Seminar

Last week was hellweek for all of us. We were required to join in a sing-and-dance fundraising concert that featured faculty, administration, maintenance and staff at San Pablo. So it means wasting a lot of energy on after class practices that may last as late as 10 or something in the evening. Everynight for more than a month. Of course, I only joined in the group chorale and not in any vocal solo or group dance. That means I got to go home earlier than almost everyone their including my PT colleagues. Fast forward to the presentation. Errr... it was successful. Errr... nothing much to say about it really. Except, I get some LSS from the songs we sang, particularly St Francis Prayer. Anyway, I'm going to write about some things I've learned from the seminar I attended last Saturday at L'Fisher Bacolod. We were sponsored by Doc G as this was a seminar by the Philippine Academy of Rehabilitation Medicine (PARM).

Here are new things I've learned:

1. The following things (in direct order) are protective against Parkinson's Disease: caffeine, green tea, smoking and aspirin/NSAIDS ----- mroe reasons to drink coffee and smoke
2. The following events may be indicative of PD in the early stages: constipation, sleep disturbances, swallowing difficulties; we also have to take note of olfactory disturbances as it may present even before the motor symptoms arise ( such as bradykinesia, nystagmus, postural instability) ; drooling is also a manifestation of bradykinesia
3. 2 major subtypes of PD have been identified:

• Tremor dominant type- this is more common in younger patients; possible mental status impariment
• Gait difficulty/ postural instability dominant type

4. Poor response to Levodopa treatment may suggest other types of clinical conditions

5. PD is not a purely motor disease; there are underlying sensory and cognitive deficits as well

6. Speech and Gait disturbances cannot be cured by medicine; Rehab is still important in these field of PD treatment

7. Punding- is a term used for obessessive-compulsive traits in PD; fascination, repetitive manipulation of technical equipment, continual examining and handlling of common objects

8. After five years of L-dopa tx- 50% of patients will develop motor fluctuations

9. Polio foot is mostly inverted; the good foot is everted (for wider base of support)

10. Most severe pain in post polio syndrome: knees, legs, wrists; pain is caused by overfatigue or overexertion

11. Foot deformity-most common deformity in polio (not genu recurvatum)

12. Magnets are effective in tx of pain et fatigue; Non-swimming exercises are indicated ( cold intolerance)

13. One sign of migraine is a common fear to stay in a dark room ( claustrophobia); migraine is a throbbing headache accompanied with nausea et vomitting with a pain scale of at least 6; lower than 6 p/s is not a migraine

14. Headache alarms:

• sudden onset - may indicate a stroke
• associated fever- may indicate meningitis or other infectins
• worst headache ever- subarachnoid bleed/ anuerysm
• late onset new headache (for old people)- stroke
• headache associated with mental status changes - tumor/stroke
• increasingly progressive headache- stroke
• focal neurologic signs - tumor/stroke
• assoc. with exertion, valsalva, after sex- aneurysm

15. All anti-hypertensive drugs cause impotence particularly beta-blockers

16. a BP of 160/100 requires combination therapy ( 2 drugs or more)

17. Hypertensive crisis- has a diastole of 120 or 130; Hypertensive emergency - very high BP secondary/ leading to end organ damage requiring immediate BP lowering; Hypertensive urgency- no end-organ damage; correct BP within 24-48 hours

18. If your child is obese by age 14, 80-100% obese for life

19. Signs of arterial occlusion/ disease: pallor, pulselessness, parestheisa, paralysis, polar sensation

20. Venous ulcers of the foot=normal pulses; found usually in peri-malleolar area; arterial ulcers=abnormal/absent pulses, distal digits first affected

I hope you learned something from here. Till I write again. Baboooh

The Presentation

Yesterday was a total victory for me! I slept very late (2:30 am) the night before just to finished the f*****g PowerPoint class presentation I had to do for my class observation. (Remember that time I kept on complaining that the school was teaching us how to be teachers through the use of technology? Internet bullstuff and the like?). Now is the crunchtime for that. I wasn't so sure they were gonna push for a real teaching demo using all those whatevers they meant to tell us. But now, it's here. I have to deal with it.

I have to choose a topic to discuss and the subject matter should be delivered in the technology-based prescription that Dr. H wanted. It was a toss between Neuroanatomy ( The Cranial Nerves and the Autonomic Nervous System) and Orthotics and Prosthetics ( Orthotic Prescription for Special Conditions). I was like ano man? ano nami d man? daw kabudlay gd haw?ah ndi ah daw ok man lng ni ah.pero din di man? tsk tsk. Then after much internal deliberation, I made my choice. The topic that I will discuss is...... ( music)..........................

PAULTHENICS 402! The Christian Filipino Family. Bwahaha teh man!

Fast forward yesterday afternoon. After I finished my pre-internship CI at Saviour Hospital, I rushed home for lunch, another shower, and to shave my beard for my presentation. I f-----g cut my chin ( 2 bloody cuts) while shaving as I seldom shave so I have no engram formation as to the prevention of this event. I put on a light blue striped polo shirt and cream pants and readied myself for the observation.

Finally, it was my turn and I ushered my advisory class inside the computer lab. Dr H then asked for my topic outline. Topic outline? What the hell is that? My mind was racing. And I mentally screamed OH SHIT! Now, I remember. Yah, we were indeed supposed to give a topic outline so she will know the flow of the lecture. I didn't have it but I managed a weak smile and said " err, doc, uhm, topic outline? hehe. do we need to have one? hehe...err, i didn't know kac eh.. hehe.. but, uhm, i promise to make one for you later..hehe" Must've sounded so dumb and stupid there but that is really all there is to say.

I started the class right away. Flashing my grand PowerPoint Presentation for my advisory class. Ha! Ginpulawan ko ubra ni! THIS IS PERFECT! SO ELITE IS SHOULD PUT A COPYRIGHT AFTER I PRESENT THIS PERFECT POWERPOINT! And there I raged, enthusiastically discussing the Christian Filipino Family, slide after slide. I talked about religion and the importance of it to our family. I talked of family worship and going to mass together. I talked about the faith, love, and sacrifice for our family. Damn it! I was so righteous right then and there I could've have been ordained a priest had the Pope witnessed my charisma. Each mouseclick brought on a new slide with color, pictures and words to captivate the class. Masterful presentation. Moving words. I was a cavalier with my perfect powerpoint crap as my lance and my passionate voice as my armor. I reeked in benevolent condescension right from the beginning. And the class was captivated! ( Clap! Clap! Clap!)

Then it was over. Whew! The class dragged their sorry asses out of the room as Dr H called me to discuss my score. I was expecting a high grade based on that PP presentation. Of course, who would be dumb enough not to see my talent in PP presentation! That was the bomb! That was awesome! PERFECT POWERPOINT!...................................

Do you really want to know what happened next? Halos tanan to sa PowerPoint ko sala! BWAHAHAH! Na muna ke absent permi sa ICT training. My presentation it turned out was flooded with errors. Wrong font, wrong font size, wrong colors, wrong background, wrong stuff tanan hahaha. Dr H told me hindi ka ba nakinig. And I answered back "eh, hehe, kasi doc uhm, i thought it would be, erm, okay to be spontaneous, uhm, hehe, pero maganda naman yung kulay d ba? hehe"
Damn, pare, ang tanga ng sagot! Bwahaha...

Fortunately though she made me pass. WOHOO!!! 88% grade ko. Not bad for a technology illiterate person like me. WEEEEEE!!! Oh xa xa matulog nako me clase pako bwas. happy reading weeeee!