Book Review: It'll Be OK, It's Just A Hole In My Head by Mimi Hayes

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars rounded up.

‘I’ll be OK...’ are the memoirs of Mimi Hayes, focusing on the initial diagnosis and her subsequent recovery after a brain haemorrhage caused by a cavernous hemangioma (which she calls an angioma). It covers the difficulties she faces getting her initial diagnosis and the rocky road to resuming a normal life after surgery.

I have a personal history with regards to brain injuries like this, and I work everyday within a busy Neuroradiology department. As such, I feel a certain affinity towards stories involving anything neurological and was initially drawn to these memoirs because of this. The author is endearing as she takes us through her story, and I instantly warmed to her as she recounts her ‘back story’ of sorts in the build up to her haemorrhage. Her story is easy to follow, and I found the writing style matched well with the author’s obvious quirky personality - although I admit that at times I found the endless movie references a little grating. It felt almost as though she was using humour, along with the movie references that often ended up going off on a tangent, to deflect from digging deeper into her emotional state at the time. This often took away from the more serious points that she was trying to get across. 

I would perhaps have liked some explanations in terms of how the American health care system works in comparison to my own beloved NHS. Beyond knowing that you need health insurance, I have no idea how Americans access healthcare, and I think a small paragraph outlining how this system works may have allowed me a greater degree of understanding with regards to the difficulties Mimi encounters when initially trying to gain a diagnosis from her doctor. Perhaps a more detailed outline of what a cerebral hemangioma is also would be helpful to readers who perhaps don’t know what they are (and their tendency to bleed).

I liked the photos that we’re scattered throughout. They added a more personal touch that allowed me to connect with Mimi and put faces to names. I also loved the interactions between Mimi’s family, especially with regards to the Halloween costume ‘incident’. They were written about with an obvious amount of love that just jumped off the page and was wonderful to read about.

Granted this isn’t The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, but I enjoyed this, and with a bit of tighter editing to decrease the amount of times this went a bit off topic, it would make a good account of one individual’s recovery following brain injury.

 - 3 stars