Vim & Vigor - Winter 2011 - North Mississippi - (Page 4)

Getting Back to Occupational therapy helps patients gain independence Life neceSSitieS and PleaSureS Melinda Lamon, his occupational therapist, is a firm believer in multitasking when it comes to therapy. For instance, she may ask him to locate the clock in the room, which involves recognizing the name of a familiar object, walking across the room, then using his right arm and hand to point to it. Lamon also takes him on outings designed to make him more independent. On a trip to the grocery store, he must look for certain items (thought organization), then pick them up using both hands (retraining his weak side to function). In addition to relearning life’s necessities, he’s also relearning to enjoy life’s pleasures. He and other patients tend flowers and vegetables at Longtown Medical Park as part of their therapy. “Doing functional tasks during therapy helps us realize what he is capable of doing and gives him the confidence to try those things at home,” his wife says. “Nate loves to watch things grow. For about six N ate Causey has learned to appreciate the little things in life, like tying his shoes, brushing his teeth and tending his garden. Nate Causey enjoys life’s small pleasures, like working in his garden. “Little things that everybody takes for granted were such a big deal at first,” says his wife, Genie Alice. In short order he graduated from the wheelchair to a Causey’s problems stemmed from a benign brain tumor cane to walking unassisted. At first he couldn’t lift his and the seven surgeries to try to remove it or alleviate right arm at all, but now he can raise it above his head. complications, including a brain bleed. Prism glasses, coupled with vision therapy to exercise his After two months at MD Anderson Cancer Center in eyes and brain, have helped enlarge his field of vision. Houston, he spent four months at Shepherd Center in He relearned to button his shirt, put toothpaste on a Atlanta for intensive inpatient rehabilitation. When he toothbrush and other necessary life skills. “I was amazed left Shepherd Center, he still relied on a wheelchair to get at how quickly he started becoming independent,” Genie around, and on family and friends for most everything Alice Causey says. “When I realized one day he could put else. “When you need help with the basic activities of his shoes on by himself and even tie the laces, that was a daily living, it’s frustrating,” Genie Alice Causey says. huge accomplishment.” Next, he moved on to helping in “And I’m sure it affects your self-esteem.” the kitchen and folding laundry. Making StrideS But within weeks of starting at North Mississippi Medical Center’s Outpatient Rehabilitation Center in Tupelo in November 2010, the 36-year-old from Saltillo was making tremendous advances. There, he works with a physical therapist, an occupational therapist and a speech-language pathologist three days a week. They treat him for apraxia, which affects the brain’s ability to correctly signal instructions to the body; aphasia, which causes difficulty comprehending others and expressing himself; and agnosia, which makes it hard for him to recognize familiar objects. He is partially paralyzed on his right side and also suffers from right hemianopsia, which means he can’t see Causey continues to make great strides in his rehabilitation. to the right side in either eye. 4 Vim & Vigor • W I N TER 2 011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Vim & Vigor - Winter 2011 - North Mississippi

Vim & Vigor - Winter 2011 - North Mississippi
Contents
Opening Thoughts
Getting Back to Life
ACT Now!
Lingering Memories
Accumulating Accolades
Back in Action
Supplementary Knowledge
Keys to Survival
Clearing the Air
Mark Harmon of NCIS fame makes 60 look good
This One’s for the Girls
Life After a Loss
Do Your Diabetes Homework
Healthy Returns
Care for the Caregiver
Gaining Control
Moving Forward
Catch the Spirit

Vim & Vigor - Winter 2011 - North Mississippi

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