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    Complications: The diagnosis was bad. The aftermath was calamitous. My new life as a medical train wreck.
    Complications: The diagnosis was bad. The aftermath was calamitous. My new life as a medical train wreck.
    Complications: The diagnosis was bad. The aftermath was calamitous. My new life as a medical train wreck.
    Audiobook1 hour

    Complications: The diagnosis was bad. The aftermath was calamitous. My new life as a medical train wreck.

    Written by Todd Balf

    Narrated by Tristan Morris

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    His story begins as cliché: an aging jock with nagging lower-back pain. For the better part of a year, he ignores it, convinced he has a slipped or herniated disk. It’s only when he can no longer ride a bike, a lifelong passion, that he makes the doctor appointment. The problem isn’t a disk; it’s a tumor on his spine the size of a softball.


    In the summer of 2014, Todd Balf, author of the acclaimed adventure tales The Darkest Jungle and The Last River, was diagnosed with a rare spinal cancer called chordoma. Only three hundred cases are diagnosed in the United States each year, meaning that Balf was literally one in a million. During two long and risky surgeries, a team of specialists removed the tumor and buttressed his damaged spine with a scaffolding of metal rods. Having survived the surgery, itself a minor miracle, Balf was told that, with some rehab and follow-up radiation, he would soon be back to his former athletic self. He wasn’t. The surgery had resulted in a spinal-cord injury that left one of his legs partially paralyzed. Give it time, his doctors advised. The nerves might heal.


    Thus began Balf’s membership in a tribe. The disabled. He imagined his own disability would be temporary, a short visit to a foreign land. He spent years test-piloting remedies that might spark his spinal nerves back to life. With the same gusto and good humor that he brought to his work as a writer, he searched for the perfect treatment: anti-gravity treadmills, adaptive bikes, endless rehab and trips to the gym, and—why not?—a few long-distance cycling events. His wife and children, long accustomed to Balf’s kinetic energy and sometimes harebrained schemes, cheered him on and hoped for the best.


    Then came unexpected surgery to repair broken rods in Balf’s spine, followed by yet another complication: a stroke that jeopardized not only his recovery but his professional career. Balf wasn’t just one in a million. Thanks to his unresolved spine injury, topped off with a stroke, he was now an “n of 1”—a single case study. Before his long medical misadventure, Balf had always relished being one of the healthiest and fittest people around. Now he was unique for all the wrong reasons.  


    Complications recounts Balf’s journey from cancer diagnosis to his present-day reality as a man caught between two worlds. Both moving and irrepressibly joyful, Complications is a forthright account of what it’s like to suffer a physical catastrophe and manage the uncertainty that comes with it. What’s the right balance between striving to recover and accepting limitations? Was he still just visiting the land of the disabled, or there for good? Who was Todd Balf now?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherEverand Originals
    Release dateJul 21, 2020
    ISBN9781094408187
    Author

    Todd Balf

    Todd Balf is a former editor at Outside magazine whose writing has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Harper’s, GQ, Runner’s World, and elsewhere. He is the author of The Last River, The Darkest Jungle, and Major.

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    Reviews for Complications

    4/5

    97 ratings12 reviews

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    • 2/5
      I wanted to enjoy this more, but the emphasis on trying to return to ‘normal’ and the repeated avoidance of disability aids as if that’s somehow a badge of honor leaves this feeling like an unspoken judgement of those that use them. Disability is nothing to be ashamed of.
    • 2/5
      Story was interesting but I couldn’t get past the breathy narrative performance.
    • 4/5
      Gripping story. Horrible narration. Stocato delivery. Uncomfortable. To listen. To. Would suggest the narrator read the material, know it well enough to deliver it as a story around the kitchen table.
    • 5/5
      Great story! What a tough guy! I’m amazed when a writer makes political comments for it against when it isn’t relevant to the subject. Seems like the comments don’t age well , while his story totally will;)
    • 5/5
      This is a very inspiring and amazing story. Truly our capacity to thrive has no boundaries. We can become stronger as long as we have the will regardless of the circumstances!
    • 5/5
      I read this because I had read the book by the author about the Tsangpo kayak descent. This book by and about the author is riveting, profound, and beautifully written.
    • 5/5
      Remarkable story that I found inspiring and very thought provoking.

      I thought the reading was excellent and and a pleasure to listen to.

      This short book is extremely well written and a testament to the power of the human spirit.

    • 4/5
      Loved the book but felt too much emphasis loaded on walking. My lovely husband, Dr Richard Gomm, always felt any aim to improve/acquire new skills should be concentrated on speech/communication.
      Without speech you become lesser without movement there are perfectly adequate substitutes like wheelchairs, bikes, crutches etc: that can raise you up to communicate on equal levels.
    • 3/5
      Interesting, inspiring, shows a stubbornness, but didn't evoke strong emotion
    • 2/5
      Narration was so bad, I could hardly get through it!

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      A no nonsense account of a devastating illness to an addictive athlete. Well written and narrated, had to listen in one go
    • 5/5
      Wow! Todd Balf provides inspiration to all with his journey through medical hell. He inspired me every day to forget about the little aches and pains and stay focused on the big picture