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.

Upcoming August Meeting

The last summer meeting for 2015!  How fast time has gone this summer.

As always, we will be meeting on Saturday, from 1-3 pm in the Casey Conference Room at Swedish Hospital's Cherry Hill campus.  Drop ins are welcome.

This will be our last opportunity to brainstorm ideas for bringing attention to hydrocephalus & the group, especially for September, as well as the rest of the year.  A reminder, September is National Hydrocephalus Awareness Month, so any ways to get the word out about the condition is welcome.

If we can generate enough interest, we may be able to bring back the annual picnic.  In years past we would have a picnic at one of the Seattle parks.  It was a fun activity and a chance for people to meet.

PBS: Frontline Rerunning 'A League of Denial'

Just heard that Frontline is going to be rerunning the documentary about CTE, 'A League Of Denial'.  It is an excellent piece about the growing body of information about CTE, resulting in large part from concussions during contact sports--like football.  Definitely worth seeing.  Every parent with a child even considering contact sports, at any age, should watch this piece at least once.

Unfortunately, they don't mention other issues, like acquiring hydrocephalus & what that means over the lifetime of someone who has acquired it.  As we always say, every case is unique, but life without it doesn't have nearly the challenges over a lifetime.

This documentary can really open up a vital discussion about head injury in general & how it relates to contact sports specifically.  They also discuss the false sense of security provided by helments & touch on the risks for those who DON'T use helmets--like cheerleaders & soccer players.  Sad to say, one of the shortcomings is that they do talk about the 'right way' to head a ball, which is also simply wrong.  It was long ago proven that heading a ball, especially without a helmet, DOES cause frontal lobe damage.