Amputation

The quick reaction of a CSX railroad engineer and an on-scene amputation helped save the life of a Churchville teen-ager caught beneath a freight train yesterday morning.The engineer, who was not identified, saw Christopher Alan DeBoard, 19, asleep between the rails as the train made its way toward the CSX crossing at Van Bibber Road in Abingdon, police said."What saved the man's life was the people on the train," said Abingdon Fire Chief Steven L. Pennington, one of more than 30 fire and law enforcement people who helped free Mr. DeBoard.

Students, teachers and coaches at Oakland Mills High School hoped they could play basketball, paint faces, auction Orioles' tickets and bake enough brownies to raise $25,000 for Rayna DuBose, the 18-year-old freshman at Virginia Tech University who is recovering from meningitis and amputation of her hands and feet. At a recent school fair-turned-fund-raiser, hundreds of members of the Oakland Mills community helped make the $25,000 goal, and added nearly another $25,000. Maxine Beale, an academic mentor at Oakland Mills who is organizing much of the fund-raising effort to help DuBose and her parents, said the total from the "Evening for Rayna" affair was more than $49,000.

"Arrow on the Doorpost"? More like "Arrow on the SNOREpost"! Just kidding. I understand that not every episode can be action-packed from start to finish with major plot twists, characters dying and hordes of zombies being slaughtered in exotic and graphic ways. But at the end of this episode, when Rick forebodingly growls "We're going to war... ", I was thinking: "Isn't that what you said like four months ago?" Hey Rick, don't tell me, show me! There are only three episodes left this season, so at least we know we're going to see the pace pick up soon, but this whole episode basically just served to develop character relationships and further hype the big brawl that we already knew was coming.

LONDON -- At the hospital founded more than 300 years before Columbus landed in America, nine centuries of medicine are crammed into a dim basement vault.Here a bleeding bowl, there a pair of flint-lock pistols once brandished by the hospital rent collector. Atop a cabinet is a 19th-century amputation kit, the saw sharpened, the tools shimmering in a red felt case.And over there, propped on its side, is the framed hospital charter signed by Henry VIII in 1546. By the standards of the Royal Hospital at St. Bartholomew, the parchment is only middle-aged.

"In Cipro we trust" -- NBC anchor Tom Brokaw WASHINGTON -- As thousands of congressional aides and visitors were given nasal swab tests for anthrax last week after an envelope containing anthrax was opened in a Senate office, the attending Capitol physician announced, "If we screen you, we treat you." This means a course of the antibiotic Ciprofloxacin, commonly called, sought and today hoarded under the brand name Cipro. But thousands of doses of Cipro will lead to hundreds of serious and unnecessary harmful side effects.

Six months ago, the nation's diabetes experts made a sensational announcement. By following a strict medical regimen, they said, diabetics can measurably slow the onset and maybe even avert the dire complications of the disease.The threat of blindness, kidney failure, heart attack or amputation, they proclaimed, could be greatly reduced or virtually eliminated.Diabetes centers across the nation geared up for an onslaught of patients wanting to begin the new treatment. They hired more staff, put in extra telephone lines, prepared educational materials and ordered the home monitoring devices that would allow diabetics to test their blood sugar from four to 10 times a day.The blood sugar tests are a crucial part of the tight-control regimen that the study, which followed 1,441 patients with Type I diabetes for nine years, found to be clearly beneficial to diabetics.

Q: I was shocked and frightened by the sudden death of Jim Henson, the Muppets creator, from pneumonia. With all the progress that has been made in the treatment of infections, how could this happen to a healthy young man?Henson's pneumonia was produced by an exceptionally virulent strain of group A streptococcus, a bacteria best known for causing strep throat. This particular aggressive strain of streptococcus has now been recognized as the cause of a new type of severe illness called toxic shock-like syndrome (TSLS)

Sex, money and kids top the list of stressors on a marriage. You probably can add housework, snoring and the remote to that list, too. But I'd have to say weight loss is right up there. My husband has lost a lot of weight. I mean, a LOT of weight. He's lost so much weight that not only do his trousers fit better, his shoes fit better. And this is good news because his doctor warned that, with diabetes in his family, his weight made him a sitting duck. It took time and determination to lose all that weight, and his doctor pronounced him "amazing.

Q: Lately, I have noticed a pain in the calves of both legs after walking about a half-mile. After a short rest, the pain disappears and I can again walk for another half-mile before the pain occurs again. What could be causing this pain?A: You have described the typical symptoms of intermittent claudication, characterized by pain in the muscles of the leg, especially the calf muscles, and caused by peripheral vascular disease (PVD). PVD in turn is caused by atherosclerotic narrowing of the large arteries supplying blood to arms and legs.

FOR SOME, the loss of a limb brings so much trauma that everyday living can seem insurmountable.In 1987, three amputees recognizing the need for support and exchange with others formed the Amputee Association of Maryland, Inc. (AAM), and dedicated themselves to helping those who have already had an amputation and those who are facing one.Today, AAM has about 800 members. Membership is free and there are regular meetings, parties and events, a newsletter, a calendar of events and other activities.