Renewed

Back on my full dose of zyprexa, and with the increased daylight, my mood is working its way upwards. Out of the depth of depression, to somewhere it hasn't been in quite some time.

And then I spent my weekend at a continuing education course- one that I wasn't even sure I wanted to take- getting trained on a new stroke rehab device. And I am stoked! I am so ready to go out and start treating stroke patients again! Just when I thought I had maybe burnt out on stroke.

I have to admit, I've been looking for the "magic bullet" in stroke rehab ever since I started studying OT., and of course never finding it. I have my hope in NMES, CIMT, robotics, imagery, and now the SAEBOFLEX. They are all tools, and some of them help different people. Unfortunately robotics are still prohibitively expensive for most places.

I really think that to get the arm back after a stroke, you need to train like an athelete. It's a 9 to 5 job, at least 5 days a week. And yet, we get 2-3 hours a week of therapy with our patients. The question is, how to get them to take it home, to keep practicing. And these are all some ways to do it. To continue the therapy outside of therapy. But only for the right patient. Some don't have the time- they need to get back to their job. Some don't have the resoursces, the motivation, the concentration, the cognitive capacity.

And then there are always those for that, the stroke was too severe, the deficits are too severe, the arm just isn't going to come back in any kind of meaningful way.

But with the Saebo, I have something new to offer my patients. A new tool.

And now I can't sleep, despite an Ambien and a klonopin. And I have to get up very early!