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Duke University Medical Center
VOLUME 24, NUMBER 13
APRIL 1,1977
DURHAM/NORTH CAROLINA
Ostomy Group Helps in Facing New Life
By Ina Fried
After 13 years of illness, Paula
Worthy feels like a new person.
She owes her life to an ileostomy,
surgical removal of the large bowel
and rectum, and now she wants to
help others facing similcU' surgery to
adjust to their new lifestyles.
As president of the newly
organized Durham-Orange County
Ostomy Association, the 26-year-old
library assistant in the Medical
Library believes, “It makes you feel
better to share your concerns with
someone who really understands. An
ostomy is very upsetting and
frightening because it's changing
your body — permanently, forever."
What's an Ostomy?
An ostomy is rfequired when a
person has lost the normcd function
of the bowel or bladder due to birth
defect, disease, injury or other
disorder, explained Inez “Turk"
James, RN, general surgical ostomy
clinician and one of the organizers of
the new association. Such operations
include colostomy, ileostomy and
urostomy.
The ostomy allows normal body
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WORKING IT Otyr—Discussing ways to help ostomates adjust
to their new lifestyles are (from left) Diane Cheek, Triangle area
director of the American Cancer Society; Paula Worthy, library
assistant in the Medical Library and president of the
Durham-Orange County Ostomy Association; Dr. Walter
Loehr, physician who practices at Durham County General
Hospital; and Eleanor Browning, nursing instructor at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and state
representative for the United Ostomy Association. (Photo by
Ina Fried)
Drugs Alter Brain Biochemistry in Unborn
By David Williamson
Medical scientists have known for
many years that women who drink a
lot or take other drugs during
pregnancy drastically increase the
odds that their babies will be
mentally retarded or have birth
defects.
They don't know why this is true
yet, nor can they say what other
long-term health hazards children
bom to alcoholics and addicts may
face.
Researchers here, who are trying
to uncover the chemical reasons for
the gruesome legacy over-indulgers
can leave their offspring, have
observed what they consider some
significant alcohol and drug-related
alterations in the brain biochemistry
of laboratory animals.
Sympathetic Nervous S)rstem
Dr. Theodore A. Slotkin, associate
professor of physiology and
pharmacology, said experiments on
unborn rats showed that those
whose mothers had been fed alcohol
regularly had markedly lower levels
of catecholamines in their
sympathetic nervous systems.
Catecholamines, he explained, are
compounds that act as regulatory
hormones in the blood and also
transfer nerve signals in the
sympathetic nervous system, the
body's circuitry for controlling
internal organs, blood pressure and
involuntary muscles.
"We also found that the level of
DBH, an enzyme that helps create
catecholamines, were lower there,"
the scientist said, “and that there
were an abnormally high number of
nerve synapses (connections) in the
brains of the baby rats."
Potentially Harmful
No one has explained the
importance of the observations yet,
Slotkin said, but anything that
disturbs the body's natural
biochemical balance is potentially
harmful.
"And because these alterations in
the normal biochemical make-up of
the rats are undetectable by the tests
used to determine the safety of drugs
that may be marketed, we believe
they deserve a lot more
examination," he said.
In their studies on alcohol, the
researchers learned that when rat
pups are taken from their alcoholic
mothers and allowed to nurse from
normal rats, the number of nerve
synapses in their brains rises even
higher.
Eventually these nerve junctions
return to normal, Slotkin pointed
out, but the return is slower in
alcoholic babies that nurse with
non-alcoholic mothers.
Danger from Methadone
In other experiments, they
discovered that the narcotic
methadone disturbed the
biochemistry of baby rat brains more
than the narcotic morphine did.
Methadone is provided to heroin
and morphine addicts in
government-sponsored drug
substitution programs. Slotkin said
scientific evidence gathered
(Continued on page 2)
wastes to be expelled through a
surgical opening (stoma) on the
abdomen, she said. Some ostomates
must wear special appliances over
the stoma; others manage some ,
control.
"A lot of people put off the surgery
as long as they can," Worthy said.
"That's not very safe because they
could develop a malignancy or an
infection and require emergency
surgery."
Worthy first developed ulcerative
colitis when she was in the sixth
grad^. Maintenance doses of
cortisone enabled her to finish
school and receive a bachelor's
degree from Duke. She began
working in the Medical Library in
the summer of 1975.
Just Didn't Know
Meanwhile, she continued to
suffer from stomach cramps,
diarrhea and anemia'. "I didn't know
the operation was cvuative and I
would be able to lead a normal life,"
she explained.
Once she was convinced of the
necessity of surgery, she took a leave
of absence in June 1976. By fall she
began gaining strength and now she
is active in the Durham Civic Choral
Society and a folk dancing group as
well as the Ostomy Association.
"A changed body image is the big
thing you have to adjust to," Worthy
said. "It's important to accept the fact
that you have a stoma and then go on
living with it and working with it
instead of letting other people take
care of you.
Whatever They Did Before
"With the Ostomy Association
you meet people from every walk of
life and see that they can go on doing
(Continued on page 3)
Energy Plentiful
With Auxiliary
At a time when energy is in short
supply, Duke Hospital has a full
reservoir. It's not fiUed with oil or
natural gas but with human energy
contributed by the Hospital
Auxiliary to make the Hospital a
more pleasant place for patients and
employees.
The Auxiliary will be honored by
the medical center and hospital
administration and the Dietary
Department Monday evening. A
reception begins at 6 p.m. in the
Administration Office S.uite. Dinner
will be .served at 7 p.m. in the
Courtyard Cafeteria.
About 150 members contributed
16,954 hours and almost $64,000 to
the hospital in the past year.
Among Auxiliary services are the
Pink Smock gift shop, a shop cart,
snack bars in the red and orange
zones and a lending library.