Topics for Our September and October Meetings

Wednesday evening, August 24, Tim called and asked if he could meet with me and said he would come to my place with his portable so we could both look at some of my blogs as he was pulling together some ideas for the meetings for the next two or three months. I said okay and he was there about 10 minutes later.

I listen to him as he reviewed the purpose of the September meeting - dues and the purpose of the dues, and elderly diseases. We spent a few minutes researching the diseases and Tim said with the slides from the one article he was happy and could use the numbers from two other articles where needed.

1. Osteoporosis - One man per four women
2. Breast Cancer - One Man Per 108 Women and highest in Afro-Americans
3. Thyroid Problems - Women are five to eight times more likely to have some form of thyroid disease than men, but men can still be affected.
4. Bladder Infections - Bladder infections are much more common in women, but men can get them, too.
5. Eating disorders - Approximately 10% of eating disordered individuals are male.
6. Lupus - Although 90% of people diagnosed with lupus are women, men can also develop this autoimmune disease. One Man Per Nine Women
7. Fibromyalgia - An estimated 5 million adults have fibromyalgia in the U.S., but as few as 10% are men. Many doctors deny this exists in men.

Next, we talked about the need to change some of the ways we do things and find a way to better educate our members. Barry had told him too many are talking supplements and not telling their doctors, Tim said and I said I agree. The problem is not new and we have almost half of the members that do this. I asked what would happen if we split the group into two groups. Tim said he was thinking that as well, but was not sure if it could be done without causing problems. I said we have moved members away before and we can again. Or we can talk to a few of the members and suggest what we are considering and we could meet in a different place with instructions to one or two of those not invited to elect their own officers. Tim thought about this for a while and finally admitted that was what a few others had suggested, but he was not sure I would agree and he had mixed feelings about doing this. I said that with the new members in October, we would be back over 50 members and I was not sure we could handle that many members. Tim then said that I was being invited out of the group.

I told Tim that if the group did not want me, I could handle it and start another group or join another group if that worked out. At that point, I asked Tim to leave and thanked him for letting me know the lay of the land.