When it comes to a devastating illness or injury, doctors often represent lifelines for people whose daily routines no longer resemble their former lives.
Physicians say there’s little they can do, though, to help with emotional recovery, despite knowing that sometimes it’s what people experience between visits to the doctor that needs the most attention.
Dr. Keith Rafal, medical director at the Rehabilitation Hospital of Rhode Island, has noticed depression, anxiety and hopelessness in patients who have experienced a stroke, brain or ...
Continue Reading →OCT
2019
Different Outlets of Expression
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Read the excerpt below from our story on The Health Sessions
or read the whole story here.
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When it comes to healing through expression, what suits the patient is best. There are, however, some forms that are more common and shown to have beneficial results.
1. Music Engagement
Music been found to be one of the most prevalent and most researched forms of healing through expression. Music therapy has been shown to decrease anxiety, ...
OCT
2019
Ted Meyer chats with artist and writer Elizabeth Jameson about her art exhibit, “The Imperfect Body” at USC Keck School of Medicine. Elizabeth talks about her life with MS, making art and writing with MS, her life as a patient advocate and her advice to the USC med students. Joining the discussion is Lilyana Amezcua, MD, MS, Associate Professor of Neurology Multiple Sclerosis Fellowship Program Director.
Continue Reading →JUN
2019
Non-verbal
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If you meet someone who is nonverbal, you would probably think that the person is slow and can’t have a fulfilling life. People usually don’t try to talk with them. I am Chris Lenart and I was a programmer analyst for fourteen years and now I am a public speaker and a blogger. Guess what – I have Cerebral Palsy and am nonverbal. Yes, I am nonverbal and you are saying how could he do everything that he says he ...
Continue Reading →JUN
2019
A Tribute to Stephen Hawking
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Our Heart Speaks (OHS), through the power of the story has been privileged to share and bear witness to a life of meaning and purpose when facing the daily challenges of an acquired disability or chronic medical condition.
We remember and pay tribute to a man who personifies this.
Stephen Hawking one of the most famous and influential scientists of our time. passed away at the age of 76. He lived a full life of 55 years after being diagnosed with amyotrophic ...
Continue Reading →MAR
2018
Mastering life…if not fate
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MATURITY
by Daniel Senser
Many a time in my youth I wandered the streets
Drunkenly belting my song for all the world to hear.
Usually, I got picked up by the police
And put in the nut house for a week.
I fought hard for my song.
At night I’d sing it so that no one could sleep.
During the day, so no one could think.
Slowly, through much persuasion, my song
Began to quiet down.
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NOV
2017
Present Imperfect
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My son didn’t seem to like me all that much in the first weeks of his life and I couldn’t say I blamed him. I may have managed not to drop him, or leave him on a grocery shelf as had happened in my dreams, but I nearly sat on him moments after laying him on my bed. And somehow I closed a snap on his little cotton sleeper with his skin pinched in between the halves.
I also cried constantly, ...
Continue Reading →OCT
2017
Word Format: OHS Interview Transcript
PDF Format: OHS Interview Transcript
JUN
2017
Daniel Gu’s Story of Stroke Recovery
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My name is Daniel Gu. On Sept 22 of 2012, 3 months before turning 41, I suffered a brainstem stroke. My left side was almost totally paralyzed, including my vocal chords. I could not sit up. I could not walk. I could only lie in bed hissing out some words only my wife Hong or my mom could barely understand.
I never thought a stroke could happen to me, particularly at my age. I was active, eating right and had none ...
Continue Reading →APR
2017