Neuro Note #5: OT 537

For my final neuro note, I chose another Ted Talk to listen to and write about. I actually chose this Ted Talk to listen to because another student recommended it to me. It sounded interesting because the subject was on Alzheimer's Disease and the speaker is also the author of the book Still Alice. The speaker of this talk is named Lisa Genova and the title of the speech is "What can you do to prevent Alzheimer's". During her speech, Lisa provided a solid background to how and why some people develop this disease over others. She explained how the build up of amyloid plaques is what essentially causes the downward spiral into forgetfulness and dementia. Lisa pointed out how common the disease is amongst Americans and even the nation as a whole. Listening to Lisa speak, I learned a great deal about how the science behind the treatment of Alzheimer's isn't necessarily incorrect but is just being administered at the wrong time for the individual. Lisa mentioned how the drugs need to be used as a preventative way to developing the disease. I found this interesting in that I always assumed that the drug was used as a preventative measure, but in fact it is not. In order for the treatment to be effective, the individual should take it before the actual development of Alzheimer's and before the build up of amyloid plaques reaches a "tipping point" as she describes it. Lisa also went on to discuss other ways to prevent the disease by the diet one consumes and exercising regularly. She really emphasizes how important it is to consume a healthy diet and maintain cardiovascular health. This is, of course, important for every individual but especially important for those who are at risk for developing AD. She talks about how this lifestyle change as a huge impact in what one's older years of living may be like. Overall, I learned a lot from this talk. Lisa went on to paint colorful images and provide great comparisons and examples of what Alzheimer's disease is like. I find it interesting in how doctors will be able to know when to administer treatment early enough to certain individuals, and I also wonder that since so much more has been discovered about the mechanism of Alzheimer's disease if the amount of people to develop it will decrease significantly. I absolutely enjoyed this Ted Talk and since she was such a wonderful speaker, I want even more to read Still Alice!

Retrieved from: Genova, L. (2017, April). What you can do to prevent Alzheimer's [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/lisa_genova_what_you_can_do_to_prevent_alzheimer_s#t-820240

From a Margarine Tub to a Sock Aid: Being creative with household items to assist in ADLs

In my Neurological Aspects of Occupation Centered Practice course, we had the opportunity to show our innovative side as future occupational therapy practitioners. The project was completely randomized with us as a class drawing different household items or other materials from a bag and then being assigned to a client with a specific diagnosis and detailed description of the person's interests, roles, barriers, and level of function in various areas of life. While some people may have been assigned the same client no one had the same material to use, so everyone's project will be unique. For me specifically, I drew from the bag a "margarine tub or something similar" and then was assigned to a client named Paula. Paula is a 76 year-old Caucasian female with a primary diagnosis of Parkinson's Disease and then secondary diagnosis of cataracts and hypertension. Paula experienced several challenges and barriers with this diagnosis. Paula had several interests that included communication with colleagues and her husband. She also wanted to be able to use her computer and review manuscripts for a publishing company. However, it was stated that Paula had a couple priorities for OT Intervention which include independence in daily bathing and dressing. Therefore, that is what I focused on when creating my intervention for her. She was completely dependent in putting on her shoes and socks so I thought that it would be nice for her to be able to put on her socks independently with the help of a sock aid created from what was once a margarine tub. Crazy, I know. I wasn't exactly sure how I was going to make this work. I did my research and stood in the grocery store playing around with different butter tubs attempting to see which one would serve the best for putting a sock on a foot. Not typically why one stands in the butter section, but hey I am going to be an OT so I guess I should get used to being creative in some very unusual ways. The day I was constructing the sock aid from a butter tub my family was having a cookout at the house, and I was the overly excited future OT running around with one sock on and asking others to try out my new product. I definitely got some weird looks at first, but it also gave me the chance to explain why, how and show people an example of how occupational therapists can help people in all kinds of ways with just about anything. Once I showed them how my sock aid worked, they were definitely impressed and found it cool that I thought to make it out of a butter tub. I did my little hair flip and proceeded to the next person to show out on. Putting my silliness aside in making this project, I used this item to make a sock aid to help Paula be able to put her socks on her feet, so that she isn't necessarily depending on others for everything in her life. Although putting your socks on is typically viewed as being a small and simple task, it definitely takes a toll on you when you are not even able to do something that was once so simple. I wanted Paula to feel more independent, so I took a margarine tub and gave her a way to put her socks on her feet without asking someone else to do it for her. I also thought that by teaching Paula how to use this sock aid she would be able to strengthen those muscles in her feet and work on her coordination in her lower extremities. Paula will also work on grip strength and fine motor coordination in her hands by gripping the straps and pulling on them in order to move the sock aid across the bottom of her foot. Overall, I had so much fun making this product and I feel like it will be very beneficial in my client's OT intervention process. Below I have included a picture summing up my client and why I chose to make a sock aid for her. I also have provided pictures of the different steps in using the sock aid as well as a before and after of making the sock aid.
Summary of Media Project:


A little Before and After Photos:
                                
Using the Sock Aid:
Step 1: Putting the sock on on the end where straps will still have the freedom to fall in order to grab these straps

Step 2: Pulling the sock over the sock aid to ensure it stays on when the foot is initially placed into the other end

Step 3: Placing your foot into the sock aid and holding on to the straps with your hands so you can pull the sock aid up


Step 4: Pulling up on the straps pulls the sock aid across the foot resulting in the sock going onto the foot
             
Step 5: Mission Success! The sock is now on the foot with the help of the sock aid!

Ruby Bowen: A Case Study Take-Away

Caroline did a great job presenting to our small group about her maternal grandmother named Ruby Bowen who suffered from Alzheimer's dementia. Ruby was diagnosed around the age of 75 or 76 and passed away at the age of 79. Ruby had many roles such as being a mom, grandmother, wife, friend, etc. Her interests were great in gardening and being a seamstress. As the disease progressed, Ruby began to forget who her loved ones were and was also very uninterested in participating in gardening and sewing due to being very lethargic. Caroline described it as a downward spiral and she progressively got worse with her ADLs and cognition. Ruby actually saw an OT during her treatment process with Alzheimer's and there were some goals but the specifics of those are unknown. Caroline suggested goals such as helping her with feeding and eating, dressing herself, carrying out a conversation with others, and just with more independence in ADLs in general. There were a couple long term goals mentioned that were definitely client-centered and well thought out. These goals were also supplemented with creative activities to assist Ruby in achieving her goals and working toward a more independent and happy way of living. Overall, the presentation was very informative and I found it interesting to here from someone who had a family member suffer from this diagnosis. It gave it a more personal outlook which was beneficial to learn from.

Neuro Note #4

For my fourth neuro note, I chose to watch a TED Talk about amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The speaker in this TED Talk is a woman by the name of Nancy Frates who is actually the mother of a young man named Pete who was diagnosed with ALS when he was only 27 years old which is a very uncommon and unexpected age to be diagnosed with this disease. Nancy Frates is known as the woman who started the very popular "Ice Bucket Challenge" in order to raise money for research for ALS. When looking for a topic to do my neuro note, I saw this TED Talk and was instantly interested to learn her experience and perspective as a parent with a child who has ALS. Nancy in this speech goes on to talk about how Pete was diagnosed with ALS. Pete had suffered a baseball injury to his wrist and after months of waiting for the wrist to heal, they finally found a doctor who gave them an answer as to why his wrist was not healing. After the doctor gave them this surprising diagnosis, Pete had a vision to do something about the situation he was now in. Since at the time, there was not much awareness on ALS, Pete wanted to raise awareness and be an advocate for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. What I found most beautiful about this is how many friends and family of Pete came together in order to help raise awareness and find funding for research for ALS. His entire family wanted a roll to helping with Pete's mission including his mother. Pete went on to receive an award for advocacy for ALS and his mother found his mission during this time in search for an effective treatment and plan for the future for curing ALS. Nancy discusses how they had good times and bad times. She goes into detail about Pete's current status of him being paralyzed and using a motorized wheelchair, eye gazing technology, and monitoring his breathing constantly due to his diaphragm giving out eventually. The Ice Bucket Challenge was started shortly after this and it had an exponential growth spreading across the state, the nation, and even the world in only a month. There was a tremendous amount of money raised for the ALS foundation because of this and the under funding issue was not nearly has prevalent. Overall, I really enjoyed watching this TED Talk and learning about a mother's experience having a child with ALS. It was rewarding to see how strong a family can be when they come together and work toward a goal. They successfully raised funding for ALS and are now focused on the next goal which is finding a treatment and goal for ALS.



Frates, Nancy. (2014, October). Meet the mom who started the Ice Bucket Challenge [TED Talk]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/nancy_frates_why_my_family_started_the_als_ice_bucket_challenge_the_rest_is_history#t-975883

Jack Osbourne: A Case Study Take-Away

Caitlyn presented to a small group today about a man named Jack Osbourne who has multiple sclerosis. Jack has been in the spotlight the majority of his life due to his celebrity parents making this whole celebrity role an innate thing for him. In 2012, Jack was diagnosed with MS and that is when he experienced the symptoms of this disease the most. Since then he has been diagnosed with RRMS which is relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis so he is not currently experiencing any symptoms, but is likely to start experiencing them again. Jack has suffered through blindness in one eye, numbness in both legs, and also experiencing stomach and bowel problems before entering into the stage of RRMS.  Caitlyn mentioned that goals for OT services for Jack could be exercise and monitoring his mental health due to the increase risk of depression with individuals in the RRMS stage. Jack is a very strong advocate for MS and by no means has let this diagnosis limit his desire to live life to the fullest. He is currently very active and very proactive because of MS. Overall, Caitlyn did a wonderful job presenting to the group and I enjoyed learning about Jack Osbourne. 

My Case Study Presentation

Today I presented a case study report on Charles Sabine. Charles is a 57 year old man who has been diagnosed with Huntington's Disease. Charles is in the end of the first stage of HD and is currently trying to adapt to his environment with this disease. I enjoyed presenting to a small group about this case because I found this disease very interesting to do research on and learn about. Sharing with this small group was beneficial to me allowing me to share information I found and explain it from my point of view. I also enjoyed hearing the groups input and their ideas about treatments or interventions OTs could do. Overall, this was a wonderful learning experience and I had fun doing it.

Neuro Note #3

For this neuro note, I decided to watch the film "Me Before You". This movie is about a year old now and since it is a romance movie, I have , of course, already watched it. However, that was before I started OT school and learned about spinal cord injuries. I decided to watch this movie again with a new perspective and understanding of the process that the main character, Will Trainer, was going through. I paid closer attention to details I did not notice before or honestly really consider before learning more in depth about the physical and mental implications one faces when one suffers from a SCI. Will Trainer was a young man in his prime who was also very active and had many great things going for him in his life. As Will was leaving his home one day, he was in an accident with a motorcycle that caused him to have a spinal cord injury and resulting in quadraplegia. Will currently lives his days in a motorized wheelchair in the attic of his parent's home relying completely on the care of others to carry out most of his daily needs. As one expects, Will has a huge psychological toll taken on him. He enters a stage of depression, hopelessness, and anger toward all others who attempt to help him. He feels as if no one could possibly understand what he is going through and just how tragic it is to go from being able to do everything to hardly anything at all. One of the biggest things I noticed myself paying closer attention to is how the upstairs room has been adapted for Will. I took note of the open spaces, the lowered counter tops, the sliding doors, and overall the convenience of his own space to promote independence. Another aspect I paid closer attention to was the medication Will was on now because of the SCI and I know better now why he needs these type of medications to aid in treatment. However, one of the biggest connections I made was how Lou more or less ended up fulfilling the role as an occupational therapist. Given she was not licensed and was only hired as a caretaker, Lou took it upon herself to help Will feel more alive and to help him live a life he thought he did not have anymore. She took him places and showed him how life does not simply end because he is in a wheelchair. I found this part of the movie so important as a future occupational therapy practitioner. Lou had to first and foremost figure out what Will enjoyed doing in life and plan activities around that. While there were no interventions or preparatory activities done beforehand, I think it is still just as important to help an individual get back to a life he or she enjoys living. Overall, that is what we are about as the profession of occupational therapy, and I think that Lou was definitely on the right track. Sadly, the movie still ends in a sad way with Will choosing to end his life because the psychological impact had been too great on him already. However, I can't help to think that if someone with the heart like Lou had intervened in Will's life sooner and showed him how wonderful life could still be, would he have chosen differently? Would he had wanted to make the most out of the life he still had?

Powell- Braden, S. (Executive producer), & Sharrock, T. (Director). (2016). Me Before You [Motion Picture]. United States: New Line Cinema