and a disarming sense of humor, she shares the trials and triumphs of her patients and comes to realize that caring for a patient means much more than simply treating a disease.
-
-
Excellent all the way around!
- By Susan on 10-12-17
By: Theresa Brown
-
Brainstorm
- Detective Stories from the World of Neurology
- By: Suzanne O'Sullivan
- Narrated by: Christine Williams
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Brainstorm follows the stories of people whose medical diagnoses are so strange even their doctor struggles to know how to solve them. A man who sees cartoon characters running across the room; a girl whose world suddenly seems completely distorted, as though she were Alice in Wonderland; another who transforms into a ragdoll whenever she even thinks about moving. The brain is the most complex structure in the universe. Neurologists must puzzle out life-changing diagnoses from the tiniest of clues, the ultimate medical detective work.
-
-
Not As Compelling...
- By Douglas on 11-08-18
-
This Is How I Save My Life
- From California to India, a True Story of Finding Everything When You Are Willing to Try Anything
- By: Amy B. Scher
- Narrated by: Amy B. Scher
- Length: 6 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Amy B. Scher was struck with undiagnosed late-stage, chronic Lyme disease, the best physicians in America labeled her condition incurable and potentially terminal. Deteriorating rapidly, she went on a search to save her own life - from the top experts in Los Angeles and the world-renowned Mayo Clinic in Minneapolis to a state-of-the-art hospital in Chicago. After exhausting all of her options in the US, she discovered a possible cure - but it was highly experimental, available only in India, and had as much of a probability of killing her as it did of curing her.
-
-
A great comfort
- By Sue on 07-07-18
By: Amy B. Scher
-
In Shock
- My Journey from Death to Recovery and the Redemptive Power of Hope
- By: Dr. Rana Awdish
- Narrated by: Dr. Rana Awdish, Teri Schnaubelt
- Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Shock is a riveting first-hand account from a young critical care physician, who in the passage of a moment is transfigured into a dying patient. This transposition, coincidentally timed at the end of her medical training, instantly lays bare the vast chasm between the conventional practice of medicine and the stark reality of the prostrate patient.
-
-
Read this book!
- By CT on 11-08-17
By: Dr. Rana Awdish
-
Don't Leave Me This Way
- Or When I Get Back on My Feet You'll Be Sorry
- By: Julia Fox Garrison
- Narrated by: Joyce Bean
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Julia Fox Garrison refused to listen to the professionals she called Dr. Jerk and Dr. Panic, who - after she suffered a massive, debilitating stroke at age thirty-seven - told her she’d probably die, or to Nurse Doom, who ignored her emergency call button. Instead she heeded the advice of kind, gifted Dr. Neuro, who promised her he would “treat your mind as well as your body.” Julia figured if she could somehow manage to get herself into a wheelchair, at least she’d always find parking. But after many, many months of hospitalization and rehab, Julia not only got into a wheelchair, but she got back out.
-
-
Heroic Story
- By Pamela Harvey on 02-29-12
-
Rise and Shine
- The Path to Life
- By: Simon Lewis
- Narrated by: Kelsey Grammer
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Crushed between a truck and a tree, Simon and his wife were both pronounced dead at the scene of a horrific car accident. Enduring a broken skull, jaw, arms, clavicle and pelvis, followed by a coma, Simon lives to tell his remarkable journey from tragedy to triumph.
-
-
Amazing opportunities for healing!
- By Leah on 04-29-17
By: Simon Lewis
-
Critical Care
- A New Nurse Faces Death, Life, and Everything in Between
- By: Theresa Brown
- Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
- Length: 5 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In her former career as an English professor, Theresa Brown had been shielded from the harsh reality of death. That all changed the day she decided to become an oncology nurse. In Critical Care, Theresa writes powerfully and honestly about her first year on the hospital floor. With great compassion and a disarming sense of humor, she shares the trials and triumphs of her patients and comes to realize that caring for a patient means much more than simply treating a disease.
-
-
Excellent all the way around!
- By Susan on 10-12-17
By: Theresa Brown
-
Brainstorm
- Detective Stories from the World of Neurology
- By: Suzanne O'Sullivan
- Narrated by: Christine Williams
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Brainstorm follows the stories of people whose medical diagnoses are so strange even their doctor struggles to know how to solve them. A man who sees cartoon characters running across the room; a girl whose world suddenly seems completely distorted, as though she were Alice in Wonderland; another who transforms into a ragdoll whenever she even thinks about moving. The brain is the most complex structure in the universe. Neurologists must puzzle out life-changing diagnoses from the tiniest of clues, the ultimate medical detective work.
-
-
Not As Compelling...
- By Douglas on 11-08-18
-
This Is How I Save My Life
- From California to India, a True Story of Finding Everything When You Are Willing to Try Anything
- By: Amy B. Scher
- Narrated by: Amy B. Scher
- Length: 6 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Amy B. Scher was struck with undiagnosed late-stage, chronic Lyme disease, the best physicians in America labeled her condition incurable and potentially terminal. Deteriorating rapidly, she went on a search to save her own life - from the top experts in Los Angeles and the world-renowned Mayo Clinic in Minneapolis to a state-of-the-art hospital in Chicago. After exhausting all of her options in the US, she discovered a possible cure - but it was highly experimental, available only in India, and had as much of a probability of killing her as it did of curing her.
-
-
A great comfort
- By Sue on 07-07-18
By: Amy B. Scher
-
Advice for Future Corpses (and Those Who Love Them)
- A Practical Perspective on Death and Dying
- By: Sallie Tisdale
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 7 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
You get ready to die the way you get ready for a trip. Start by realizing you don't know the way. Listen to a few travel guides. Study the language, look at maps, gather equipment. Let yourself imagine what it will be like. Pack your bags. This book is one of those travel guides - a guide to preparing for your own death and the deaths of people close to you. The fact of death is hard to believe. Sallie Tisdale explores our fears and all the ways death and talking about death make us uncomfortable - but she also explores its intimacies and joys.
-
-
I thought I had more time...
- By Alyssa on 09-09-19
By: Sallie Tisdale
-
When Breath Becomes Air
- By: Paul Kalanithi, Abraham Verghese - foreword
- Narrated by: Sunil Malhotra, Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 5 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade’s worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated.
-
-
Phenomenal book!
- By A. Potter on 01-16-16
By: Paul Kalanithi, and others
-
The Neuroscientist Who Lost Her Mind
- My Tale of Madness and Recovery
- By: Barbara K. Lipska, Elaine McArdle - contributor
- Narrated by: Emma Powell
- Length: 6 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 2015, Barbara Lipska - a leading expert on the neuroscience of mental illness - was diagnosed with melanoma that had spread to her brain. Within months, her frontal lobe, the seat of cognition, began shutting down. She descended into madness, exhibiting dementia- and schizophrenia-like symptoms that terrified her family and coworkers. But miraculously, the immunotherapy her doctors had prescribed worked quickly. Just eight weeks after her nightmare began, Lipska returned to normal. With one difference: she remembered her brush with madness with exquisite clarity.
-
-
Be Prepared To Feel Insane--
- By Gillian on 04-11-18
By: Barbara K. Lipska, and others
-
My Glory Was I Had Such Friends
- A Memoir
- By: Amy Silverstein
- Narrated by: Erin Moon
- Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nearly 26 years after receiving her first heart transplant, Amy Silverstein's donor heart plummeted into failure. If she wanted to live, she had to take on the grueling quest for a new heart - immediately. A shot at survival meant uprooting her life and moving across the country to California. When her friends heard of her plans, there was only one reaction: "I'm there." Nine remarkable women - Joy, Jill, Leja, Jody, Lauren, Robin, Valerie, Ann, and Jane - put demanding jobs and pressing family obligations on hold to fly across the country and be by Amy's side.
-
-
Great listen!
- By Natalie on 05-13-23
By: Amy Silverstein
-
Expecting Adam
- A True Story of Birth, Rebirth, and Everyday Magic
- By: Martha Beck
- Narrated by: Joyce Bean
- Length: 12 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the moment Martha and her husband, John, conceived their second child, all hell broke loose. They were a couple obsessed with success. After years of matching IQs and test scores with less driven peers, they had two Harvard degrees apiece and were gunning for more. But the dream had begun to disintegrate. Then, when their unborn son, Adam, was diagnosed with Down syndrome, doctors, advisers, and friends in the Harvard community warned them not to keep the baby.
-
-
True Life Fairy Tale
- By Desarae on 11-27-13
By: Martha Beck
-
Patient Care
- Death and Life in the Emergency Room
- By: Paul Seward MD
- Narrated by: Jim Seybert
- Length: 5 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Recalling remarkable cases - and people - from a career launched in the first days of Emergency Medicine, Dr. Paul Seward leads us in his memoir through suspenseful diagnoses and explorations of anatomy. Within the conditions of great stress and rapid decision-making that are routine in the ER, Dr. Seward tells us that medical staff must be more than technicians of the body: They must be restorers of the human.
-
-
very enjoyable
- By Patricia Oxenham on 03-21-19
By: Paul Seward MD
-
The Last Best Cure
- My Quest to Awaken the Healing Parts of My Brain and Get Back My Body, My Joy, and My Life
- By: Donna Jackson Nakazawa
- Narrated by: Karen Saltus
- Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One day Donna Jackson Nakazawa found herself lying on the floor to recover from climbing the stairs. That’s when it hit her. She was managing the symptoms of the autoimmune disorders that had plagued her for a decade, but she had lost her joy. As a science journalist, she was curious to know what mind-body strategies might help her. As a wife and mother she was determined to get her life back. Over the course of one year, Nakazawa researches and tests a variety of therapies including meditation, yoga, and acupuncture to find out what works.
-
-
Amazing book, but struggled with the voice.
- By erin norton on 01-05-18
-
The Center Cannot Hold
- By: Elyn R. Saks
- Narrated by: Alma Cuervo
- Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Professor of psychiatry Elyn R. Saks writes about her struggle with schizophrenia in this unflinching account of her mental illness. In The Center Cannot Hold, Saks draws readers into a nightmare world of medications, a misguided health-care system, and social stigmas. But she would not be defeated. With a strength and force of will that most can only imagine, Saks reclaimed her life and went on to achieve great success.
-
-
Schizophrenia Inside Out
- By Pamela Harvey on 07-23-09
By: Elyn R. Saks
-
Unshattered
- Choosing a Beautiful Life After Unspeakable Tragedy
- By: Carol J. Decker, Stacey L. Nash
- Narrated by: Stacey L. Nash
- Length: 5 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On June 10, 2008, Carol Decker walked through the hospital doors a healthy woman with flu-like symptoms and early labor contractions. Three months later, she returned home a blind triple-amputee struggling to bond with a daughter she would never see. Unshattered recounts Carol's fight for survival against sepsis and its life-shattering complications. From excruciating skin grafts to learning how to function in daily life without lower legs, a left hand, and her sight, Carol takes us on a personal and raw, yet inspiring journey.
-
-
inspiring !
- By Cindy Tortorici on 12-03-18
By: Carol J. Decker, and others
-
The Ghost in My Brain
- How a Concussion Stole My Life and How the New Science of Brain Plasticity Helped Me Get It Back
- By: Clark Elliott Ph.D.
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 9 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1999, Clark Elliott suffered a concussion when his car was rear-ended. Overnight his life changed from that of a rising professor with a research career in artificial intelligence to a humbled man struggling to get through a single day. At times he couldn't walk across a room, or even name his five children. Doctors told him he would never fully recover. After eight years, the cognitive demands of his job, and of being a single parent, finally became more than he could manage.
-
-
Mostly Tedious With Moments of Insight
- By Brent on 01-17-16
-
Switching Time
- A Doctor's Harrowing Story of Treating a Woman with 17 Personalities
- By: Richard Baer M.D.
- Narrated by: Lloyd James
- Length: 12 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Switching Time is the first story centering on multiple personality disorder to be told by the treating physician. It is the incredible saga of a young woman stranded in unimaginable darkness who, in order to survive, created 17 different versions of herself. One by one, Karen's "alters" began showing themselves: men, women, young boys, a toddler, black, white, vicious, nurturing, prim, licentious. And their "stepping out" confronted Baer with the challenge of a lifetime.
-
-
Couldn't help myself
- By Tech Nut on 12-31-07
-
Marrow
- A Love Story
- By: Elizabeth Lesser
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Lesser, Sally Field
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A mesmerizing and courageous memoir: the story of two sisters uncovering the depth of their love through the life-and-death experience of a bone marrow transplant. Throughout her life Elizabeth Lesser has sought understanding about what it means to be true to yourself and, at the same time, truly connected to the ones you love. But when her sister, Maggie, needs a bone marrow transplant to save her life, and Lesser learns that she is the perfect match, she faces a far more immediate and complex question about what it really means to love.
-
-
“ Love came first “
- By marie on 03-26-18
By: Elizabeth Lesser
What listeners say about The Beginning of Everything
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Connie R.
- 08-05-21
How an innocent cough charged her life forever
Although the reasons which caused our CSF leak‘s vary, so much of what you shared with us from anxiety to anger to the worry of finding suitable doctors, waiting on healthcare insurance, etc. it is all but too familiar.
I also appreciate you bringing us into your personal space and telling us stories about your own family, especially your little one who nearly lost her life.
The battles that we fight in order to be seen and seriously heard by those who are able help us is painful, lengthy and not always successful. But somehow we find the courage to forge through and you have shown how you so bravely accomplished it.
Well written. Thank you.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
- Zara
- 01-23-23
Andrea says what I couldn't during my CSF leak
Thanks so much for letting others know what many of us go through with CSF leaks.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mahala Howard
- 10-17-21
Insightful Work on Living with a CSF Leak
It was a helpful read overall. They suspect a CSF leak on me left from a spinal fusion and Chiari decompression in 2018. I’ve been living with it for more than 3 years now. I used to be on 5 liters of IV fluids a week because I also have POTS and it seemed to be compensating until I weaned off of them and went downhill.
The part of the story that hit me the hardest, and provided quite a revelation, was the part where the author discusses how when your brain is sick it doesn’t always realize it is and attempts to rationalize it. I had made some of the same rationalizing comments shared just 3 days before reading that and bursted into tears realizing how that’s exactly what I’ve done.
In some ways reading this brought up a lot more fears. I have history of a bad TBI and then the Chiari and instability a few years after that and my brain is better than back then, so I never stopped to think it could still not be working very right. It’s made me afraid that once I get these neuro things fixed I will regret things from the period I was leaking. It’s made me afraid to trust myself and my brain. And in some ways maybe that’s a good thing given what I shared above, but in others it’s unsettling, as I’ve only recently started to really trust myself at all.
The vivid descriptions of pain freaked me out that it will be worse than what I’ve experienced so far, but at the same time with all I’ve been through it’s hard to imagine much worse.
It also kinda took my positive outlook on the situation down multiple notches. Maybe that’s better and safer, I’m not sure. But at the end of the book, hearing the progress gave me a lot of hope. My brain has been so impacted since the TBI and it’s neat to think things could get even better. That I may be able to think clearer, that I may be able to do more. I just want to be able to sit up to read a book and to write and to take a walk sometimes. 🤞
I’m still grateful for this book as there isn’t a lot of books on CSF leaks at all. There isn’t as much info about it as some of the things I’ve dealt with in the past. I suppose it has helped me accept my situation and probably be more realistic about things. I did learn a lot. I guess my only complaint is wishing it was a bit more positive, but that feels like an awful thing to critique. Maybe it’s because I’ve buried a lot of medical trauma and pain and haven’t been able to be as honest about the hardships, to even feel the weight of these situations. I think it’s great for outsiders to understand the weight of the situation, but wish it was a little more positive for those going through it. That’s probably a me problem though.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 07-25-22
Amazing Story, my Wife is going through this now
Really incredibly detailed journey through this very rare and difficult medical condition. My wife is going through this now and while some moments in this book are so similar to our experience it’s scary, however our diagnosis period and finding out about Duke took a bit longer. Thanks for sharing and great read for anyone looking to learn more about CSF leaks how to handle it and the rebound headaches that come after patching.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!