AMPUTEE SUPPORT GROUP OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA NEWSLETTER

Support Group Meeting

On Tuesday, September 7, 2004, the Amputee Support Group of Northern Virginia held its regularly scheduled monthly meeting in the Telestar Court Building, Gemini Room.  Although we had a speaker for the meeting, thanks to George Willis, we had a very small meeting turnout.  Not even all the "same old people" attended the meeting due to various reasons.  So there we were (George and his wife, Helmut and Betty, Joce and Pat, Inspector Jack, Kit Callahan and three firemen.  The firemen mostly let us play with their toys.  The thermal imager was pretty neat and we all got to "thermal image" each other.

We also got our "fundraiser packets" for the Tupperware Party next month.  More information on next month's meeting can be found in the Scheduled Events-Monthly Meeting section.    

News and Announcements

ASGNVA Funds/Donations – ASGNVA has received donations for 2004 in the amount of $619.00.  Funds used, year-to-date, have been $613.00.  That means that, so far, our contributions have matched our spending.  However, there is still $330.83 to be submitted to the Fund, which would leave an estimated balance of about $1,000 for any reimbursements from September 2004 into the year 2005. 

If you enjoy the newsletters, or if you feel the activities of the Amputee Support Group are important, please donate to the Amputee Support Group of Northern Virginia.  Remember to check Fund 352 so that your donation goes to the Amputee Support Group and not the General Fund.  If you value your support group, please donate today! You can donate online at https://connect.inova.com/j/inovanet.srt/forms/donation/donatenow.htm.

If you can't afford to donate to the group but want to participate in fundraising, please get in touch with one of the contacts listed at the top of the newsletter to get your Tupperware fundraising materials and sell, sell, sell.  Tupperware sells itself so this shouldn't be too hard - just ask your family and friends if they want to purchase some Tupperware.  Either they like Tupperware and want some or they don't.  It's that simple--that's why we selected Tupperware as our fundraiser.  Please help us in this effort so we don't have to continually come up with fundraiser ideas.  How about you prosthetic houses putting a Tupperware fundraiser book in your lobbies?  I haven't heard from any of you in a long time.

Services and Products

ASGNVA Lending Library – Come to a meeting and borrow a book or see what new handouts are available.  Three new books have been added to the library as described below.  For more information, contact Jason Bulger on the Nascott web site, www.nascott.com.

Phantoms in the Brain, Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind.  V.S. Ramachandran, M.D., PH.D., and Sandra Blakeslee.  Dr. V.S. Ramachandran, one of the most interesting neuroscientists of our time, has done seminal work on the nature and treatment of phantom limbs--those obdurate and sometimes tormenting ghosts of arms and legs lost years or decades before but not forgotten by the brain.

Quantum Healing, Exploring the Frontiers of the Mind/Body Medicine.  Deepak Chopra, M.D.  Here is an extraordinary new approach to healing by an extraordinary physician-writer--a book filled with the mystery, wonder and hope of people who have experienced seemingly miraculous recoveries from cancer and other serious illnesses.

What's Your Excuse?  Making the Most of What You Have.  John P. Foppe.  Born without arms, John Foppe has faced unique obstacles to living a normal life.  But what he's always had is an indomitable faith--a faith that no only gives him the will to survive, but also the will to thrive.  By applying his own experiences as well as the unique insights he's developed as a trained counselor and motivational speaker, John advises us how to confidently confront adversity and discover our own dynamic potential for accomplishment and fulfillment.  As John says, even when faced with seemingly insurmountable odds, "All thing are within reach."

Member Updates

Joce Graham – Joce sent me a great email about her amputation and consequent rehabilitation.  I am including parts of it here for your reading pleasure.

I just wanted to send out an email to let everyone ... know just how I am after surgery back in April when I underwent an amputation of my right leg from the knee down to the foot.  It's been quite a challenging experience so far, that has really opened my eyes to those with disabilities, like me now; and how we've learned to exist from day-to-day with disabilities and difficulties to be counted as members of society as well as those without disabilities that make up the remaining majority of members in our society.

Well, I had my last appointment with my surgeon at Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore, MD so it's nice now not to make the monthly trips to see him any more.  After taking several pictures with a digital camera of my newly formed amputated limb, scar and all, he told me that I looked great and was so much better than when I first came to see him. He said amputating the leg was a good decision.  I really think it was; however, I'm still trying to get used to the new prosthesis (artificial limb). I have to walk with it and am getting trained to do so by two physical therapists at Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, VA.

I have physical therapy three times a week for an hour at each session.  I love it because the physical therapists are cheerfully and encouragingly teaching me how to do all sorts of things with my new leg.

I am doing pretty well learning to walk ... if I look at my artificial foot  on the ground and am working hard at walking with my feet with equal strides apart, without looking at my foot, but by feeling from inside myself how to walk correctly and with the therapist coaching me on and holding on to a belt wrapped around my back so I don't fall forward. Confused?! So was I when I started to put my artificial leg on my remaining limb and tried to put my new foot on the ground to try to walk!!!! I didn't think I'd ever get my new leg to do what I told it to do when I tried putting the leg in motion required to walk, kick a ball, hold the rails with one arm and lift my feet up to a higher step than the ground.  But, guess what?!!! I made it walk and do many other things like sit properly in a chair ... and how to properly get up out of a chair with my  new stiff leg.  I'm proud to say, ... I walked 115 meters around the training center!  And, it wasn't easy at first but I'm getting better at it.  I'm just happy I can walk now instead of wearing that black ankle device that caused me to limp because my ankle and leg hurt so terribly that I couldn't put pressure on it or it would make me cry!

Besides walking with a walker, I can also walk with crutches and have progressed to walking with only a cane now!!!  I think I'm pretty hot stuff in therapy but I have to listen to the therapists because they tell me how to walk and most importantly, how to do so properly so I won't fall or cause trouble to my already sore and painful arthritic knees.  So, it may sound easy but it really is quite challenging and I'll be going to therapy until October but it depends how I progress.

Other than therapy, I keep busy putting everything I've learned from my sessions to use like standing the right way at the sink in the kitchen with weight on both feet equally distributed  -  which I haven't done yet.  It hurts me too much right now.  But, I keep trying!

And, I've been busy seeing my orthopedic doctor ... said he was so proud of me and gave me a big hug when I crutched in to the examining room!

My spirits are up and down sometimes.  However, when I get down because I lost my leg, I remember quickly how awful I felt all the time when I had the Osteomyelitis disease in my body that made me very sick all over not just affecting my now amputated ankle and leg.

The physical therapists have even taught me how to walk outside on cement with crevices in between them.  I had to use a walker for that because it was too easy to fall with a cane or crutches.  But, hey I walked outside!!

... I go to the Amputee Support Group of Northern VA every first Tuesday .. of each month and have found it be extremely helpful in learning all sorts of things no one without an amputated limb can only answer.  It is also a way to get out of bed and up from lying there feeling sorry for yourself, and back into society once again with people just like you.

And, I want to thank everyone who came to see me in the hospital and while I've been at home.  You all really cheered me up and gave me the courage to handle this amputation and all that goes with it - physically and mentally!

Scheduled Events

Fourth Annual Kit Callahan’s Miracle Mile Event – The 4^th Annual Miracle Mile 8K Run/Walk and Brain Injury Awareness Fair will be held on October 3, 2004, from 7:30 am to noon at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.  The Miracle Mile is a fund-raiser to promote community outreach and education about brain injuries.  The proceeds from the event benefit Brain Injury Services, Inc. and the Northern Virginia Brain Injury Association; Congressman Tom Davis is the Honorary Chairperson this year. Go online and visit www.KitsMiracleMile.org for more details and register online at www.SignMeUpSports.Com

Monthly Meeting – The next monthly meeting is October 5, 2004. We are going to meet a little earlier next month (7:00) so that we won't be starving to death by the time we have our "pot luck".  We're ordering a cake so we'll have plenty of dessert (George is going to take care of the ordering/pickup of the cake - thanks, George).  Everyone else should bring "side dishes" or things to drink.

September
Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
National Sickle Cell Month www.SickleCellDisease.org	Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month www.ovarian.org	Prostate Cancer Awareness Month www.pcacoalition.org	1	2	3	4
5 Suicide Prevention Week www.suicidology.org	6 Rob Chalkley	7 Amputee Support Group Meeting of Northern Virginia	8 Dorsey Vengrouskie	9	10	11
12 National Reye's Syndrome Week www.reyessyndrome.org	13	14 Bob Rigsby Fredericsksburg Area Amputee Support Team Meeting Winchester Amputee Support Group Meeting	15 Tom Porter Kernan Hospital Amputee Support Group Meeting	16	17	18
19 National Rehabilitation Week www.nraf-rehabnet.org	20 Tony Bernardo	21 Washington Amputee Association Meeting	22	23 Marvin Robbins Georgetown University Hospital Amputee Support Group Meeting	24	25 Ramon Reyes
26 Daniel Thompson and Patti Skinner	27	28	29 National Women's Health and Fitness Day www.fitnessday.com	30 David Boyle Ability With Mobility Meeting
October
National Liver Awareness Month www.liverfoundation.org	National Breast Cancer Awareness Month	National Physical Therapy Month www.apta.org	"Talk About Prescriptions" Month www.talkaboutrx.org	National Brain Injury Awareness Month www.biausa.org	1 Rob Daniels	2 Brad Lowstuter
3 Kit's Miracle Mile Jaime Buenaventura	4	5 Amputee Support Group Meeting of Northern Virginia (7:00 MEETING TIME AND POT LUCK AND TUPPERWARE PARTY)	6 Mark Senker	7	8 Bob McKenna	9
10 National School Lunch Week www.asfsa.org	11	12 Fredericsksburg Area Amputee Support Team Meeting Winchester Amputee Support Group Meeting	13 SAVE (Stop America's Violence Everywhere) Today www.ama-assn.org/ go/alliance	14	15 Laura Harsh and Norman Tiemann	16
17 National Health Education Week www.nche.org	18	19 Liz Thomas Washington Amputee Association Meeting	20 Kernan Hospital Amputee Support Group Meeting	21	22 Jocelyn Graham	23
24 Respiratory Care Week www.aarc.org	25	26	27	28 Ability With Mobility Meeting Georgetown University Hospital Amputee Support Group Meeting	29 Rich Guarrasi	30 Wells Petras
31

Ability With Mobility – Last Thursday of the month, 6:00-8:00 pm, 2nd floor, Adventist Rehabilitation Hospital of Maryland, 9909 Medical Center Dr, Rockville, MD.  Contact Sandy Shehadeh, 240-864-6200. 
Fredericsksburg Area Amputee Support Team (FAAST) – 2^nd Tuesday of the month, 7:00-9:00 pm, The disAbility Resource Center, 409 Progress Street, Fredericksburg, VA.  Contact Greg Wright, 540-899-2655 or 800-333-4102.
Georgetown University Hospital Amputee Support Group – 4^TH Thursday of every month, 7:30-9:00 pm, Martin Marietta Conference Room, Lombardi Cancer Center, Entrance 1 (park in the Levey Center; handicap parking available; transit access can drop off/pick up at this location). Call 202-444-8037 and leave a message.
Kernan Hospital Amputee Support Group – 3^rd Wednesday of the month, 6:00-8:00 pm, Room G604, Kernan Hospital, 2200 Kernan Dr., Gwynn Oak, MD.  Contact Mark Senker at 410-581-7027.
Washington Amputee Association (WAA) – National Rehabilitation Hospital, 102 Irving Street, NW, Washington, DC, Ground Floor Dining Room (rear section, near the windows and behind the partition), 3^RD Tuesday of each month from 6:30-8:30 pm.  Contact Roy Dwyer (301-897-2816) or Becky Lehman, RT/NRH, 202-877-1578, rebekahlehman@juno.com.
Winchester Amputee Support Group – 2^nd Tuesday of the month, 5:30-6:30 pm, Conference Room, 2^nd floor, Winchester Rehabilitation Center, 333 W. Cork St, Winchester, VA.  Contact Christie Augustine, 540-536-5113.

Battling Loneliness and Social Isolation

The other day I ran into my neighbor, whom I have encountered only a handful of times over the past 16 years. She was divorced shortly after we moved into the neighborhood and has kept to herself all these years. She was in a good mood this beautiful Friday morning in mid-summer, and was proud to tell me that she had made her last mortgage payment and had decided to use her "new-found" money to landscape her home. She had made this rare visit to her front yard to instruct the landscapers as to where she would like her new tree planted.

Not having seen her for quite some time, I couldn't help but notice that she looked a bit older and much heavier. The dark circles under her eyes and pale skin color belied the beauty of a glorious summer day, the sun shining brilliantly and temperatures in the mid-70s. This was the first time that we had spoken for more than 5 minutes in the 16 years that she has lived next door to me. With her sad eyes and soft-spoken voice, she described her new landscaping, which included the removal of large bushes that blanketed her front windows and blocked out the sun and view of the world. I was so pleased that we had a chance to speak and felt an amazing rush of happiness for my dear neighbor. She lacked friends and visitors these past 16 years and never left her home unless it were in a vehicle.

My neighbor's solitude consisted of living in darkness, curtains drawn on every window, and spending time outside her home only to travel to work and back or to pick up groceries. As I waved goodbye and began my 4-mile run, I started to wonder how many other people in this world are battling loneliness and social isolation, and are suffering silently without notice.

People who are depressed, sad, lonely, and socially isolated can benefit from a daily regimen of physical activity. While exercise can't eliminate someone's depression or loneliness, it can help. Many researchers have shown that depression and loneliness can be reduced or controlled through some balance of medication and exercise. It won't necessarily make the mental pain go away, but it will give the person a sense of structure and harmony that often can't be obtained from a job or family member.

I felt terribly sad for my neighbor. As I jogged away, I thought: "What would her life be like if she took long walks after work, went cycling or swimming, or performed some tai chi or relaxation exercises in her backyard with some soft and relaxing background music?" The answer that shot back to me was that it would undoubtedly be better; how much better no one knows, but it would be better than living with the curtains drawn and spending all her time either at work or inside her home. Perhaps my deep positive thoughts will find a place in her inner sanctuary. Exercise can't "cure" someone of depression or loneliness, but neither can drugs or therapy. All you can hope for is better control over a brutal condition that usurps life and keeps people in darkness and pain. Even a moment of relief is better than no relief at all. Exercise can provide that moment of relief and stringing enough 'moments' together can redistribute the proportion of happiness and sadness that one experiences in any given day.