A Journey Round My Skull by Frigyes Karinthy

I maybe mentioned this before, but this has been re-released in print with an introduction by Oliver Sacks.

I pre-ordered it off Amazon, having read it about 10 years ago. Re-reading it now, it is really fantastic stuff.

Essentially, Karinthy describes his experiences of developing a brain tumor and undergoing treatment, and ultimately, surgery while under only local anesthetic.

It's a clever and occasionally moving account. (Admission: I really like Karinthy as a writer, and he falls into my inexplicable love for turn of the century Hungarian authors.)

Wired actually mentioned it here, and here is a 1939 review from Time.

QUOTE:
Karinthy gives a minute description of his “skull”, a description that covers both the physical and psychological: the early giddy spells and the later excrutiating headaches, the attemps at denial and the realization that even after submitting himself to examination, he had unconsciously chosen doctors incapable of diagnosing the illness he knew was there.

((Hungarian Quarterly)