Category Archives: Science

Nov 13 2012

fMRI used to communicate with man in presumed vegetative state.

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BBC News – Vegetative patient Scott Routley says ‘I’m not in pain’.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is fascinating. And tonight, it will be on Panorama here in the UK.

fMRI has been used to further investigate just how ‘vegetative’ patients are. One man who was presumed unaware and unresponsive for twelve years has communicated with doctors to say that he’s not in pain. fMRI isn’t anything new, really, but the applications for it are numerous. This particular use is quite important to me, as my first placement was working with people in minimally conscious or vegetative state, and I always wondered whether the people could hear and understand me when I spoke to them.

In fact, I was at the hospital featuring in tonight’s programme, which, by the way, was amazing. It was where I first encountered assistive technology and highly customised wheelchairs, and all the staff were wonderful at their jobs, and to me!

So tune in tonight if you can, or watch it on the BBC iPlayer when you have time. And, if you’re feeling generous, you can even support the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability in Putney by donating, buying Christmas cards and/or sponsoring someone’s time in the computer room so they can find ways to communicate.

Nov 1 2012

November, this is going to be intense.

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I’m pushing myself this month.

I’m attempting NaNoWriMo, DigiWriMo and NaBloPoMo. That’s National Novel Writing Month, Digital Writing Month and National Blog Posting Month. (Although, I don’t know if the ‘National’s apply, given that these are coordinated in the States, and I’m not there.)

For NaNoWriMo, I need to write 50,000 words in novel form. The same number of words needs to be written in digital form for DigiWriMo. Finally, for NaBloPoMo, I need to blog daily. So hopefully I can tackle the last two in the same way.

On top of that, I’m keeping up with my Coursera courses.

November is also exciting because I’ve just applied for a paediatric post within a growing service. I’ll hopefully find out if I’ve been shortlisted by the end of next week, and then interviews will be in the third week.

Also, Flan and I celebrate our third anniversary on the 29th. I’ll have to cram a few more words and a blog post in on the morning of the 30th, as we’ll be going away for the weekend to a cottage up north! Ignore me while I get all romantic and mushy…

Finally, as a follow-up to the knit-a-thon, I’ll be helping to run a two-hour workshop tomorrow at Restore. So far, my knitting group has raised just over £2000, but you can help that number grow by donating through my page.

JustGiving - Sponsor me now!

Many of you are probably wondering why I’m doing this to myself. Honestly, I don’t expect to achieve all of these, but I like having goals. I like pushing myself. I’m tired just thinking about it, but I’m also happy and excited. Also, if I do get that job (*crosses fingers*), I probably won’t have as much time as I do now to push myself in non-OT ways. If I get that job, from December, I’ll be working hard to prepare myself for the big start of my new career. Then I’ll be hitting the ground running right at the start of the new year. (The OT lead I spoke to over the phone told me they’d want their new OTs to start around the 2nd or 3rd!)

So wish me luck, and I’ll wish the rest of you luck as well in your endeavours this month. I know a few people trying their hand at NaNoWriMo, so at least I’m not alone!