The Impact of Stroke on Interpersonal Communication: Everyday a challenge, everyday a blessing

In January, 1983 Betsy Schnell Comtess was living her dream life in San Diego, California. A recent graduate of The Ohio State University (Dental Hygiene), she'd just turned 24 and was poised to accomplish a range of goals she'd set for herself. That all dramatically changed when she suffered a stroke that left her unable to handle the most basic of daily functions. Her goals changed from traveling the world to learning how to walk again. Her interactions with others and her surrounding environment experienced redefinition. This book, co-authored with Dr. Jim Schnell, focuses on how her interpersonal communication processes experienced redefinition and her sense of self was altered as well. Dr. Schnell's expertise with communication theory, coupled with his witness to her recovery and daily functioning, is used to ably interpret the evolution of her life in this regard. Ultimately a message of hope, this book serves as guide to those who have suffered a stroke and the families that support them. How we understand the world we communicate with is very much a matter of what we expect that world to be.

Betsy Schnell Comtess is a stroke survivor. She conveys her unflinching reflections on how her stroke has impacted her interpersonal communication processes. Jim Schnell, Ph.D. provides context on her reflections via his expertise as a communication theorist and witness to her pre-stroke life, stroke, rehabilitation and post-stroke readjustment.