A Leg to Stand On

I just read A Leg to Stand On, by Dr. Oliver Sacks. It's made my list of favorites for its honesty, bluntness, and compassion. He recounts his experience after a serious leg injury after which the leg felt disconnected from his body. A major focus of the book, in addition to his emotional and psychological experience with this odd sensation, is the experience of being a patient and his difficulty with getting his doctors to understand exactly what he was talking about when it came to his injured leg. One of my favorite quotes from the book has to do with his recovery process, after the anatomical injury had healed, but he was still experiencing the disconnect from his leg. Sacks emphasizes the steps invovled in recovery, how it is really a series of smaller events. When a doctor labeled his recovery as "uneventful", Sacks had this to say: "When I stole a look at my chart and saw "Uneventful Recovery," I thought: "They're mad. Recovery is events, a series of wonderful, unpredictable events: recovery is events, or rather advents--the advent of new and unimaginable powers--events, advents, which are births or re-births."" Though I have never had to go through anything comparable, I thought this was a very strong statement. This book is inspiring and ultimately positive, showing in great detail Sacks' intelligent insight.