My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey

Taylor undergoes her craniotomy, which leaves her with a bald patch and a large row of sutures across her skull. Fortunately, her hours-long operation is successful, and she is able to speak with her mother afterwards. Taylor remains in the hospital for five days, resting and icing her head. Her last night in the hospital is New Year’s Eve, and Taylor wonders what her next year will be like, feeling both happy and intimidated by the fact that she has survived both a stroke and brain surgery.

After her surgery, Taylor continues her painstaking recovery process, sharing that healing requires her to recommit herself a “million times a day” (110). The author feels it is “painful” and an “agony” to try to test her left hemisphere skills, and her caregivers help her stay on course (110). It remains difficult for Taylor to submit to “the chaos of recovery” instead of the quiet, peaceful mindset she now has (110). To keep herself positive, Taylor focuses on the positive aspect of her experience: the fact that nirvana is accessible to people by tuning into their right hemisphere (111). Her major “stroke of insight” is that anyone can experience happiness and peace by learning to manage their “dominating left mind” and access more right-brained thinking (111).