I came up with the idea to write my book at a party hosted. The odds for anyone surviving the type of surgery I’d endured are quite low. Months after my discharge from the hospital, I was celebrating my survival at a meal of thanksgiving (seudat hoda’ya in Hebrew). Guests listened to my speech about thanking GOD for the supportive people in my life, and the miracles of recovering my strength, health, and (then still unstable) vision.

After I finished my remarks, several people asked me for the secret to being so optimistic, how had I gone into the operating room laughing, why hadn’t I been crushed by despair over losing my job due to the loss of sight, and, most of all, why wasn’t anger filling my mind?

I repeated the question “Why wasn’t I angry at GOD?” And, then I replied that everyone on the planet has crises to overcome, and that we have nothing to lose by coping with them, and striving to get past the problems. I mentioned that it is necessary to keep an open dialogue with GOD, to keep the door open to the relationship instead of slamming it shut on GOD and to the future. The crowd asked me to write a book about how to do that because, “People lose money in the stock market, so they hate GOD,” “A child fails first grade and the parents hate GOD,” “Somebody gains weight despite efforts to keep pounds off, so they hate GOD.” But I, in contrast, had faced a life-threatening issue complicated in ways not mentioned in the book. The face that I’d decided to face the future laughing instead of despondent struck the crowd as shocking.

I chose to thrive without the need for pastoral or mental health counseling. So, I wrote the book that my dinner guests had requested. It was a great catharsis for many emotions roiling inside me, and it let me focus on doing the positive act of helping people I’ll never meet instead of killing myself with self-pity as my recovery efforts continued (I’ll be in physical therapy for the rest of my life, barring unforeseen miracles). My life-coaching efforts are filled with the comment that “The alternative to coping is worse than the problem itself. Bitterness kills people. Apathy kills, too. You’re not angry because you want to die. You’re angry because you want to thrive. Focus on the thriving.” I made sure to fill the book with humorous comments and anecdotes so that readers can get their grins back with renewed optimism. The rest of the book holds information for cutting the emotional and financial cost of medical setbacks.

Readers usually wonder why medical experts seem to know everything, and if those professionals ever suffer medical problems.

The truth is that medical professionals don’t know everything and, YES, they sure do suffer from medical maladies. Nobody is immune to them. The following is a brief summary of a far more complicated story.

I was a Health Information Management professional, coding and otherwise analyzing medical and mental health records for various medical facilities, and writing medical or mental health articles, when I developed symptoms that seemed to escape anyone’s notice, including mine. Medical experts and I gradually noticed the slowly developing problems after I complained of reduced vision, balance problems, and difficulty completing just about any task. I had not only one but a pair of meningiomas, benign brain tumors located at the base of my brain (technically called Petroclival Tentorial Meningioma). They were crushing all the nerves extending from my brain to my neck, and thus harming the rest of my body. Doctors had missed some subtle signs of the growing problem but, once we had a definitive diagnosis for my allegedly “sudden” onset of blindness, and the quickly developing loss of speech and movement, I went into massive Recovery and Survival Mode, beating the odds for survival, and for recovering my sight, my health, my ability to move, and to care for my own needs unassisted.

My strength was in my knowledge of sound psychological techniques that let me brace for psychological struggles against despair and fear. I’ve taught coping mechanisms for many years as a life coach. The other part of my strength was in my knowledge as a Health Information Management professional. I knew anatomy and physiology, plus the disease process and medical care options. I knew of cost-cutting tips and tricks to save money, time, and sanity within the medical world, information that the average patient usually cannot sort out on their own.

I used my knowledge. I prayed to GOD 24/7. And, I shocked the medical world by surviving not only the benign tumors crushing my nerves, and threatening to end my heartbeat, but also the life-threatening surgery (not every brain surgeon knows how to remove tumors at the base of the brain – especially when they’re THAT BIG), and by recovering my ability to see. I went from complete blindness to seeing in color, with a normal eye wear prescription. No more prisms, no bi-focals, no more colored lenses, no special accommodations whatsoever. I no longer need special glasses. Mine can be bought off the shelf, so to speak.

I rolled my own recovery into a book to save readers financial and emotional expenses throughout their own medical and mental health challenges. The text calms you down, some of it helps you to get your grin back, and the Global Resources section alerts you to charitable endeavors willing to fund an applicant’s request for help to acquire medical appliances, medication, medical transportation, and even medical care.

Read all about it in A Personal Story: How Coping with Tragedy in a Positive Way Saved My Life. The article just might save your life, or that of someone you know.

About the Book

Whoever the reader, no matter their medical crisis, this book addresses their needs in a forthright, pro-active manner. If it’s about Latino Liver Awareness, or Superior Canal Dehiscence, or even managing emotional and various health problems throughout the family, you’ll find terrific resources here. Readers and loved ones sharing this book can become pro-active in making dignified, productive responses to the challenges of medical and emotional crises.

The queen is down and medical issues are the problem. You don’t have to reduce the quality of your life. Restore your power with cutting-edge information, humor, happiness, hope, and compassion. The inspirational message is leaving an indelible mark on society because:

– The spiritual content is universal.
– Coping mechanisms in the book are safe, sound, you-can-do-it strategies.

Read a FREE EXCERPT.

Yocheved Golani faced a nightmare in 2005: a Petroclival Tentorial Meningioma crushing all her nerves where they entered her head from her spine. Surgery saved her. Yocheved’s journalistic byline has appeared in several publications.

This book is available from the publisher, BookLocker.com, as well as from Amazon, BarnesandNoble.com, and many other stores. If purchasing from BookLocker, use this discount code when checking out to get 10% off: Backstory

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