Reddit mentions of The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science (James H. Silberman Books)

>Do you think this is a discussion I can have with him now while he's recovering, or wait until time passes and chat about it then?

Depends on if you want to risk losing him as a friend. If he's been a Christian his entire life trying to have a frank discussion while he's going through this will not be seen as idle curiosity. He's your friend so you'll best be able to guess hoe he reacts, but I'm guessing at best it will be an awkward conversation in which he'll be firm in his beliefs and you'll hesitate due to his condition.

Best to just be a friend right now, a non religious friend who sends him stuff he actually needs. If you want, I recently read a book that is mainly about neuroscience but goes a lot into modern techniques for treating a stroke. The book is about the brains ability to adapt and looking into how stroke victims, that have had a portion of their brain die, adapt and relearn to do basic tasks. It's The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science and is a great read. This way you can learn something then recommend the book to him and his wife so they can learn more about what's going on.

Right now they are probably counting on prayers and doctors advice. One will not be answered and the other is probably good advice but not meant to be informative. All those people typing praise Jesus on facebook are trying to help but are unwilling or incapable of do anything beyond asking someone who has never answered. Better to be an example on how to help then to critique others ways, even if they are useless.

Now worries! I totally appreciate the interest and advice. Plus, maybe I can help you with a patient's view on any school work? Btw, what is your major/specialty?
Anyways, the pain doesn't change at all in relation to my menstrual cycle. My docs and I have looked into that a lot. The only thing that really sucks and makes pain worse during my period is using tampons or pads, since touch is very aggravating.
Thanks for the links! They are both very good suggestions. The laughter thing is really true. It does make me feel better to smile and have a good time. There are even laughter therapy groups in most large cities (including mine) to help people like me. I have yet to visit one yet because the meetings conflict with my current schedule, but I do make a significant effort to do things that make me smile and laugh every day. For instance, any time I am hurting a lot or feeling depressed about my situation, I will cuddle with one of my four cats. Two of them are rescue cats and two of them are napoleons. Here is a pic of the naps: http://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/f333p/kittehs_be_helpin_with_the_dishus/
They always make me smile and laugh no matter how awful I am feeling and it really truly does help with the pain. Also, my pelvic pain doctor in LA always tells me that there are only two natural things that release endorphins and seratonin simultaneously in high amounts: exercise and sex. So I exercise for more than an hour 5 days a week and I have sex whenever my body will tolerate it.
Also, I haven't read that book in particular, but it looks like it is on the same topics as what I am already into. If you like that book or are interested in this kind of thing you should check out these:
http://www.amazon.com/Brain-That-Changes-Itself-Frontiers/dp/067003830X
http://www.amazon.com/Dissolving-Pain-Brain-Training-Exercises-Overcoming/dp/1590307801/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1299766118&sr=1-1
http://www.amazon.com/Open-Focus-Brain-Harnessing-Power-Attention/dp/1590306120/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1299766138&sr=1-1

I'm actually reading The Brain That Changes Itself now. If you're at all interested in this stuff you should really pick it up.

There's actually proof that learning cursive writing, along with many other skills, leads to better development of the brain as a whole. It's all centered around the principle of neuroplasticity, and how forcing the brain to do something tricky or challenging leads to benefits as wide ranging as improvements to memory or yes, motor skills. This principle can even be applied to people in their twilight years, as there have been studies showing how trying to learn a new language or learning how to paint in old age also has significant benefits.

A good book to read which introduces this whole area is this book. It's not all relevant to this particular area, but there's a good few chapters relating to this in particular, and it's an interesting read anyhow.

Edit: missing "in"

Thanks for bringing this up! I did a search, and now I think I'm going to check out The Brain That Changed Itself by Norman Doidge. Sounds fascinating!

Yeah, that was a very sloppy and rather conjectured paraphrase, I apologize. I was aiming for brevity and totally lost the point. Should have checked what subreddit I was in as well...

In The Ego Tunnel, The Brain that Changes Itself and no-doubt other recent neuroscience "dumbed-down" books there is a prevailing theme that our brain creates the world around us by unifying our disparate senses into one cohesive world of meaning. It happens to be splayed into 3-orthogonal angles of space which moves forward in time. Your nerve endings gave your brain enough feedback as a baby who feels stuff to build your "dreambody" for you which you can of course see and feel. Anorexics, amputees with phantom-limbs, etc. get fucked by something going wrong in that whole process. This system is also activated empathetically, like watching a soccer player getting kicked in the groin. That's basically how we communicate -- we tweak our universe slightly to become other people. Freud figured that out. Basic human empathy: some people lack it; some people are very specific about to whom they let it work on. This is the same body that walks around in your dreams... your world-building process without the benefit of sensory backup. It's the same one that loses orientation and gives you an out-of-body-experience, or that disappears when you take psychotropic drugs and "become the universe" or whatever.

Basically, all I'm trying to do is bring a completely different subject into the discussion. My conjecture is that since i. everything I see and hear and touch is just in my head (i.e. trees that fall in forests may create air-vibrations but those fail to classify as "sounds" because sound is a sense) and ii. either we're alone in the universe or not, which reasons because it means there's meaning in the universe beyond our present-day dwellings on the matter, then if there is a better viewpoint, a perfectly objective, whole viewpoint of the macroscopic and quantum world, or at the very least a TOE with perfect predictability so that science didn't have to go about it all the hard way like it does now then would the universe look like 3 dimensions and time? Am I a tan blob of meat or an extrapolation on a string who only thinks he's a tan blob of meat?

Because we're taking about holographic projections meaning that 4D space is a projection from a different, lesser-dimensioned space with all the same information stored in both, I figure the mathmatical projection would need to take place in the process which builds our 4D world, the human brain and nervous system.

edit: 3D!=4D... 'tan'!='lily-white pale' will remain unfixed.

This might be an interesting book for you: The Brain That Changes Itself

It's a very engaging read. I sat down with my mother-in-law's copy and had read a hundred pages before I realized how much time had elapsed!

I think schools should still be teaching cursive. Typing is much easier to learn, but the act of using your hand to draw long lines in specific patterns fosters brain development.
http://www.amazon.com/Brain-That-Changes-Itself-Frontiers/dp/067003830X

Please read the Brain That Changes Itself. The brain is plastic. It can heal and improve. This book is well researched and there is loads of evidence. It's an absolutely fascinating read even if the animal experiments are heart breaking.

http://www.normandoidge.com/normandoidge/MAIN.html
http://www.amazon.com/The-Brain-That-Changes-Itself/dp/067003830X

Also, you can train your brain just like you can train your body. A website call Lumosity has a 40 lesson program for a small fee but there are other websites out there like it and maybe you can find one for free or that you prefer.

http://www.lumosity.com/

You can absolutely recover from this.

Are you in treatment?
The brain is (to some degree) capable of reorganizing itself and a good neuropsychological program might help you to regain some abilities or at least delay further symptom onset.
The Brain that changes itself by Norman Doidge is a great introduction into neuroplasticity. Also Train your Brain, change your mind

There is an interesting book and documentary on the subject called The Brain That Changes Itself if you want to check it out.

Here is the documentary:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFCOm1P_cQQ

And the book:
http://www.amazon.com/Brain-That-Changes-Itself-Frontiers/dp/067003830X/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

This is the book that got me interested in the field.. It's more like stories of peoples brains and explains plasticity, but an easy read and awesome book. http://www.amazon.com/Brain-That-Changes-Itself-Frontiers/dp/067003830X

http://www.amazon.com/Brain-That-Changes-Itself-Frontiers/dp/067003830X