Sickle cell disease

Something about being in a library makes you type with more command. Or maybe it's just the med school library. Who knows?

Really I'm just excited.
I've spent the last several weeks reading over our faculty members' areas of research. For my OTD, I have to pick a lab, which I'll work in, all the while generating, and then testing my own hypothesis to write a thesis.

Generally, I'm open to keeping an open mind...but I've definitely narrowed it down, and definitely have a first choice: Dr. King's lab. Dr. King is a pediatric oncologist/hematologist at Children's. What (I think) that I want to do is something sickle cell disease related. It is a hugely untapped world-and largely under served, and the more I read, the more interesting and useful I think that it would be.

At HH they told us that about 10% of children with sickle cell would have strokes by the time that they're adults (the blood clots because of the red blood cell's atypical and more rigid shape). I knew several. The last few research articles have stated that THIRTY percent of kids have a stroke or a cerebral infaract--that's in their brains! Plus they have a lifetime of anemia, which means that the brain might not be supplied with as much oxygen as it needs.

AND it's crazy how from 1 month (when the blood is the mom's sickle-free blood) to 9 months (the baby's sickle blood takes over), there is a huge increase in risk for neurodevelopmental delays for kids with SCD, when compared to the control group of the same socioeconomic status and ethnicity.

How OT relates to this is: we take the cognitive piece, and translate it to real life. By and large, kids with SCD aren't categorized as "high risk" at school. Should they be? Can we develop educational interventions that work? Assesments? I'm also interested (from camp) how SCD affects participation. For example, many can't swim in outdoor pools, participate on sports teams, spend long periods of time in the hospital, etc etc.

Soooooo. It's one of the two most intense labs. We have to do TWO projects (vs. 1) and we are EXPECTED to publish at the end of two years. BUT, I've sort of saved myself for a grad school thesis project. This is something that I'm interested in, and I think it would be a valuable experience in many ways. And the cool thing about OT research? It ALWAYS immediately affects lives.

Labs are a matching process (masters students are matched too...they just do less "original" research, since they have less time--more expanding on current literature). We put down our top choices, and the faculty put down theirs. I may not get it, but I sure as heck am going to try!

Plus, as observed at HH: "the black girls love [you]!" I'd love to help my girls out.