Oh and by the way (BTW).....

There seems to be a tad bit of confusion regarding the definition of 'motor learning' in a previous post.

Motor learning can be used to both acquire new skills and in rehabilitation. Young students use motor learning in early grades as they learn to write and use scissors.

But another realm of motor learning is in rehabilitation. Damage to the body from injury or illness can result in the need for motor learning to recover range of motion or learn new ways of doing tasks that can no longer be carried out the way they once were.

This is why doing an activity over and over again is needed to learn a skill. It is also called Practice.

To Blog or Not to Blog

Happy St Patty's Day! Altho I am not Irish.

How do people blog everyday? I just read a story about a woman in the NYT who blogs daily and has all kinds of advertisers for which she makes tons of money. You read further and find out she has been admitted to a Psych Hospital more than once. Is that what it takes to have an interesting blog?

It occurs to me that she could just be making things up to 'sell' her blog. I'm suspicious when I read that both she and her husband had jobs in 'Online Sales'.

Well gee, I used to sell aluminum siding. Not really....for 2years!

Part of another life....:0)

Insights to our South American trip

We went down the eastern side of South America (Argentina) in a cruise ship, around the horn to the southernmost end of the world and back up the western side of South America ending up in Valparaiso Chile. Time of cruise: 12 days.

I will admit that I wasnt as keen on going on this trip as my sister and husband were and just figured that I would 'go along for the ride'. After all it is a frickin' long way from my Lafayette Colorado comfort zone. I was riddled with doubt that I would be able to do such a thing but figured that I would be with my two favorite people that understand me and my 'disease' (MS) the most. How hard can it be?

It was hard.

The initial hard part was what is called 'motor learning'....learning to do something new that you normally don't do in your everyday life. Such as...going up bus steps. Now you may say that everyone has to learn how to go up and down bus steps and everyone is at some risk for falling. True. But for a gimp with limited mobility and strength that risk is magnified considerably.

Lifting your foot up to the next step may or may not be doable. Combine this with 30 people waiting behind you (and they paid good money too!) and the gimp mind gets frantic which distracts from the task at hand.

There are bunches of people wanting to help in this situation which is great but they don't know what to do. It is the gimp's job to direct them to 'lift my right foot up to the next step' but even that takes practice. That is where the motor learning comes in. The second set of steps gets easier and so on until you have 'learned' the technique. Mostly. There are always surprises. Such as the buses in Argentina having 4 steps while the buses in Chile having a spiral staircase of 7 or 8 steps.

You have to have some flexibility (mentally as well as physically :0) for these new surprises/challenges. But how like life!

Oops. The Trip Is Over

Wherever did the time go.
We had such good intentions to do the Blog daily while on our trip to South America. Well our trip came and went and we were gone from Jan 29-Feb 17th. Did I blog? Not much...or any really.

The truth is that the ship internet was hit and miss and it was a good excuse to not blog.
Then I could say I only had my iPad on the trip which has a less than desireable keyboard. But I could have arranged to use my husbands laptop.
No. It was just laziness and procrastination.

So now that I am finished with the self flaggellation I think I will do a 'post trip' blog. Because in reality I have been processing the trip (mentally and emotionally) since we got back. And...some interesting stuff has surfaced.

Stay tuned.
Donna

VACCINATIONS AND ALL THAT

Friday 1-14-11

Donna:

The level of excitement is building.  Today we went for our elective shots.  I say elective because the government of Argentina does not require shots for entry into the country.  But if you research on the web you will find someone who just wouldn’t go anywhere without every shot that is available +2 and suggest you do the same.

There is this little mosquito that transmits yellow fever.  The CDC map shows that we will just be on the fringe of Yellow Fever Territory up at Iguasu Falls in Northern Argentina.

Brazil shares a border of Iguasu Falls with Argentina and the REAL yellow fever risk is in Brazil.  But who is to say that mosquitoes have GPS and know when they are looking for blood in Brazil and are really in Argentina?

The Yellow Fever vaccine is ‘live’ and can frequently give you a high fever before your trip. So you must weigh the odds of where you will be along with how many mosquitoes will be there vs the risk of having a severe reaction from the vaccine.

My neurologist suggested I not get the live vaccine.  He didn’t say exactly why but it makes sense that someone with an autoimmune disease (MS) shouldn’t get a new active virus introduced into his or her body. Dead viruses like Hepatitis A, Tetanus and Typhoid seem to be ok.

2^nd post

When we were at the travel ‘shots’ clinic there were several people that came in for their monthly Vitamin B-12 shot @ 20 bucks a shot.  I asked the nurse why someone gets these (having heard of Mick Jagger getting these in the 70s before a big concert). She said it ‘gives people a sense of well being’.  I just had to have one.  Hey. I was there anyway.

Sure enough there were 2 women in the waiting room on our way out.

Guess B-12 doesn’t qualify as a drug.

Guess it takes 2 days to work. 

Stay tuned.

Barbara:

As Donna said, the suggested shots were Yellow Fever, Hepatitis A, Typhoid and Tetanus. 

Tetanus lasts ten years so if you’ve had one in the last ten years, you’re covered.

Hepatitis A – when I went to the travel clinic, I asked the nurse, “Why Hepatitis A?”  She asked, “Do you live in California?”  “Do you go out to eat?”  “ Do you travel?”  I answered yes to all.   Her advice: “Hepatitis A is the best shot you can have.  You are covered right away with the first shot and be sure and get the second shot in six months and then you’re covered for life.”

We also discussed Yellow Fever.  She said that unless you’re staying somewhere where cases of Yellow Fever have been reported, there’s no need to get the vaccine – instead lather up with high DEET mosquito repellent when you’re outside.  (NOTE:  mosquitoes are out in the early morning and late afternoon -- not when the sun is shining in the middle of the day – and are attracted to water.)

OUR ITINERARY

2011 ITINERARY:

Jan 29/30 Fly to Buenos Aires Argentina

; stay overnight

Jan 31 Fly to Iguasu Falls Argentina

; stay 2 nights

Feb 2 Fly to Buenos Aires; stay two nights

Feb 4 Board the Holland America Veendam at the port of Buenos Aires.

Feb 5 Port:  Monte Video Uruguay

Feb 6 & 7 At Sea

Feb 8 Port Stanley, Falkland Islands

Feb 9 At Sea – rounding Cape Horn

Feb 10 Ushuaia, Argentina**

Feb 11 Puntas Arenas, Chile

Feb 12 & 13 At Sea

Feb 14 Porte Montt, Chile

Feb 15 At Sea

Feb 16 Port: Valparaiso, Chile

Disembark and fly to Buenos Aires and fly back to the USA, arriving on Feb 17^th.

**Sailing from Ushuaia Argentina to Puntas Arenas Chile: Romanche & Almania Glaciers, Cockburn and Beagle Channels.

From Puntas Arenas Chile to Porto Montt Chile:  Straight of Magellan, Canal Sarmiento, Amelia Glacier, Chilean Fiords and Darwin Channel.

Day 1

Donna and Bruce got up at 3 a.m. in Denver to catch a flight to LAX and then on to IAD.  I got up at 5 a.m. and caught a flight from SFO to IAD, getting here early.

On my flight, my seatmate and I talked about handicapped accessibility and he said, “It’s a good thing we have the ADA here in the states.”

We are now waiting for the flight to BA and once we get there, the adventure will really begin….