About The Author and Coauthor

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Dr. Daniel Herlihy

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I am a family practice medical doctor with two years of study in microbiology graduate school, yet it took me ten years to write this book. Starting as a prescription from my neurologist to aid my traumatic brain injury I began the work reading, writing and speaking as a 5-year-old child. 

My behavior without a frontal cortex (the part makes you human and reasonable) was uninhibited and unruly as an animal at times. My memory dimmed so much, I needed to read my drivers listens to know my address. Early on I was delusional enough to believe my conversations with Chewy were real. 

Could you drive a car off an elevated highway? If you do, you will suffer the devastating consequence. Four surgeries, chronic pain, and worse: A diagnosis of dementia (92 % disabled) and prognosis of going into Alzheimer's disease. That news makes a doctor want to suicide; especially since I diagnosed the erasing disease in my father. I knew the horror was lying ahead. Despite the depressive topics of brain injury, homelessness, suicide and the loss of memory this book is an authentic medical thriller. Moreover, since I am penning these sentences now, its full of hope. It is also humorous. My dog Chewy is a canine comedian. 

The reader will learn a sufficient amount of medicine to be informed while being titillated by my "crazy" adventures into hospitals, surgeries, the streets of homelessness. You will read yourself into delusions, hallucinations and other psychological misadventures. Happily, all these dangerous locations the reader can visit without leaving the safety of a comfortable armchair. 

What does a dog do daily to aid the completely broken? He showed me when to eat, as I could not remember even my last meal. We learned to dress presentably. Teaching me to socialize he brought me to places I did not dare walk by myself. Even the smallest things helped. Waking me in the morning to walk, reduced my pain and journeyed me into the neurotypical world My terroir is a healer of the first degree.

 He aided my many homeless friends in their loneliness. He demonstrated to street vets how to overcome PTSD, and later provided a role model for their service animals. ' Chewy was the only one to reach my Michele in her the far and challenging place of terminal brain cancer. There are four chapters of his graceful interactions with her. 

How do the best doctors stop a man with all the reasons to leave the suffering behind? The medical miracle here is how a mere dog convinced me not to suicide. My hope for the reader is to understand the significant support a service dog can give. Then please tell someone to obtain these under prescribed, knee-high, portable doctors. 

You can take control of your health with the help of a Four Leg. Doctor. Chewy's orders. Lastly, although I still have my disabilities, I now advocate for the disabled and part of the purchase price goes to training service dogs. I am working with Dagmund (Belgium Malinois ) personally, who will go to an Alzheimer's patient. We found the patient stays in the car while we gas up. How much better is that than the circus-like panic and frantic activity while the family searches for their mother who has gotten a half block away. See like the book — funny. 

Brain Blown, A doctor reveals his traumatic brain injury, is a more extended memoir of my downfall from a family practice doctor into dementia from a traumatic brain injury then back again, while passing through homelessness, PTSD and suicide. The release is for September. 

About Chewy. The coauthor is a proud, literate alpha dog, a cairn terrier. I, in my saner moments, find it is impossible to believe my best friend weighs 21 pounds, has two more legs than me, is very hairy and does not speak English. And yet . . ..

 

Chewy Augustus Napolean  Bone Apart 

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This honorable canine is a Cairn terrier.  Cairn is a Celtic word meaning rock pile. It is a reference to the stone monuments under which the Celts bury their dead. These dogs protect the bodies from scavengers.