Laken's OT Thoughts

      This week, I read a book called Inside the O'Brien's by Lisa Genova. It's about Joe O'Brien, who is diagnosed with Huntington's disease. The book follows his life as he learns what Huntington's disease is and as he learns how to live with it. Joe has four children in their 20s, and we were also walked through their stories as they find out that their dad has Huntington's disease and they have a 50% chance of inheriting the disease. The reader gets to see how Joe's children react and how they decide if they want to be tested to find out if they have the Huntington's gene as well.      This book gave me a better look into what Huntington's disease really is. We have learned about Huntington's disease in class, but I feel like, even though this book is fiction, it gave me a real look into someone's life who has Huntington's disease. It shows the reader what life is like day in and day out for the person who is diagnosed with HD as...

I read an article from Sioux City Journal called “From high school to nursing home: 20-year-old learns to cope with fatal disease”. The article talks about Desiree Buettner, a 20-year-old girl who has juvenile Huntington’s disease and how she is learning to cope with her disease in Careage Hills Rehabilitation and Healthcare. She was diagnosed with HD when she was 18 years old and moved into the nursing home by the time she was 20. Dawn Young, the director of nursing services at Careage Hills, asked Desiree to create a bucket list which landed Desiree on a plane to Disney World with her nurse, Ashley Curtis. The healthcare team at Careage Hills, as well as some other resident’s family members, have taken Desiree under their wings and treated her as family, and because of that, she has grown to like being there.             I chose to read this article because it is what we have currently been focusing on in cla...