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Specialists demonstrate method
of treating brain-injured patient
DR. KAREL BOBATH AND BERTA BOBATH
An English couple who are considered
pioneers in their field are conducting a
series of sessions here on the treatment
of adult hemiplegic patients and children
with cerebral palsy. The first seminar
begins today.
Dr. Karel Bobath and Berta Bobath, his
wife, will give lectures and
demonstrations of the therapy
techniques they have developed during
their professional careers of more than 50
years.
In addition to seminars, they will offer a
two-week course in which a limited
number of health professionals will have
an opportunity to learn the specific
techniques of the Bobath treatment
approach.
Hemiplegia
Their visit is being scheduled by the
hospital's Department of Physical
Therapy. They are making a return visit
to Duke, where a year ago they conducted
a seminar on hemiplegia, paralysis of one
side of the body.
Approximately 180 physical therapists
and other allied health professionals from
throughout the United States are
expected to attend the Adult Hemiplegia
Seminar this weekend in the Edwin L.
Jones Basic Cancer Research Building.
The program is offering a presentation
of the rationale for and demonstration of
the Bobath method of treating adult
patients with hemiplegia.
Cerebral palsy
The Cerebral Palsy Seminar, open to
physicians, physical therapists and
related health care personnel, will be held
July 10-12 in the Hospital Amphitheater.
It is expected to draw more than 200
participants from across the country.
Robert C. Bartlett, professor and
chairman of the Department of Physical
Therapy, described the Bobaths as "a
team who have been leaders in changing
the whole focus of care of brain-injured
patients. They are pioneers in the
treatment of neurological patients."
The Bobaths operate a treatment
center in London, have published
numerous articles and have lectured
throughout the world.
Now she helps others reach toward recovery
By William Erwin
After Shirley Tomczak had her mastec
tomy, the tears didn't last long. Her
husband and their three daughters made
sure of that. Now, buoyed by her family's
spirit and her own energy, Tomczak is
convincing other women that a lump in
the breast isn't the end of the world.
"Every couple of weeks, somebody
rings the doorbell or calls and wants to
talk about (the operation)," the Raleigh
housewife says. "They know they have a
mass there and they want to know
whether to go ahead with surgery.
TTieyll say, 'So and so knows you and
knows you don't mind talking about it.' "
Four of five not cancer
Tomczak (pronounced TOM-zak) can
tell callers that four out of five breast
lumps are not cancer. If the lump is
cancer...well, look at how quickly a
woman can bounce back.
• "A month after the operation, I started
playing tennis again," she said. "Most of
the people I play tennis with didn't know
I'd had a mastectomy. I swim; 1 do
yardwork; I dig in the garden. I
volunteered to teach a class in Christmas
crafts at the YWCA. We did bread dough
figures for wreaths and baskets, and you
can be sure that takes some strength in
your hands, because it's like kneading
dough."
She had a tautness in her right arm and
some twinges of pain for a month after
'Barber/ 'Carmen'
tq be performed
The Duke University 1978 Summer
Opera Festival and Workshop, a joint
effort of the Department of Music and
the National Opera Company, began its
second season on Duke's East Campus
June 12.
The workshop will feature four opera
productions this year: "Don Pasquale" by
Donizetti, June 25 at 3 p.m.; "Martha" by
von Flotow, July 2 at 3 p.m.; "The Barber
of Seville" by Rossini, July 9 at 3 p.m.; and
"Carmen" by Bizet, July 16 at 3 p.m.
All performances will take place with
orchestra in the air conditioned Carolina
Theatre located on Roney Street in
downtown Durham.
Ticket prices are $6 per ticket for
"Carmen" and $4 per ticket for each of
the first three opera productions. Series
tickets for all four productions will be
$15. Ticket information may be obtained
by calling the music department (684-
2534) or Page Box Office (684-4059).
the operation, she said, "but never any
great discomfort."
Tomczak's husband, Roman, gets most
of the credit for speeding her recovery.
"Your husband is the key," she said. "If
your husband accepts it, you'll be able to
accept it."
Roman Tomczak, a design engineer,
had not a qualm when he first saw his
wife after she was wheeled from the
operating room.
"If you can reassure her as early as
possible, it makes a big difference," he
says to any man whose wife has a
mastectomy. "Shell be looking for
assurance that the loss of the breast isn't
going to affect her relationship with you
— sexually or any other way. The most
important time for reassurance is right
after surgery. I wanted to see the scar
right away; 1 wanted her to see it didn't
make any difference."
The operation didn't make any
difference to the Tomczaks' daughters
either, two of them in high school at that
time and one in junior high. "Even when I
went shopping for my prosthesis, the
girls went with me," Shirley Tomczak
said. Later they helped their active
mother shop for clothes. "It was a great
help to have someone with me who cared
about how I looked and who could keep
BACK ON THE COURT
— Shirley Tomczak
resumed her tennis
playing only a month
after undergoing a
mastectomy. (Photo by
Jim Strickland)
me from buying nothing but
turtlenecks."
A Reach to Recovery volunteer from
the American Cancer Society boosted
Tomczak's optimism too. "They're the
most wonderful people in the world," she
said. "They visit you in the hospital, with
your doctor's permission, and they bring
a rope and a rubber ball for you to exercise
with." Each Reach to Recovery volunteer
has had a mastectomy herself.
Tomczak was working as an American
Cancer Society volunteer at Duke's
Breast Cancer Detection Demonstration
Project on the day her lump was
discovered.
A low-dose X-ray examination called
mammography turned up a tiny mass, too
small to be felt.
"I get calls now about whether
mammography is safe," she said. "I think
the benefits probably far outweigh the
risks...I'll be eternally grateful to
mammography."
He insisted
Mr. Tomczak remembers that his wife
didn't want to have the operation at first.
"She wasn't really happy about going to
the doctor (after the mammography
showed the suspicious sign), but I
insisted," he said.
Women who fear their world will come
crashing down if they have surgery for
breast cancer should listen again to
Shirley Tomczak. "I'm one of the
fortunate ones."
(For answers to questions about breast
cancer and a free pamphlet on breast self-
examination, call the Duke Cancer
Information Service toll-free in North
Carolina at 1-800-672-0943; in the
Durham area, 286-2266.)
Machemer named to top eye post
(Continued from page 1)
45, is a native of Muenster, Germany. He
received his medical education at the
universities of Muenster and Freiberg
and at the University of Vienna in
Austria.
After serving an internship at
Rodalben Hospital in 1961, he spent a
year as a fellow in general pathology at
Freiberg and then completed his
residency in ophthalmology at the eye
Clinic of the University of Goettingen in
1965.
The surgeon came to the United States
in 1966 as a research fellow at the Bascom
Palmer Eye Institute and was named to
the University of Miami School of
Medicine faculty in 1968.
In recognition of his clinical and
research achievements. Research to
Prevent Blindness, Inc., a non-profit New
York-based charitable foundation,
awarded him its Louis B. Mayer
scholarship in 1971. The following year,
the Club Jules Gonin, an international
society of retinal surgeons, presented him
with its prestigious Herman Wacker
Award.
Machemer and his wife. Dr. Christel
Machemer, a psychiatrist, have a 15-year-
old daughter named Ruth.
DR. MACHEMER