Ashlyn's all about OT

 I read the article entitled "Danielle's Story 'I am not MS, and MS is not me!'" and watched the youtube video at the end of the article. In the article, it gives a brief description about what multiple sclerosis (MS) is, some of the symptoms, and some general statistics about the disease. It goes on to talk about how Danielle was first diagnosed and how debilitating it was for her at first, but her doctors helped her get back to doing what she loves to do the most, ballet. The youtube video at the end of the article is a dance routine that Danielle performed after her diagnosis of MS and after some treatment. To further my learning on the topic of MS, I referred to my class notes to understand the symptoms and treatment options for MS.  In relation to the course content, I learned more about how even though there is no cure for MS, there is some treatment that can help with the symptoms of MS. Reading this article and watching the youtube video helped me realize ...

      I read an article called " A Meaningful Life". The article is about how Francesco 14 years ago fractured his spine from a pool diving accident. Francesco talks a lot in the article about how he is grateful for everyday of his life he still has. He describes how every moments of his life flashed before him when he was drowning but he was determined it was not his time to go yet. He did what doctors didn't think was possible, survive his accident. A lot of people always ask him what happened but Francesco said that on the anniversary of the accident he likes to ask himself that question. Although he is injured and needs more help than before the accident, he is grateful to still be here today. I used Dr. Lancasters notes as well as information from my case study to further my learning about spinal cord injuries (SCI). I chose this resource amongst others because I did a case study on a SCI and the accidents were very similar to one another, and I wanted to see ho...

 I read the article entitled "Margie Alley Plays Ping-Pong to Cope with Parkinson's Disease". The article talks about how Margie Alley was a tennis player who was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease after a misdiagnosis from a podiatrist. Margie was having foot cramping when playing tennis and the podiatrist suggest surgery to fix the issue, but Margie continued to have pain after the operation along with more symptoms such as problems in the wrist, elbow, and knee of the left side. She eventually went to a neurologist where she was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and put on medication so she could continue to play tennis. With her diagnosis, she fell quite a bit and was afraid of further injuring herself. She was going to physical therapy where she discovered there was an indoor table tennis court where Parkinson's patients would play. She got to continue playing a sport that was similar to the one she played before her diagnosis and it made her feel compet...

As part of the Neuro Aspects course I'm taking in OT school, I participated in a clinical simulation encounter today during which I administered a cognitive screening to a person with a recent history of  stroke. Cognition is being able to understand and process the knowledge that you gain throughout your life. OT's role in working with individuals with cognitive disorders can be to help with safety awareness, improving skills, making adjustments to the clients lifestyle to be more independent, and help maintain and improve occupational performance.  My clients score on the SLUMS was a 21 out of 30. This score indicates that the client has mild cognitive impairment. Meaning, my client could have challenges with remembering important dates/appointments, coming up with the appropriate words to use when speaking to others, or losing items/not remembering where they put them. I feel like I adapted my elevator speech to my client in a way that he would understand what it is OT's...

     I read a blog post entitled "I Got Hit By A Boat" by Tyson Ward to learn more about traumatic brain injuries (TBI). In the blog, Tyson tells the story about the time he and his dad were in a boating accident. Tyson was worse off than his father and was in the hospital for months on end with a traumatic brain injury and was in a coma for quite some time. He had been in rehab facilities, multiple different hospital, had many different surgeries but with no sign of any progression. His doctors told his mom he was going to need to be in a nursing home with full time care for the rest of his life. After 99 days of being in the hospital in a coma, Tyson miraculously woke up one morning. Tyson then goes on the explain the complications of his brain injury to he suffered with after waking up from the coma. Dr. Lancasters lecture on TBI was the extra material that I used to understand what was happening to Tyson as he told his story.       I chose this res...

     I read the article entitled "A Typical Day with Mild Cognitive Impairment". In the article, it talks about a project that was done by the University of Pennsylvania's Memory center where patients were to take pictures on a camera of a "typical day" living with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Afterwards, the patients discussed the aspects of their life that frustrate, facilitate, or challenge their memory. To further my learning I made sure to understand what MCI is and how it is diagnosed so I could better understand the article. I chose this resource amongst others because I have heard a lot about cognitive impairments, dementia, and Alzheimer's, but I never knew or heard of MCI. I wanted to learn about what MCI stood for/meant, and what the difference was from dementia or Alzheimer's.      In relation to our course content, I learned that it is important to consider caregivers as well as the patient when creating intervention strategies. In the...

     When your client needs assistive devices it is important to fit your client appropriately to ensure safety and proper use of the device. Devices are not usually a universal fit to everyone, so it is important to fit the equipment to your client's height and size to ensure safety. If it is not ft properly it will decrease the stability of the assistive device. It is also important to fit your client appropriately so that the device is at its maximum potential for function and performance. You don't want your client's device to not work properly because it is not fitted to your client correctly.      There are two types of canes a client could use: straight cane and quad canes. For both canes, you want to adjust the hand grips to be at the level of the ulnar styloid process, wrist crease, or greater trochanter. When making this adjustment, you want to make sure your clients elbows are relaxed, flexed at 20-30 degrees with shoulder relaxed and not el...