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TOOWOOMBA & DISTRICT MS SUPPORT GROUP Going from strength to strength. |
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TOOWOOMBA & DISTRICT MS SUPPORT GROUP. July 2011 Newsletter
NEWSLETTER – July 2011 TOOWOOMBA & DISTRICT MS SUPPORT GROUP Going from strength to strength. July 2011.
DATES TO REMEMBER:- AGM WED. 20TH JULY AT THE MS HALL SUPPER ROOMS Steele Rudd Dr. Baker St., at 10.30 am. All welcome... please bring lunch to share. MS CHRISTMAS IN JULY LUNCH PARTY will be held at REGENT'S ON THE LAKE, Sunday 24th July, at 11.30 am. All welcome. Cost $20...children...$15. Monies have to be in to the Commitee by the AGM ON THE 20TH JULY. Anyone who wishes to come to the lunch party by taxi, please bring your taxi receipts and they will be refunded by the MS Committee. Disabled access at rear of building, also disabled access toilet available. PLEASE SEND BACK YOUR RAFFLE TICKETS BY THE AGM MEETING, as the raffle will be drawn at the Lunch party. ______________________________________________________________________________ The MS Qld. Seminar held in June at the Toowoomba Motel was well attended and good information given out. We will print some highlights of this information in the next news letter as it comes to hand.
GOOD NEWS EVENT from Sue... As MS week came up I thought about doing something to raise money. A friend and I were having lunch at the Wivenhoe Dam Cafe so I asked Deborah the Manager if she would be interested in holding something there...Deborah was very enthused and we put the menu together. Finger food with tea and coffee, cordial and water. We decided on Thursday as it is her quietest day so Thursday 26th May it was. I contacted the MS Society and was given permission to use the Society Name and Logo for Fundraising. Julie Hanlon from the Society was very helpful and regularly called me to ask if I needed any assistance. With the help of my friend Bernice we visited local businesses in Fernvale and Lowood asking for donation of gifts we could use as prizes for a multi draw raffle. No one refused us, although some of the prizes were interesting! Bernice and I, along with another friend Cathy, contacted as many people as we could. Bernice's mother Rayda is in an aged care home at Boonah and she organised 10 people from the home to attend! We ended up with 45 people for lunch. It was a lovely day sitting on the verandah of the cafe looking out on the very full Wivenhoe Dam. I had expected to raise around $300. We raised $774.00. Good to hear from Wilma, Catherine, Raewyn and many others who have kindly sent in their returned raffle tickets – all most gratefully received. So many of our members have said they like to get our newsletter very much and have thoughtfully donated stamps to help. Story of cracked pots:- (excerpt) from Wilma. “Each of us has our own unique flaws. We're all cracked pots. But it is all the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding. Thank you to all my crack pot friends.” Paul and Jon put up and took down our display at the Toowoomba Library for MS Awareness Week. Good job, Paul and Jon, and we hope the information reaches relevant people. It was Maud Popp's 90th birthday in June. For those who don't know Maud, she was President of the MS Hall Committee for 25 years raising monies for MS Qld. all that time with dances, bus trips and functions. Maud and Darryl's mother, Greta, were involved with the setting up of our MS Support Group initially and then helped all though the years at the old MS Hall with lunches and parties for our group. Maud was sent flowers and cards with our best wishes to the Northridge Salem where she is now residing. Joan also had a birthday in June and we send her our best wishes for a really good year ahead.
PROTEIN POWDERS MAY BE A HELP WITH INJECTION SITES. Jan has found a high protein powder called “NutraLife Body Shape” has been a help to her with reducing the injection site effects. It is available from some Health food Shops. It contains 17% gms. protein per serve, and very small fat content, but no Vit D. The cost is around $27.50 for 500 gms. Judy has found that Sustagen Hospital Formula powder, available from Chemists, has helped her immensely, and is 97% fat free, has 13.8 gms of protein per serve and also contains Vit. D. and has a low Gylcemic Index. The cost is around $21.50 for 900 gms.
It is better to give than receive, for then we don't have to write a thankyou letter!
JOOLY'S JOINT WEBPALS Is now back up and running again. MS Webpals - people with MS who would like to make friends with other people with MSEveryone with MS is welcome at Jooly's Joint - people of all races and all beliefs from every part of the world, including people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender, without exception and without judgement. MS doesn't discriminate - nor do we. Click on the email address at the top of the ad you wish to reply to. You are more likely to find a new friend if you write to lots of people! Over the 16 years since Jooly's Joint began, thousands of people have made good friends here. Read their comments! Place your own ad...it's free. http://www.mswebpals.org/webpals.htm _______________________________________________________________________________
FOR ALL OUR MS BLOKES...Never go with a girl who is better than you at arm wrestling!
MACULAR DEGENERATION EYE HEALTH. Many people with MS also have Macular Degeneration, (MD) which is is the leading cause of blindness in Australia, affecting central vision. Supplements containing natural lutein and zeaxanthin esters have been shown in human trials to increase the density of the macular pigments. Higher macular pigment density is associated with healthier eyes and the retention of youthful visual sensitivity. BLACKMORE'S LUTEIN-VISION capsules provide protection to the macular region of the eye from harmful blue light damage. Helps to increase the density of the macular pigment in the eye. Convenient one- a- day dosage. A percentage of the sales from Lutein-Vision® supports the MD Foundation. Available from many Chemists. ______________________________________________________________________________ REDUCING BLOODSTREAM INFECTIONS IN PATIENTS WITH CENTRAL LINES ... from Joanna. When you go to the hospital, you expect safe care. Yet each year in the United States, 1 in 20 hospital patients get an infection during medical treatment. Many infections are serious, and some are deadly. One type of infection, called a bloodstream infection, can happen when a doctor puts in a central line (a tube that goes into a large vein of a patient's body – usually chest or neck) to give medicine. If the central line or area around it gets dirty, germs can enter the patient's bloodstream and cause infection. Bloodstream infections in patients with central lines can be deadly, killing as many as 1 in 4 who gets them. Healthcare providers in hospital intensive care units (ICUs) have been working for years to stop bloodstream infections in patients with central lines. Many infections still happen to patients in medical settings, including ICUs, hospital wards and outpatient dialysis centers. Patients and caregivers can ask if a central line is needed and, if so, how long it should stay in. They can also make sure that healthcare professionals wash their hands before they care for the central line. Patients can speak up if the skin around the central line becomes sore or red, or if their bandages are wet or dirty. Monitor your temperature as a fever is a sure sign of infection and needs immediate attention. Extract from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention Website...http://www.cdc.gov/
BONE MARROW STEM CELL RESEARCH TRIAL ...UK.1 June 2011 Pioneering research into bone marrow stem cell therapy that could help multiple sclerosis (MS) sufferers is to take place later this year. The trial on 80 MS patients will test whether bone marrow stem cells, which can repair tissue and organ damage, can be used to treat the disease. Those selected for the research, to be carried out at the Burden Neurological Institute based at Bristol's Frenchay Hospital, will have their bone marrow harvested, filtered and then injected into their blood. Researchers, led by Professor Neil Scolding, completed an initial trial to establish what effects bone marrow stem cells have on patients with MS and their disability. Following encouraging results, the team now plans to conduct the larger trial. Prof Scolding said: "MS is the most common disabling neurological condition affecting young adults. Thanks to this generous donation from The Kenneth and Claudia Silverman Family Foundation, we are able to take a major step forward in our research to try and find a treatment for this disease, through this trial which we hope will commence later this year.” During the first phase, six participants had their bone marrow harvested, filtered and prepared so that they could be injected into the patient's vein later the same day. The participants were followed up for a year and researchers found nerve impulse conduction in the brain and spinal cord increased by between 10 and 20%. Prof Scolding added: "Research into the underlying mechanisms is ongoing and vital in order to build on these results." http://www.mstrust.org.uk/news/article.jsp?id=4727 _______________________________________________________________________________ Never ask anyone for advice – you run the risk of getting some! ________________________________________________________________________________ Me and My Shadow: Living with Multiple Sclerosis by Carole MacKie ...book review from Joanna. It is 1991 and Carole Mackie is on top of the world: 23 years old, in Rio on the job of her dreams as a British Airways stewardess, with a boyfriend she loves dearly. Two weeks later, she is flown home in a wheelchair; after extensive tests multiple sclerosis is diagnosed. Struggling to come to terms with this devastating blow, Carole flies to Finland where her boyfriend, Craig, is working as a golf pro. He refuses to read any of the information she gives him about MS, and she discovers they have a communication problem. Although Carole has to give up her beloved long-haul flying, British Airways lets her stay in the air as a short-haul stewardess, but she needs to retrain and is struggling financially. Meanwhile she and Craig are growing apart, as he tries to carry on as if nothing has happened. When Craig leaves her for another woman, something Carole finds more devastating than being diagnosed with MS, she flies to Australia, to be with her mother. The trip is a turning point; she can relax and regain her old fighting spirit. Publisher: Aurum Press; (May 1999) ISBN-10: 9781854106278 _______________________________________________________________________________ · NEUROLOGY UPDATE from the publishers of Australian Doctor. 21 June 2011. · The impasse over the PBS listing of new drugs is broken, with the Federal Government announcing $200 million worth of new subsidised medicines, including the first oral treatment for MS, fingolimod (Gilenya).
“ I enjoy convalescence. It is the part that makes the illness worthwhile!” George Bernard Shaw.
CONTACTS - DARRYL…46 360406…d.connell57@optusnet.com.au. PAUL – 46 380878...pamcdon1@bigpond.com TRISH…46 937 232..email-trishgarry@harboursat.com.au JOANNA – 46 306 861... email tjleane@bigpond.com JUDY. ( Newsletter)…46 34 3059…post – 12 Burgundy St.,Toowoomba 4350 Email –judy.james@exemail.com.au Janice Wheeler, MS Qld. Service Co-ordinator – 46 389 327 janice.wheeler@msqld.org.au WEBSITE ...www.mssupport.org.au
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