Thursday, September 24, 2015

The Computer as Treatment



"Practicing social interaction in a safe, non-threatening, gaming environment helps people reduce anxiety and gain the confidence and skills they need to attempt more social interactions in their daily lives." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/29/autism-video-games_n_6056634.html Social media does this.

Some neuroscientists are tackling teaching cognitive skills though games. I found one to be substantially helpful with my vision. It clearly stands out in many areas. http://www.brainhq.com/world-class-science/information-researchers

Different therapy videos can be found on the internet. Occupational, Physical, and Speech therapy videos are there.
 

 
Videos aren't for everyone, but they can be a useful tool.
 
 
The exam must still be done in person, but this new tool of the computer gives you options in treatment. This last person is successfully using her computer to provide therapy.


The true reason this Survivor posts videos! I promise!
Posted by Jennifer Stokley on Friday, September 18, 2015

Saturday, September 19, 2015

Long Ago


True story... "Stanford said to follow-up with my regular neurologist. There is no neurologist. This never happened." http://thoughtfulveg.blogspot.com/2015/09/my-situation-isnt-hard-to-explain.html

I don't get regular follow-along neurology appointments. There were consulting neurologists early on while I had my old insurance from work, but that was a long time ago. A neurologist did my surgery at Stanford. I had to go through the neurology clinic as an indigent patient. Surgery was experimental and covered as that. I know it was around the time Gamma Knife Surgery was developed (which was also at Stanford). It was called "stereotactic radiosurgery." I believe this is now something like "Gamma Knife" and I had a form.

To put into context for people when this happened, it was way before the fMRI. I've never had one. I've had a regular MRI. These were just as good, but not as refined.

The problem of me not getting any services goes back to an even earlier time. It goes back to my diagnosis. I didn't communicate back then, so I was deemed mentally incompetent- a PVS (Persistent Vegetative State) diagnosis does this. When I did start blinking to communicate, I had already been given the PVS diagnosis. Some financial changes were made, but I remained incompetent. (I took this as my inability to talk, mind you I could use my left hand to finger spell in sign language.)
 

Time has gone on. I started vocalizing and those sounds became words. Words became sentences. I no longer have that old insurance but keep that original diagnosis. I was found to be incompetent then and I am incompetent today. I now write and I am still incompetent.


Time limits should just be removed...for diagnosis and development. Keep time limits for the financial part. This diagnosis is throwing everyone off and I don't qualify for some things. (The PVS diagnosis.)

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Are You Unconscious?



No. I'm pretending to be dead.

Of course I'm not unconscious! That's ridiculous. If you take what is on paper from long ago, I am unconscious. Paper was never updated.


I am frequently asked if I am unconscious and I wonder about the person asking. You cannot doubt your own consciousness as given by Descartes. Cogito ergo sum or "I think therefore I am." I've always thought, even when I couldn't speak. Thinking was probably for a short amount of time. My consciousness now is comparable to ADD, or Attention Deficit Disorder.

8-7-2014

"Are u  starin' at the car?"
Huh? I have a car calander. She was talking about that. I was in la-la land.
I believe this to be remaining PVS. In the beginning, I was lucid long enough to pay a bill. It became longer lucidity, n moments of "staring" were thought to be seizures. Now "staring " is very shallow. It's less than daydreaming.
Knowing this. What is PVS?

I now will catch myself staring. It must be less for me to catch my own self. 'Lost in thought' we say. It's just annoying now.

So I've always been conscious. It becomes 'how long do I remain conscious.' Isn't that MCS, Minimally Conscious State? Again this comes up. http://thoughtfulveg.blogspot.com/2013/06/its-on-line.html

Saturday, September 12, 2015

My Situation Isn't Hard To Explain



UPDATED   9/14/2016

My situation can be explained. I just don't fit in any category this country has to offer. I hate to say this, but if I went to Canada this wouldn't be happening.

Here's why I say Canada...

A Canadian man who was believed to have been in a vegetative state for more than a decade, has been able to tell scientists that he is not in any painhttp://www.bbc.com/news/health-20268044 

My condition would be something like that plus something that is very smart and disabled. (There is something, but it is rare.)

The AVM in my head (the blood clot that bled) did not magically disappear. It was surgically removed at Stanford in 2004. Surgery was denied by the government back then so the university covered it. Now, due to no case management, this error is carried forward and my existence is a miracle. The government denies surgery happened, so the AVM just disappeared. The AVM would have killed me. With it gone, early death would not happen. 

The rest of my recovery then goes to what I did-therapy exercises and education. That is what I used to do for babies. Medicare/Medicaid does not provide on-going therapy.

The United States is making it difficult. I remember watching on TV what happened to a PVS woman here. It's in our politics now. My problem hasn't just been science. Many scientists now want to look at my case. Politics prevents them.

This country is making some big magical deal here, when really it's the natural progression of science. There is no case management and errors are carried forward. Some science is outright denied, leaving the reason of my existence to magic or miracle.


I'M REAL

Friday, September 4, 2015

Paralyzed Hand Isn't Paralyzed


I move my "paralyzed" hand consistently. It does sign language (ASL) in the video. I wonder if me doing sign language is related to the bit on Foreign Accent Syndrome. 




Beyond ‘Foreign Accent syndrome,’ ‘Foreign Language syndrome’ https://www.wisconsinmedicalsociety.org/professional/savant-syndrome/whats-new-2015/ 

Beyond ‘Foreign Accent syndrome,’ ‘Foreign Language syndrome’

There have been two instances recently of young men emerging from coma fluently speaking a foreign language.
Ben McMahon had studied Mandarin early in his schooling but never mastered the language. However, in 2014 he emerged from a coma speaking fluent Mandarin as seen in this Mirror online post. Likewise, a British football player awoke from a coma after a serious auto accident speaking fluent French. Again, he had some exposure to French in the past but never spoke it fluently.
Cases of what has been called “foreign accent syndrome” have been reported, wherein people recovered from head injury with a foreign accent, but these cases exceed that with an entirely new fluency in a foreign language. Since these individuals had some exposure to the foreign language in terms of learning, they do not represent genetic memory as such. But the phenomenon of gaining fluency in a foreign language following head injury goes beyond foreign accent syndrome and joins the “acquired savant” category.
—Darold Treffert, MD
 


"But the phenomenon of gaining fluency in a foreign language following head injury goes beyond foreign accent syndrome and joins the “acquired savant” category." I had exposure to sign language prior to any brain injury. I did not use it. I remember it really well.

Before I could say anything, I'd sign letters with my other hand. Nobody knew sign language and it was assumed I was cognitively impaired. There was no sound and movement was seen as reflexive. Don't make assumptions. This isn't reflexive anymore. (I'm using that first hand to poke keys on the computer keyboard.)