inside erica's crazy creative world

My Beautiful Broken Brain Hey bloggers! I chose to write about this documentary because it encompasses the meaning of hope, and shows us the true power of the human mind.  At 34 years old, Lotje Sodderland was challenged by the complexity, fragility, and wonder of her own brain following a life changing hemorrhagic stroke. When she regained consciousness, life as she knew it would never be the same. She was thrown into a new existence of distorted reality where words held no meaning and where her sensory perception had changed beyond recognition. Over the course of a year since her injury, she decides to sort of take control of her life, rather than let the injury control her.  Our class talked about cerebrovascular accidents (CVAs), also known as a stroke. We learned that a stroke is a rupture, or blockage, of blood flow in the blood vessel. This occurs due to brain bleeds, or an area of the brain that may be starved of oxygen. This type of injury is a type o...

Hey bloggers! My creativity and innovative skills were recently put to the test. I was asked to take an original household material/item, given the description of a client with a neurological condition impacting occupational performance, and create an item to be used in OT intervention. The item I drew was a Pringle’s can, and I had no idea where I was going to start. My client, Maurice, is a right-handed, married, 83-year-old retired dairy farmer diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease (PD). In addition to his diagnosis, he has bilateral cataracts, which contribute to his extremely poor vision. His speech is somewhat difficult to understand at times, especially when he is fatigued. He reports increased feelings of isolation and frustration as a result of his speech production problems; the inevitable decline in his is speech skills with disease progression, and his increasing reliance on others for help with his ADLs.  He uses very few facial expressions and gestures in...

Documentary: Untangling Alzheimer's Name: David Suzuki I chose to write about this documentary because Alzheimer’s disease has always been an interesting topic of discussion for me. In my opinion. This neurodegenerative disease is one of the worst a person can experience. It not only affects memory and cognition of the mind, but also the physical aspects of one’s wellbeing.  Much of what causes the neurodegenerative disease Dementia/Alzheimer’s disease remains a mystery, but David Suzuki makes it his mission to uncover the latest breakthroughs in the disease. In her late 60s, Suzuki’s mom would forget things. In her 70s, she passed away and the family realized she had died from some form of the disease. All three of her older siblings also passed away from dementia. David Suzuki is now 77 years of age and fears that he and his family are at risk of developing the disease as well. Age and family history are definitely factors, but how much? He is now setting out to u...

Hey bloggers! I watched this movie the other day called Brain on Fire. It is based on the book, and true story of Susannah Cahalan.  Susannah Cahalan was leading a normal, healthy life. She worked at her dream job at the young age of 21. Almost suddenly, she began feeling unusual headaches (h/a) that were interrupting her daily routines, social life, and even her job. It wasn’t until after she had her first seizure that she went to the doctor to see what could possibly be going on.  She experienced h/a, irritability, delusions, hallucinations, inappropriate outbursts, lethargy, etc. She felt trapped in her own body, mind, and time itself. Susannah continued to try and get through her everyday routines and activities, but her symptoms continued to get worse. During her first check up, everything was found to be normal. They used an MRI to rule out CVA and blood clots, and the results came back clear/normal. During the second check up, an EEG was done, and these results...