Date: 11-17-02
From: Elizabeth Hersman
Subject: Information
To: karanben@me.com

Hello Ms. Boothe! This is Elizabeth Hersman, Peggy Masters daughter. I was just writing to see if I could talk to you and get some information on mom's swallowing disorder. My family and I just found out last week and it is a whole new thing to me. I have no idea what to do or what to look for. If you could meet with me and let me know what I can do, it would be so helpful. Let me know as soon as possible. Thank you so much.

Elizabeth

Date: 11-17-02
From: Kara Boothe
Subject: Schedule
To: liz@her.com

Hello Elizabeth! I think that it would be a great idea if we got together to discuss a few things. You will play a big role with helping your mom. You will need to know what to do to help and I will be here to answer any questions that you have. I'm not sure when you are available so here is a schedule of when I can meet with you:
Monday and Wednesday at 3:30-5:00
Tuesday 2:00-4:00
Thursday 4:00-5:30

If you aren't available at an of these times, just let me know and maybe I can do some schedule changing. Some things that you can think of now is to watch and make sure she doesn't get choked. If she does call the nurse as soon as possible. Make sure that you cut up her food in small pieces so she can eat them with ease. Watch and make sure that she is setting up when she eats and make sure that her head is tilted up. Doing these things often help with swallowing. Since your mom is on mechanical soft foods, you can make sure that she doesn't eat anything like nuts or tough meat.

I hope that some of this will help you. I'll bring some brochures that will possibly help clarify any questions. Bring any questions or information that you may have. Thank you for being so interested and I hope to see you soon.

Kara Boothe

PS - I am having an inservice meeting with the staff at the nursing home about dysphagia. It will be a short powerpoint presentation. You are more than welcome to attend.

Date: 11-18-02
From: Elizabeth Hersman
Subject: Thank you
From: karanben@me.com

Ms. Boothe,
I can meet with you Tuesday at 2:00. Since mom can only eat mechanical soft foods. I was wondering if you could bring a list of foods that mom could eat? I'm not totally positive on what I can fix when mom is with me. I also need to make sure she doesn't eat anything that she shouldn't at the nursing home. Thanks for writing back. See ya soon!

Elizabeth Hersman

Dysphagia

What is dysphagia?
Dysphagia is a swallowing disorder that can occur in any stage of swallowing.

What causes dysphagia?
The are a range of causes including,but not limited to, muscle weakness or paralysis. These are typically due to neurological or neuromuscular disorders.

What type of neurological or neuromuscular disorders cause dysphagia?
Stroke, head injury, brain tumor, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Parkinson's disease, myasthenia gravis, muscular dystrophy, dementia and cerebral palsy (Ferrand and Bloom 236)

What is are some symptoms of dysphagia?
perceived difficulty eating, coughing during meals, slow eating, physical difficulty manipulating foods, "wet" sounding voice, food residue in the mouth, multiple swallows, and aspiration. Aspiration is when food falls below the point of the vocal folds and may or may not result in a cough. Unfortunately, however, dysphagia sometimes doesn't have visible symptoms. (Ferrand and Bloom 236)

What can be done to help alleviate the symptoms of dysphagia?
There are different diet modifications and positioning techniques that can help the swallowing process.

What are the different diet modifications?
Modifications are made with food, liquids, and medication.

Food -
*Regular
*Mechanical Soft
*Soft/Crushed
*Pureed

Liquid -
*thin liquids
*thick liquids
*no liquids

NPO - nothing by mouth

Medications may need to be crushed and put into a liquid or food.

The following are some postitions that can aid in swallowing:

-Sit upright with hips flexed to 90 degrees
-Tilt chin down
-Turn head to the left or right
-Turn head to the left or right with a chin tuck
-Side lying position
-Tilt head to the left or right
-Tilt head back
(Ferrand and Bloom 242)

What are some risks of dysphagia?
Dysphagia can cause aspiration which may be dangerous. If aspiration occurs then the patient could be at risk for pneumonia. Watch for a temperature rise 30 minutes after completion of a meal. (Kavanaugh 3)

It is very important that those around the patient be aware of his or her diet modifications and/or positioning changes. These people include the nursing staff, caregivers, doctors, etc. Many times it is overlooked and can be dangerous due to aspiration.

Do you know someone who may suffer from dysphagia? Please contact the following about intervention:

Home Care Plus
147 Dawkins Drive
Greyrock Professional Park
Lewisburg, WV 24956

My Personal Preferences

I am a true Disney lover, I can’t really choose which cartoon or character is my favorite but if I had to pick, it would be Tigger and Lilo and Stitch .

I feel like I am a country person. I like the quiet, comfortable setting that I get, it almost reminds me of home. I enjoy visiting the country .

My boyfriend, Ben, has some extraordinary parents. They are missionaries in Papua New Guinea. His dad is a flight instructor and his mom is a teacher. They are currently trying to raise money to buy a plane for their mission. My family and I are helping them sell baskets through the Eagles Wings Education and Aviation Ministries.

Professional Interests

As I pursue my future career in Speech-Language Pathology, ASHA will play a major part. As I finish school and begin practicing, I will be accredited through ASHA. They will be a good reference for me and a good source of information in order to keep my practice updated.

I have to give credit to my professors and future professional collaborators. I couldn’t have gotten this far without the Communication Disorders professors.

Research Resources

For my multigenre research project, I decided that I was going to look up information on dysphagia. Although I have many interests in the field of communication disorders, I thought that dysphagia was intriguing. I would like to learn techniques and diets to help make clients more comfortable with swallowing. I would also like to know how to help teach the client and their family get situated with the issue.

Fun Stuff

Let me tell everyone who I think is a HOTTIE! Vin Diesel is the dream world love of my life. What a babe! I'm so excited to see his new movie, Knock Around Guys, coming out in theaters on October 11, 2002.