Thursday, July 23, 2020

"My Beautiful Broken Brain"

First Look at Original Documentary "My Beautiful Broken Brain ...

Retrieved from: https://www.whats-on-netflix.com/news/first-look-at-netflix-original-documentary-my-beautiful-broken-brain/

        

I watched the documentary “My Beautiful Broken Brain” that is on Netflix. It is about a 34 year old woman, by the name of Lotje, who woke up one night due to having a bad headache. However, it wasn’t just an oncoming migraine, it actually wound up being a intracerebral hemorrhagic stroke. Lotje was a social person who loved to read, write, and film things. For the next year, she was going to have to spend her time relearning words and phrases.

            For Lotje, just hours after her stroke happened, she was not able to speak. After a few days’ things started coming back. However, she still struggled with finding the right words or phrases when trying to speak to someone. For example, she could look at something and know what it is, but it was very hard for her to say the correct word. She would point to a record for a record player and really wrestle with trying to say the actual word “record.” She would have to ask her friend to repeat the word and once she heard it, she was able to actually repeat it back. Although, if just a few seconds went by and she was asked what that object was, she wouldn’t be able to repeat it back. This was something Lotje dealt with on a regular basis and made it frustrating for her. Along with that, her vision in her right eye was starting to change. Lotje stated that since her stroke, she experienced louder noises and brighter colors. She also battled unlocking doors and had dreams that would make her confused on if they were a dream or reality. Halfway into her recovery, she had a seizure and was sent to the hospital. There Lotje found out that she had an epileptic episode. These seizures can become common after having a stroke.

Wednesday, July 15, 2020

AgrAbility



Retrieved from: http://www.agrability.org/wamtm/

AgrAbility - Multiple Sclerosis


   I want to start off by saying, AgrAbility is like a combination of agriculture and rehabilitation. This program helps those individuals who have a disability, but are still wanting to be involved with their job or livelihood such a farming, to still be able to get out in the fields and on their equipment. They have helped individuals born blind, those who have had a traumatic brain injury (TBI), those who have acquired Multiple Sclerosis, and even individuals with a spinal cord injury. They have managed "cultivating accessible agriculture" (AgrAbility, 2020).

   When I first heard of this company, I was amazed they had a project so neat. I can relate to agriculture in a way, because throughout high school I was in FFA and participated in different competitions and actually got my state degree! So, I was shocked that I had not heard of AgrAbility prior to OT school.