Broken Consciousness: Reflections of an Epileptic

By Maggie Mendus

Hauntingly accurate descriptions written from the patient perspective capture the true emotions evoked by epilepsy. Conveying frustration, fear, strength, hope and courage, this is a must read for anyone touched by epilepsy, whether patient, family, friend or health care professional. After working with epilepsy patients for years, I see how these poems will launch our perspective and understanding into a new light. Brilliant and insightful. A must read!
Steven H. Schechter, MD,
Clinical Associate Professor of Neurology,
Wayne State University, Detroit, MI,
and William Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, MI

Maggie Mendus epitomizes the heart of a poet. Her poems soar with imagery and insight in content and style. They embody the elements of fine-tuned poetry. Maggies writing is fresh and original with an important message.
Richard R. Blake
Midwest Book Review

Come on a fascinating journey through the unusual terrain of epilepsy with the hard-won poems of Broken Consciousness. Read the first section, Aura, and anguish with the author as she feels the helpless and peculiar sensation of disappearing from herself.

Be frustrated right along with her through section two, Seizure, as she explores her various feelings about the grand mal seizures she refers to as monsters, sharks, and lightning. Experience the loss of connection with her world, the strangeness of how cognition is affected, as well as the harrowing hopelessness through the dragging hours that follow a seizure.

And in the third section, Recovery, rejoice with her in her poignant expressions of thanks as she looks back on experiences she wishes had never compromised a single day of her life. Learn about epilepsy, and come away with a renewed sense that fortitude, stamina, and the strength of the human spirit can overcome hardship.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Mar 10, 2011
• ISBN: 9781462001804

Maggie Mendus

Maggie Mendus, diagnosed with epilepsy at the age of twelve, is a poet who writes to heal. A retired language arts teacher and a pianist, she is published in The Eclectic Muse, Romantics Quarterly, Harp Strings, Poets’ Forum Magazine, and Sandcutters. She and her husband live in an A-frame in the wooded dunes of Lake Michigan.

Book preview

Broken

Consciousness

Reflections of an Epileptic

Maggie Mendus

iUniverse, Inc.

Bloomington

BrokenConsciousness

Reflections of an Epileptic

Copyright © 2011 Maggie Mendus

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ISBN: 978-1-4620-0179-8 (pbk)

ISBN: 978-1-4620-0180-4 (ebk)

Printed in the United States of America

iUniverse rev. date: 3/4/2011

To my husband Michael, steady and strong,

my children, Molly and Christopher, understanding and sweet,

my mother, who gave me her heart,

my father, who opened the door to words,

my brother Tom, honest and humorous,

and my dear grandchildren, who provide the delight,

I love and thank you all.

Acknowledgments

I wish to express special thanks to my friend and fellow writer, Mariana Damon, for her long hours of listening and recommending. She invested herself in my work as if it were her own, and her encouragement always pointed me in the direction of more polished writing. I am also privileged to have known her husband, John Damon, who was a professor of medieval literature at the University of Nebraska at Kearney as well as an accomplished poet. His interest in my poetry was a compliment which I will remember with fondness.

Foreword

As one of the three million people in the United States suffering with epilepsy, I know firsthand what it’s like to be laid low by a seizure. I remember the twelve year-old me, the