{"product_id":"9780740799020","title":"The Long Road Home: One Step at a Time","description":"\u003cp\u003eOn a road outside Fallujah, an RPG blows apart a Humvee and upends the life of a former football star. As a medevac chopper swoops down, the wounded Guardsman hears \"Not your time, bro. Not today,\" and his remarkable healing journey begins.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThousands of U.S. soldiers have suffered grievous wounds in Iraq, but only one of them is a \u003ci\u003eDoonesbury\u003c\/i\u003e character. \u003ci\u003eThe Long Road Home: One Step at a Time\u003c\/i\u003e chronicles seven months of cutting-edge cartooning, during which B.D.-and readers of the strip-got an up-close schooling in a kind of personal transformation no one seeks.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDeprived not only of leg but also his ubiquitous trademark helmet, B.D. survives first-response Baghdad triage, evacuation to Landstuhl's surgeon-rich environment, and visits by innumerable morale-boosting celebs, both red and blue in hue. He's awed in turn by morphine, take-no-guff nurses, his fellow amps, and his family, including the daughter who hand-delivers succor, one aspirin at a time.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTransferred stateside to Walter Reed's Ward 57, B.D. is inspired by the wisdom of physiatrists, warmed by the dedicated ministrations of real-life fellow-amp heroes like Jim the Milkshake Man, and dazzled by high-tech prostheses that cost more than luxury cars. He's annoyed by his own bouts with self-pity, by the bedside awkwardness of friends more comfortable regarding his stump from e-mail distance, and by Zonk's unwavering commitment to supplementing his care with organic meds.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs their journey continues, B.D. and Boopsie are cared for by Fisher House, a home-next-door-to-the-hospital for families whose lives revolve around therapy. B.D. finds himself painfully engaged in building his future, one sadistically difficult physical therapy session at a time. \"To Lash, Helga, and the Marquis!\" toast the band of differently limbed brethren, raising their glasses to their PT masters as they prepare for reentry into the ambulatory world.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrom rebuilding tissue to rebuilding social skills to rebuilding lives, B.D's inspiring, insightful, and darkly humorous story confirms that it can take a village, or at least a ward, to raise a soldier when he's gone down. \"Thank you for getting blown up,\" offers one of B.D.'s visiting players. Replies the coach, \"Just doing my job.\"\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Andrews McMeel Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47107478094064,"sku":"9780740799020","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780740799020_p0.jpg?v=1769900726","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780740799020","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}