Neuro Note #5

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How I Live Now: Life With ALS

The Diagnosis

Rachel Doboga

                                 https://howilivewithals.com/2016/05/21/the-diagnosis/                        http://weboc.alsa.org/site/PageServer/?pagename=OC_1_whatIs


    Rachel Doboga was diagnosed with ALS at 28 years old. She was a teacher and loved to travel, but all of that got put to rest after her diagnosis. She uses her blog as a platform for her disease. In this specific post, it is about her diagnosis. She explains what she was learning, and who her medical team was. I chose this story because Rachel really talked about and praised her occupational therapist, Deb, throughout this post. She mentioned how Deb encouraged her to do things that SHE wanted to do, and I am so glad that Rachel chose to include this in her post. Occupational therapy is grounded in our client centered care, and Deb did just that. Rachel got to work on things that she loved and that is awesome. 

    I learned that including the patients on the science of their diagnosis can be really helpful to them. Rachel knew that she had an upper motor neuron dysfunction and knew exactly what that meant. She also knew that her progression was slower than some, which gave her a little bit of hope. I feel like she was thriving knowing her diagnosis so well, and that is what made her blog so great. She could really help others going through this as well. I would recommend this read to someone! It really captures the real life of someone with ALS, but also how occupational therapists makes such an impact. She mentions hers quite a bit, and it is so uplifting for future OT's as well as those going through their ALS battle currently. 

How I live now: Life with ALS.  (2016, May 21 ). The Diagnosis.  https://howilivewithals.com/









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