Inside the Halo and Beyond

Maxine Kumin

"In July 1998, Maxine Kumin suffered a terrible accident when her horse bolted at a carriage-driving clinic. Ninety-five percent of such victims die before reaching the emergency room. Of those who do survive, ninety-five percent are paralyzed for life. But Kumin, less than a year later, was pronounced "a miracle."". "This is the journal of her astonishing recovery. Though at first words threatened to elude her, writing (at first by dictating) became a way of maintaining her sanity. Kumin tells of her time "inside the halo," the near-medieval device that kept her head immobile during the weeks of intensive care and rehabilitation. During the long evenings she gets hooked on the Red Sox, muses on the state of the world, and forms lasting "rehab" friendships. She salutes the loving family who always believed she would heal and who "kept the garden going as a way of keeping me going.""--BOOK JACKET.