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PDE After Graduation

After reading about different professional development opportunities following graduation, my eyes have been opened to a large number of opportunities to grow as an occupational therapy practitioner. It is hard to look so far into the future and think about specializing while I am still in school, but knowing that I have so many different paths I can take gives me so much excitement. Although I am not planning on getting another degree at any point following graduation, I will not keep that door completely shut.  If I had the opportunity to earn a specialty certification other than PAMs, I would be interested in Certified Driver Rehabilitation Specialist (CDRS). Following our guest lecture on CDRS, I was interested to learn more about how to improve a client's function and independence behind the wheel. I enjoyed learning about the different types of adaptive equipment and modifications an occupational therapist can make to a car to allow someone to drive who otherwise thought they...
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Neuro Note 6

How Did I Come Out of Guillain–Barré SyndromeIn      In the TedTalk,  Shruti Jain talked about when she was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS). GBS is an autoimmune disorder where the immune system attacks nerve that carry signals to the brain. This causes degeneration of the myelin sheath ad results in peripheral nerve system (brain and spinal cord) damage. Symptoms include weakness and tingling the lower extremities, respiratory issues, bladder control issues. double vision, pain, and fatigue. This disease is at its worst in the first 2-3 weeks so the patient experiences severe pain and weakness and is at risk for contractures and respiratory dysfunction.         Shruti Jain says that she believes that everything happens for a reason and the days she spent in the emergency room made her realize her passion. She would deal with her pain by making jokes about her surroundings and with her doctors. Jain talks about one day that she d...
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Media Project Neuro

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     For my media project, I was assigned a case study for a 68 year old named Dennis. Dennis recently had a stroke and was brought into the emergency room due to an unbearable headache, slurred speech, and loss of control on his left side. After 10 days, Dennis was transferred to a rehabilitation hospital. Dennis enjoys gardening and woodworking and his goal is to return to those hobbies. After an evaluation, Dennis has deficits in visual perception, particularly with figure-ground and spatial relations. He also demonstrates left neglect, completely neglecting objects on his left side while getting ready. He has great difficult dressing (unable to figure out front from back or sleeve hole from neck hole) and needs maximum assistance to do so. Dennis is able to transfer with minimum assistance and ambulates with a hemi walker. He interacts well with the staff, teasing them and involving humor in his interactions, but does not understand why he has to be in a rehabilitatio...
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Neuro Note 5

  "The Big Idea My Brother Inspired" By Jamie Heywood       In this Ted Talk, Jamie Heywood talks about when his brother, Steven, was diagnosed with  Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) at the age of 29. Also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, ALS is a progressive nervous system disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. This disease starts killing motor neurons in the spinal cord which causes loss of muscle control. Early symptoms include muscle twitching, slurred speech or weakness of a limb and eventually people with ALS lose control of the muscle needed to move, speak, eat, and breathe. No one knows the exact cause of ALS and there is currently no cure, with the average lifespan being three years.        Although ALS is a horrible disease, Jamie and Steven saw  it as a gift because they began to learn of a new way to look at life. They had an amazing journey as a family and decided to do something with the d...
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Neuro Note 4

A test for Parkinson's with a phone call      In this Ted Talk, Max Little discusses Parkinson's disease and the importance of objective tools to detect it sooner so there is a better chance to find a cure. Parkinson's disease is a progressive nervous system disorder that affects the ability to control movement. This disease usually starts out slowly and worsens over time, eventually causing trouble talking, sleeping, walking, and with balance it coordination. It also causes someone to experience behavioral changes and/or have mental and memory problems. Some of the most common symptoms of Parkinson's are tremors, stiffness, and slowing of movement (bradykinesia). Many of these symptoms are due to a loss of neurons that produce dopamine, causing abnormal brain activity.  There are 6.3 million people worldwide who have this incurable disease. Little says that there are no biomarkers for this disease and therefore there is no simple blood test you can do. Instead, you ...
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Neuro Note 3

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                                             Life after paralyzation: Janne Kouri at TEDxVeniceBeach      During this TedTalk, Janne talks about a tragic accident that instantly paralyzed him. While playing volleyball at the beach with his friends, Janne ran into a wave and hit his head on a sandbar. After a gentleman rushed him to safety, Janne was able to get to the hospital. From that moment on, his life changed and he questioned everything. The doctors told him there was no hope for his recovery and he would never walk again, but Janne did not give up hope. He asked himself if wanted to be happy: and the answer was yes. He spent every day doing what made him happy and kept fighting. After a lot of research, he found Frasier Rehab in Louisville Kentucky, a progressive rehab facility. Janne and his girlfriend moved to Kentucky where he s...
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Neuro Note 2

   "How my dad's dementia changed my idea of death (and life)"  By: Beth Malone      In this Ted Talk, Beth talked about an encounter she had with her dad. Beth started this ted talk saying, "I've been doing some thinking. I'm going to kill my dad. I called my sister." Now this is not a phrase that many people would openly say to an audience of strangers but she was going through something that people would never dream of: her father was struggling with frontotemporal lobe dementia (FTD). Beth's thought process was that her dad was being tortured and his body was the vessel of that torture. She wanted to get him out of that body so that he could be free. FTD is a group of disorders that occurs from a progressive loss of nerve cells in the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain. This causes the lobes to shrink and can affect behavior, personality, language, and movement. Beth's dad experienced a major personality change and this caused him to get...
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