Thursday, July 31, 2014

Not My Game



I still don't know how to play soduko / sudoku or however you spell it. When I got on the internet I found a retired neuropsych's blog. He suggested mahjong. so that's what I played.

su·do·ku

[soo-doh-koo] 


noun
a puzzle printed on a square grid of nine large squares each subdivided into nine smaller squares, the object of which is to fill in each of the 81 squares so that each column, row, and large square contains every number from 1 to 9. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sudoku


Mahjong must build memory, something like visual pattern recognition. (That term just popped in my head.)

Things like that just are. "Visual Pattern Recognition" is not a term I've seen before. There will be terms and concepts I have no clue how I know. I've even surprised myself with knowing medication names. Previous exposure can't be used as an excuse. Some of those concepts did not even exist when I was in school. The whole concept of "neurogenesis" occurring in people did not exist until years after receiving my BA.

"I woke up and just knew what had to be done." http://thoughtfulveg.blogspot.com/2013/03/give-me-beat-boys.html  Just like I "know" terms and concepts. I don't question it. It just is...and I use it. 


ref.
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pattern_recognition_%28psychology%29

Updated  4/19/2016

Thursday, July 24, 2014

I Haven't Enjoyed It




Enjoy it? Not even. It hasn't been enjoyable. I've been making it liveable, just a bit bearable.

I describe it, http://thoughtfulveg.blogspot.com/2011/08/description.html and record a lot of my ideas. I write other stuff as well. "Enjoy the show," though? That hasn't been the case. It has been a learning and teaching experience, though.

Hopefully, all this writing it down will help someone else.

It's been more like the following song, The Scientist by Coldplay.


I was just guessing at numbers and figures
Pulling your puzzles apart
Questions of science, science and progress
Do not speak as loud as my heart

My BA is in psychology, but it's a "soft science." I've had the introductory courses in math and biology, but psychology is rich in philosophy. Instead of explaining the neuroscience behind what's happening, I'll ask "why" is it happening. I'm big on statistics. I'll work on figuring it out...through all the obstacles.... (Did I tell you I'm listed as unconscious?)  

Monday, July 14, 2014

Service Coordination Isn't Lame


I got a new feeding tube.  It went so fast this time because I brought my own feeding tube. I once coordinated the care of people with developmental disabilities.  Put me in charge of my own medical care. If I could do other people, I'm sure I can do my own. I'm tired of going to the ER, waiting hours, running expensive tests, given antibiotics and sent home. All that when I just needed a new tube. 
 
So "lame-ass" treatment...
 

They did the best they could with what they knew. Now I know more. Do you keep a spare tire in your car? I'll be keeping a spare feeding tube. I'll be keeping one for the same reason.
 
All of that could have been prevented with case management (service coordination). There are usually no trips to the ER for the particular condition planned for. (I say usually as something unexpected can happen.) A case manager would have their consumers keep spares.


I once did case management. The job description is under Service Coordinator, http://www.vmrc.net/job-opportunities/  That feeding tube of mine would be the first duty listed. Key Responsibilities – Essential Functions 1. Assess, monitor, coordinate and implement IPP/IFSP through the ID Team process. Schedule and facilitate annual reviews, quarterly reviews, wellness review examinations, clinical consultations, and ID/IFSP Team meetings as required

An IPP is an Individual Person Plan. Aside from a document name, it's your life's plan. In my case it was get a new feeding tube. With a little planning, I have a proper feeding tube.

The VA has a case management component. The concept can be applied to other programs. It cuts costs over-all.

The medical field already has this.



Monday, July 7, 2014

Me Feisty?

  "Have you always been this feisty?"

 

The word "feisty" stuck-out to me. I had never used it. I'd always say I'm different. I never fit in. 

When I was in high school, and people were getting black trench coats, I went and got a trench coat...but it was blue. I didn't exactly fit in. (My hair didn't fit either. My head was shaved on one side.) That blue trench coat didn't fit in to the wildest fad.

"I fight authority"...authority says I'm unconscious. What would you do?
________________________________

All the ideas and everything I want to say...

"I have so many things in me that you can't even guess them all."


At least I can do this now and get most of it out...
________________________________

I have scientific ideas. Sometimes I write them down...

"A better term [for PVS or sometimes vegetative]  is "unresponsive wakefulness syndrome", Gary Williams. This is a better term than vegetative. It describes what's happening. Someone like me can't come along and stick a picture of a tomato butt with it.

This really got me thinking, "Moreover, if this person is typing full fledged sentences with complex thoughts they have moved beyond the minimally conscious state and into something akin to "locked-in syndrome" or what might just be called severe paralysis," Gary Williams. "Something akin to "locked-in syndrome" or what might just be called severe paralysis" makes sense to me. Years ago,  friends and family thought I had Locked-In Syndrome. I'd go through a process of blinking yes or no for every letter in  the alphabet in order to spell a word. That's how I communicated with my mother and close family. As I gained movement, I'd point to letters on a board. That's the paralysis. All this is now, is that I point to and press a letter on an electric letter board, the computer keyboard.

Thanks to the internet I can get everything I press out, out to the world. I talked about communication and technology a long time ago,
http://thoughtfulveg.blogspot.com/2012/03/dualism-mind-and-brain.html  As technology advances, the  mind/brain issue will become clearer.

The vegetative man in Canada who communicates he's not in pain http://scitechdaily.com/canadian-man-in-vegetative-state-communicates-that-hes-not-in-pain/  screams of this "something akin to "locked-in syndrome" or what might just be called severe paralysis." In  my case and this case we're trapped in unresponsive bodies. I have just been lucky in that I got one finger to move faster.  He communicated because of the technology. I communicate because I use technology. (Try this, use a pencil without an eraser and type a sentence. You have to spell all words correctly and make capitol letters. If the computer freezes, you must hit CTRL, ALT, DELETE. It's not easy. The pencil has no eraser and doesn't stay. Also..."how do you hit three keys? Two is bad, but now there's three?") If you can do that, you either used technology, another person, or your fingers. I guess you could have used your tongue, but I'd hate to see your computer.

Am I really fighting authority? Or am I just telling you how it really is? Is this feisty? 


  





updated video 6/26/2018