People with Common Heart Defect Also More Likely to Have Brain Aneurysms
ST. PAUL, Minn. – A new study shows that people with a common heart defect may also be more likely to have brain aneurysms. The study is published in the May 4, 2010, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
I’m skipping a bunch, here’s the point:
Six of the 61 people with BAV had brain aneurysms, or 9.8 percent, compared to three of the 291 people who did not have BAV, or 1.1 percent. Studies have shown that 0.5 to two percent of the general adult population has brain aneurysms.
“While more research needs to be done to confirm these results, these findings show a significant increased risk of brain aneurysms in people with bicuspid aortic valves,” Schievink said.
Schievink said the heart defect has been shown to cluster in families, and screening is generally recommended for close family members of people diagnosed with bicuspid aortic valves.
Sometimes the big people need to rest or catch up on life, while the short people need to run around and get the rowdies out. One way to keep everybody happy is to take a trip to the beach. This time, we brought our new sun canopy. Our previous $30 big-box special couldn’t stand up to anything more than a breeze, so we ordered one made by Kelty. Kelty makes indestructible tents, we figured the sun canopy would be pretty good, too. Carmen helped us put it together.
David was too busy getting down to business, though.
Here’s a picture of me enjoying the shade, filling out some paperwork and appreciating the relative quiet (the sound of the waves drowns out all the screaming!). After a while I started to get a bit itchy, though, and a few minutes after this picture was taken I realized I was being attacked by two species of sand flea. Itchy, itchy! I guess there’s a first time for everything. Maybe the sand fleas wanted to hang out in the sun shade, too.
Meanwhile, C&D were busy splashing and earth-moving.
Around dinnertime we started to work our way back home, stopping at Buc-ee’s to get some Benadryl for my itchy bits.
The dance from Saturday afternoon is posted here. The following is from the dress rehearsal Thursday:
They practiced for weeks, Thursday mornings with Ms. Sherese or Ms. Alix (and sometimes both).
I sat back and took notes so we could practice a bit during the week. C&D reminded me that they wanted flowers at the end of their performance, preferably thrown onto the stage like the Andre Rieu and Celtic Woman concerts they’ve seen on PBS. We couldn’t do that, of course; C&D would have to settle for receiving flowers in the Hammon Hall lobby.
Thursday night, C&D were ready for the dress rehearsal.
C&D were number six in the lineup. Soon enough, it was their turn.
By accident C&D skipped the first part and performed the second half twice. They did a good job of recovering, however (“Keep going!” we had coached them before). After a second run-through–this was a rehearsal, after all–they got it pretty right (shown in the video above).
The other dancers rehearsed, too.
It was just about bedtime when we got home, but Carmen’s eyes were shining. She wanted to be on the stage again! David was quiet, thinking about everything he had seen and heard.
Saturday was the big day. C&D went to bed late and woke up early. They were excited! I was glad I had bought some undereye concealer a couple of days before. David reminded me I needed to get flowers. After lunch I left C&D with the other dancers to warm up while I worked on the sock monkey that has kept me occupied during dance class all semester. My mom arrived with flowers, and Matt arrived with even more. We were ready.
And then, it was time. When C&D danced out onto the stage the audience let out a collective “awwww.” They did look awfully cute. C&D remembered all their steps and at the end of the recital received their flowers joyously.
