In the Blink of an Eye: Locked-In Syndrome

Last night I read this memoir published by the former Editor and Chief of French Elle Magazine. I came upon it a few weeks back while browsing at the local used bookstore.
Jean-Dominique Bauby suffered a massive stroke in December of 1995 that left him in what is called "locked- in syndrome" which means he was conscious, but could not speak or move his body except to turn his head and blink his left eye. Apparently the syndrome occurs when the brain stem stops working and can no longer relay information from the brain to the spinal cord.
The only way he was able to communicate was by blinking his left eye. He could not blink the right one so it had to be sewn shut to keep the eyeball from drying out. He managed, with the help of his speech therapist to work out a method of communicating, and was thus able to complete his entire memoir by blinking out each letter of each word. The book is not a long one, but when you consider the pains that were taken to compose each and every syllable, it seems impossibly long.
The way it worked was the letters of the alphabet were arranged on a card by most frequently used (in the French language). The therapist would slowly say each letter and Jean-Dominique would blink his eye when she reached the letter he wanted. She would then write it down and start the list again. The amount of patience he must have had to compose even the shortest of sentences leaves me speachless.
The human body is a remarkable thing, but the resilience of the human mind is almost miraculous. Bauby was trapped in his body with nothing but his thoughts and he was able, to not only survive under such horrifing conditions, but to create and sometimes laugh in them too. As he put it so elloquently "If I must drool, I may as well drool on cashmere."
Bauby's memoir is a lot like life; difficult, sad, funny, and over before you know it. Maybe the lesson is not so much in the words he wrote but in the book itself, and the way in which it came about. If anyone would like my copy send your address and I will mail it to you! It's not the happiest subject, but it was a one of a kind reading experience, that really made me feel grateful for the little things in life like being able to smile.