Coaching the Comeback

Here's an article in the NYT highlighting a day of OT Jodi Levin at the Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation.

Incidentally, our class watched Murderball this past week. It tells the story of the US quadriplegic wheelchair rugby team during the 2000 and 2004 Paralympics. One of the players from the US team gives a lecture at Kessler and inspires a recently injured patient to take up rugby. There was a quote from the film that stuck in my mind:

"Your mind becomes a bigger disability than the physical stuff."
- Andy Cohn, Murderball

Then of course I get the bright idea that if still go through with our plans of going back to the Philippines this summer to visit my grandmother, we could swing by Beijing and check it out. But of course, the time that we'll be in that neck of the woods, the Paralympics will be held elsewhere. Something about Olympics being held at that time. Oh well. There's London 2012 to look forward to!

Randy Pausch - The Last Lecture

I watched his lecture a while back. Now ABC is airing it (or some variant of it) tonight. To oversimplify, he puts things in perspective.

Go. Watch. Here. Or here.

Random entry: Look! It's raining ice cubes!

So, of course I had to take a picture. I know hail can get bigger than this but this is the biggest I've ever seen. Watching the hail come down, it looked like a huge ice tray being dumped on the ground.

OK, back to homework.

Back to the Basics

So right now, we're trying to figure what we'd want to do/where we want to go for Fieldwork II. The fleeting thought crossed my mind that I'd want to go to Australia, Hong Kong, or Philippines, all of which I have friends/relatives I could stay. Then I came across this video that describes OT in Singapore. I think they they did a fantastic job covering the basic question: "What is occupational therapy?"



Although I'd love to go overseas, I think I would miss my kids, my husband.. you know, blahblah mushy mom/wife stuff.. though it is only 6 months. Still, I suppose I'll stay in the western hemisphere.

I'm still curious though: anyone from Asia/Australia/any other part of the world that may be considered unique to that region? Are there any differences in practice between East and West coasts? I know a lot of it depends on the type of facility but I'm just wondering what's out there.

phantom limb pains

If you haven't read V.S. Ramachandran's Phantoms in the Brain, now may be a good time to pick it up. I read it several years ago and was fascinated by the cases he has encountered, one of which was his description of phantom limb pain. The New England Journal of Medicine has just published as study performed by military hospitals that was inspired by Dr. Ramachandran's mirror therapy.

CNN also posted an article that also includes pictures of mirror therapy in use.

Here is Dr. Ramachandran at TED describing the use of mirrors in therapy:


Can you tell I'm a wanna-be TEDster?

via TEDBlog

what?! break is almost over?

Time flies when you're having fun. Or not. It just flies. Right out the window. What's up with that?

Monday: So even though I didn't finish everything I wanted to, I did manage to replace the downstairs faucet, the fill valve in the commode of same said bathroom, replace the license plates of the minivan, replaced the driver-side headlight, and all the wiper blades (just in time for the torrential rains too). I rock!

Of course, there's still laundry to do. That will never end until the kids move out. Or grow tall enough to do it themselves. I am rooting for the latter.

Tuesday: One thing I *did* get to have was treat myself to the spa. Actually, it was a gift certificate from Valentine's day - of last year. Yeah, I know, I'm a wee bit slow on the self-care. But, anyway, it was fantastic and much needed. Though, sad to say, my inner nerd reared itself when the massage therapist was rotating my arms, I was thinking to myself the muscles involved. "Ahh, there goes my coracobrachialis, anterior deltoid, and pec major clavicular head... and POP goes my GH joint..."

Wednesday: brought the van in to get the transmission replaced (and here's to hoping that it'll last for several more years) then went to the dentist. Apparently I have been brushing hard enough to create notches right underneath the gum line. So I need to retrain myself to brush in little circles. Like a choo-choo train as my dental hygienist would explain to the kids. Now my daughter is the self-appointed toothbrushing vigilante. "brush in circles mom!"

Thursday: Now it's the kids turn for the dentist chair and they all did great. No cavities! Though the dentist has hinted that we're possibly heading down the path of orthodontics for 2 of them. Go team underbite!

Friday: Went into work (like, actually, drove there) at 8AM. It's been so long that I've had to drive this early in the AM. Makes me appreciate more that I work remotely. Left work at 4:40. Back working my usual shift as I type

So sometime between posting this and Monday, I need to do school stuff. So best I get started.

Coming up for air...

Finally - Spring Break! It'll be a break from school but work continues - I have two lit reviews to work on and a presentation for work. Somewhere in there, I need to doing some spring cleaning, get the transmission fixed, organize my school work, the chores continue ad nauseum... But hey, no classes? I'll take it. If there could be a Spring Break from motherhood - oops, did I type that? Of course I'm kidding...

The lack of entries is directly correlated to the amount of school this semester (see how I slipped that "correlation" remark in there? Impressed? No? Forget it...)

So what have I learned about this semester? Well, subject-wise, pediatrics.. developmental, NDT, SI, sensory profiles (I'm avoid sensation, not much of a seeker, and need more input for registration - here I thought I was dull). Also, quantitative research and OA Models, primarily MOHO and OA. There's more but I'll stop there. You get to this point that you realize that as much as you've learned already, it's just scraping the surface...

One of the special issues classes I'm going to be taking is "cognition across the lifespan"; I'm excited! I've always been interested in neurology but it had always been more in passing. Yeah, that's right, I'm a brain groupie.

One of the TED speakers this year was Jill Bolte Taylor, a neuroanatomist who herself experienced a stroke. As much as I love the science itself, she provides the insight and experience no textbook could ever convey. Definitely worth the watch:



-C