New location for the meetings

Greetings! Thank you to everyone who attended the September support group meeting. One of the items we discussed was merging the Brain Aneurysm Support Group with the primary group I facilitate, Lifelines: The Brain Injury Support Group. 6 group members attended the September 10th Lifelines meeting, and based on the feedback, we will indeed merge the two groups.

This means that meetings will be on the second Monday of every month, from 6:30 - 8 PM, and the meeting location is on the Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas campus.

Please allow me to explain how a brain injury support group can be of use to you. As a survivor of a ruptured brain aneurysm myself and creator of the group, I believe the most important thing to realize is that the mechanism by which your brain was injured (automobile accident, fall, stroke, ruptured brain aneurysm/brain surgery) is most significant during the acute phase of care - hospitalization - and post acute - first stages of rehabilitation. When it comes time to address the physical and cognitive deficits in the recovery/rehabilitation/remediation phase, there are enough similarities between the brain insults that allow survivors to meet under an umbrella group.


There is enough diversity with the information presented at Lifelines group meetings to address the needs you might have following you surviving a brain aneurysm. The fundamental goal of the group is the address quality of life issues and give you information on the therapies and research that could help restore brain function.



Please visit http://www.lifelinesdallas.blogspot.com/ for meeting information. If you have any questions, please contact Kimberly Aikman at lifelinesbi@sbcglobal.net.

Next meeting: September 8, 2007

Greetings to all! My name is Kimberly Aikman and I am the interim coordinator for the Brain Aneurysm Support Group. I am a survivor myself, having had a ruptured aneurysm and brain surgery seven years ago. As Jagadeesh mentioned in his email, I also facilitate a brain injury support group at another area hospital; this group has just celebrated its sixth year anniversary.

I look forward to meeting everyone on Saturday, September 8th and getting to know you. The meeting will be discussion based and here are some questions to help you prepare for the meeting:

• Name and age
• Where are you in terms of recovery (years out)?
• What deficits do you have?
• What type of rehabilitation have you been through?
• What are you doing now? (employment, any volunteer work)
• What difficulties do you face on a daily basis?
• What has been the most frustrating aspect of your recovery?
• What have you learned about the brain / brain injury and how did you learn it?
• What have you found to be most useful in your own recovery? (treatment, research, books or articles; please bring these with you to share with the group)
• What topics would you be interested in for future support group meetings?
• How do you feel about the world?
• What do you do for fun?

Meeting Time and Location:

10:30 AM - noon

Zale Lipshy University Hospital

5151 Harry Hines Blvd., Physician's Dining Room (1st floor adjacent to the main cafeteria)

Please direct questions to dallasbaf@gmail.com

April 2007 Support Group Meeting

Hello Folks,

Our support group meeting for April 2007 will be held on Saturday, April 21, 2007 in the Physicians Dining Room (PDR) of Zale Lipshy (UT Southwestern Medical Center) from 10:30am to 11:30am. Dr. Kathy Toler, a neurologist and a fellow in clinical neuropsychology will talk about neurological issues in post aneurysm patients. The talk will be informal with ample time for questions.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Questions may be addressed to dallasbaf@gmail.com

Dr. Karen Brewer's presentation

On January 27, 2007, Dr. Karen Brewer, Clinical Neuropsychologist at UT Southwestern Medical school spoke about the various factors that cause aneurysms, brain anatomy, emotional and psychological factors affecting the aneurysm patients, recovery and rehabilitation.We thank Dr. Brewer for her excellent presentation. To view a copy of Dr. Brewer's presentation, please click on the link below:http://dallasbaf.googlepages.com/BAF_Jan_2007.pdf

February 2007 support group meeting

Hello Folks,

Our support group meeting for February 2007 will be held on Saturday, February 17, 2007 in the Physicians Dining Room (PDR) of Zale Lipshy (UT Southwestern Medical Center) from 10:30am to 11:30am. Ms. Julie Hanson, MPH, RD/LD, Clinical Dietitian at the Zale Lipshy Hospital will talk on nutritional / diet requirements for aneurysm patients and survivors. The talk will be informal with ample time for questions.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Questions may be addressed to dallasbaf@gmail.com

January 2007 support group meeting

Our support group meeting for January 2007 will be held on January 27, 2007 in the Physicians Dining Room (PDR) of Zale Lipshy (UT Southwestern Medical Center).

Dr. Karen Brewer, a Clinical Neuropsychologist and Assistant Professor in Psychiatry at UT Southwestern Medical School will talk about simple brain anatomy/function, the cognitive and emotional sequelae of Brain Injury and about recovery/rehabilitation from 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM. There will be 30 minutes for questions.

Prof. Laura Sauerbeck's presentation

On December 9, 2006, we had a teleconference presentation by Prof. Laura Sauerbeck. To view a copy of her presentation, please click on http://dallasbaf.googlepages.com/Dec06.zip