November Meeting: Happy Thanksgiving!

As always, it seems like only yesterday we were looking at the October meeting coming up.  Doesn't seem like November is here already!  This month's meeting will be held on the 21st, from 12:45 pm to 3:00 pm in the Casey Conference Room at Swedish Hospital's Cherry Hill campus (17th & Jefferson, Seattle).

Friends, family members, caregivers and those, of all ages, living with the condition of hydrocephalus are welcome to attend.  Drop ins and kids are welcome.  We will be having one or two members calling in during the meeting.

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving.

FOX NEWS (CHANNEL 11/13, SEATTLE) AIRING BRAIN FEATURE @ 10 PM ON 10/7/15

I saw the Fox News piece on last night's news and they spoke about a special they will be airing tonight about the inner workings of the brain.  If their previous work is any indication, this should be excellent.

Last night they had a teaser where they interviewed two prominant docs from the University of Washington--one was neurosurgeon Richard Ellenbogen and the other was a sports medicine specialist.

A big part of the reason for the special and the smaller segments devoted to brain injury is because Washington state has already had something like four TBIs with high school football players.  As much as the high school football gets the attention, other sports (LaCrosse, soccer, softball, etc.) are also impacted.  Statistically, more brain injuries occur from bicycle accidents than sports.

There is also the added attention to the Lystadt Law, which requires any high school coaches/trainers to remove a kid from play if a concussion is even suspected.  Kids aren't allowed back in the game until they have been evaluated by a medical professional.  I believe they said that now all states have some form of the Lystadt Law in place to protect kids in sports.

I'm looking forward to watching tonight.

National Hydrocephalus Awareness Month--Is Here!

Hard to believe it is already National Hydrocephalus Awareness Month!  We have been talking about an array of possible ways to attract attention the cause this month.  A couple of them involve getting group tickets so we can showcase hydrocephalus.  So we are looking for supporters and those living with hydrocephalus to help in the efforts to raise awareness.

This month's meeting will be on the 19th, from 1-3 pm in the Casey Conference Room at Swedish Hospital's Cherry Hill campus.  Drop ins are welcome, as well as families and anyone with an interest in finding out more about the condition of hydrocephalus.

Many aren't aware that hydrocephalus can be acquired at any age, through numerous causes.  This includes traumatic head injury (TBI), brain tumors, car/bike accident or even spontaneous (normal pressure hydrocephalus) which is often misdiagnosed as Parkinson's or Alzheimer's.  So it isn't limited to congenital hydrocephalus, which is often part of spina bifida.  Because there are so many causes, there can never be a one-size-fits-all 'cure' for the condition (it isn't a disease, although condition & disease are often used interchangeably).

The journey of life with hydrocephalus can be a bumpy one, but the majority of us still see our lives as productive, interesting & welcome the challenges that it provides.

March Meeting

MARCH 2014 MEETING

 

 

 

As always, it was great seeing familiar faces at the meeting.  Also always look forward to new faces at each meeting.

 

We reviewed how the Brain Awareness open house event went.  While there were a few less kids, parents and teachers there this year, we all agreed that it was very successful.  As I've said before, we did miss the regulars that were unable to attend this year's event.  We are already looking forward to next year!

 

 

We  talked a bit about other issues, like CTE.  It seems that there is something new discovered about CTE almost daily!   It was great having some hand out materials from the Sports Legacy Institute (SLI) at our table this year.  The hand out materials were taken by almost everyone--especially parents and teachers.  There were a few coaches in attendance, so we had a tie-in with the CTE issue.

 

 

The Sunday Seattle Times (March 16th) had a very compelling article about a former Seahawk who was found to have died from complications from CTE.  I'm hoping to be able to reprint the article or at least have a link in the future.

 

One of the tv stations, locally, also did an interview with a former Olympic soccer player who had to leave the sport because of complications from her one and only concussion.  She still has complications years later!

 

Looking forward to April's meeting.  2014 is going by so fast!