My Beautiful Broken Brain

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 of non-traumatic brain injury (nTBI), which is a type of Acquired Brain Injury (ABI). [stroke/CVA --> TBI --> ABI]

Lotje suffered from an intracerebral hemorrhage, or hemorrhagic infarction (stroke). This occurs due to the following: 
o Blood vessel to the brain ruptures
o  Accounts for 13% of strokes and are more fatal
o  Location and amount of tissue damage determines the severity of symptoms and extent of disability. 

She also experiences more than a couple of these common s/s of neurological dysfunction we learned about in class:
  • headache       
  • extreme or sudden inability to concentrate
  • significant loss of balance                        
  • impaired sensation, where the client may not be able to feel in certain parts of their body
  • loss of muscle strength or paralysis        
  • tremors    
  • seizures          
  • muscle twitching/tics
  • slurred speech 
  • atypical lapses in memory or reasoning                                      
  • blurred vision or visual field cut                                                    
  • loss of consciousness
I definitely recommend this documentary to therapists and healthcare professionals because she gives some insight into her own experience with therapy. Her note to therapists is to not only focus on getting better and doing the things the client wants to do, but to also focus on the things the client may find along the way; the things they may find out about themselves. Because he/she may discover to find something unexpected along the way, which is what happened in her case.


Always stay natural,
naturalOT

“This is a new life; a new dynamic where I am not defined by my limitations, but rather about endless possibility.” 
– Lotje Sodderland 


Reference List

Netflix. (2014). My Beautiful Broken Brain.

(2019, July 30). My Beautiful Broken Brain. Retrieved from 
            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Beautiful_Broken_Brain




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