I watched Andrew’s Story: Guillain-Barré Syndrome, a YouTube video that documents a young man’s experience with Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS). Andrew was a young firefighter who enjoyed being active. He exercised often and spent most of his free time outdoors. Shortly after becoming a firefighter, Andrew began to feel ill and weak and developed a fever and a rash. He was diagnosed with strep throat. About ten days after his diagnosis of strep, Andrew began to experience numbness in his feet that he could not get rid of. And by August 3, he was no longer able to walk due to extreme weakness. He rushed to the hospital where a spinal tap confirmed what would become his worst nightmare, Guillain-Barré Syndrome.
After his diagnosis, Andrew immediately began treatment for GBS. This treatment consisted of a drug called IVIG and plasmaphoresis, a medical procedure that filters blood. He was quickly admitted to the ICU and began experiencing facial paralysis. By August 12, 2016, Andrew’s vision became blurred. After about two weeks in the hospital, his symptoms had only slightly improved, but nonetheless, Andrew was sent home. He began struggling to swallow, breathe, and sit up without becoming too exhausted. Andrew became so weak that he feared falling asleep because he thought his body would just give out and stop breathing. At this point, he was taken to the hospital again and admitted into the ICU to begin his treatment again. Very quickly, Andrew lost his ability to swallow and was placed on a liquid diet, but the medical team soon realized that his body was not digesting anything he ingested. At this point, Andrew needed to be constantly suctioned in order to maintain an airway adequate for breathing. The feeding tube that had been feeding Andrew had to be removed in order to allow him to breathe better.
Andrew was transferred to the ICU step down unit for a short period of time before he aspirated and began to suffocate. When he was suctioned following this event, the medical team found blood, mucus, and other liquids in his airway. Due to his struggle to breathe, Andrew was intubated and put on a ventilator. In one instance, Andrew suffered cardiac arrest for about seven minutes due to a doctor giving him a medication that was contraindicated of his condition. After continuously CPR and three shocks from the AED, his heart began beating again. At this point, Andrew had been paralyzed for three weeks, and due to the ventilator, communication was extremely difficult. He used a communication board to talk to his family and medical team. After about 10 days of no change in his condition, a trach was placed in order to allow him more comfort in breathing. He was finally able to smile, mouth words, and begin to try to speak again.
During his stay in the ICU, Andrew wanted to be admitted to the Sheperd Center in Atlanta, however, his doctor told him that he would be on the vent for another 8-10 weeks. Within days of this news, Andrew regained the strength to come off of the vent. He was sent to a rehabilitation facility for a few weeks but later was sent to the Sheperd Center. In Atlanta, Andrew received the best care for his illness. When he first became ill, Andrew weighed about 160 pounds, and when he was admitted to the Sheperd Center, he weighed only 110 pounds. Due to his intense therapy schedule, Andrew began gaining strength and eating more food. He was finally able to feed himself and began eating up to 3,000 calories a day. On October 14, Andrew took his first steps since the paralysis. Soon, he was able to walk around the facility and explore Atlanta with his family using Lofstrand crutches. He built up the endurance to complete five hours of intense therapy a day. While receiving treatment at the Sheperd Center, he received OT, PT, and respiratory therapy services. He accredits his therapy team for such a phenomenal recovery experience.
Finally, by November 3, 2016, Andrew was back home in Smyrna, Tennessee. He was able to drive again and even voted in the presidential election. After two months of outpatient therapy, Andrew was fully recovered in less than a year and back to being a firefighter. He was determined to get better during the entire process. Outside of therapy, Andrew began working out often by doing crossfit, rock climbing, horseback riding, and jet skiing.
I chose to do my first Neuro Note assignment on GBS because it is a neurological condition that I do not know much about. I wanted to dive deeper in my understanding of this condition. Andrew’s video was recommended as a great story on the resources page provided by my professor, and immediately, I was drawn into his story. I found myself fighting back tears throughout the video.
I learned about the real and raw details of GBS through watching Andrew’s experience. This video provided me with a real look at this syndrome and related directly to the course content. I was able to see some of the OT interventions in Andrew’s treatment and see how OTs at the Sheperd Center addressed GBS. As this course is all about how to treat individuals with neurological conditions, I found it extremely beneficial to watch videos of his therapy. It gave me a perspective on the progression of therapy and how long treatment can take for this condition. I began to appreciate his small improvements throughout the video. I recommend that others take the time to watch this video as it details Andrew’s experience with GBS. His family showed the good, the bad, and the ugly of his journey, which provides future healthcare professionals with a real, educational account of his experience. I saw instances where the healthcare professionals on his medical team did not advocate for him or made careless mistakes in his treatment. Seeing these mistakes taught me how differently I would want to act if I were on his team. It highlighted how important I can be in the recovery of an individual with GBS in the future if I chose to advocate for my client and gear therapy to meet the needs of each individual I treat.
Here is a link to Andrew’s story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWvrHhs2jps
Franek, A.J. (2017, August 1). Andrew’s story: Guillain-Barré Syndrome [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWvrHhs2jps
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