Even though AJ is still having trouble with upright tolerance, the occupational therapists (OT) continue to work with him as much as they can. Today they created hand splints (also called short opponens) for him. When AJ wears these, the strength in his wrists will help compensate for the lack of strength in his fingers, allowing him to lightly pinch objects. After they were fitted on him, they had him practice picking up and placing wooden blocks and pegs. Another OT talked to AJ about available technology that will assist him in gaining independence through his cell phone and laptop. They gave AJ a headset and then introduced him to setting up his computer's voice-recognition so AJ can activate and control the computer with his voice! This will be exciting to learn more about! The technology OT said that AJ picked up so quickly that he was, "Better than anyone I've worked with." His intelligence has always been a gift for him!
AJ struggled with participating throughout therapy today because he is so tired! They don't know why he is so exhausted, but they think his blood pressure issue could be a main reason. He goes from being orthostatic (low blood pressure) to being dysreflexic (high blood pressure). (Autonomic dysreflexia is a potentially dangerous clinical syndrome that develops in individuals with spinal cord injury, resulting in acute, uncontrolled hypertension.) As they diagnose and develop a treatment plan for these conditions, Dr. Rosenbluth suggested that AJ have more stringent visiting hours so he can get more sleep. We'll do our best, but he loves to have friends visit! It picks his spirit up!
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