Neuro Note 4
I watched the YouTube video Andrew’s Story: Guillain-Barré Syndrome.
Andrew’s Story: Guillain-Barré Syndrome. (2017). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWvrHhs2jps.
Andrew's story began when he had a reaction to a Depo-Medrol shot. After taking antibiotics, he started to show his first symptoms of numbness in his feet. Just two days later when Andrew had lost all ability to walk, he was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre Syndrome. The effects of this disease were drastically inclining day by day. While in the hospital, he experienced facial paralysis, blurred vision, and full paralysis from the waist down. Throughout Andrew's time at the hospital he had side effects such as: inability to breathe and swallow, failure of digestive system, aspiration, and blurred vision. His condition got so intense at one point that he was fully paralyzed from the waste down and was on life support. After getting a disheartening message from the doctor, he started to make major improvements. He had began therapy once a day and was able to feed himself with minimal assistance. It wasn't until he got to the Shepherd Center that he experience a change of a lifetime. He had worked his way up to 5 hours of therapy a day and was gaining his independence back. After a year of fighting this battle with GBS, he is now fully recovered and back to his normal life again. I cannot explain how big of an inspiration this story was for me as a future OT practitioner to watch. I have always heard of GBS but I honestly did not know how disabling it could be. While watching Andrew's story I was introduced to many things that I will one day get to see as a practitioner. I now have a very clear understanding of the signs and symptoms that are involved with GBS. I also have a slight obsession with the Shepherd Center and I think that it is amazing to see how far he was able to come from his work in therapy. Hearing stories like this give me such a full heart and satisfaction in knowing that I picked the right career for me.
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