Deana was very much missed at the second Annual General Meeting of the ADSHG on  Saturday 22nd May. So many people asked for their good wishes to be passed on to her and her family and we all hope that her husband, Roger, makes a speedy recovery. 

The meeting was ably chaired by Katherine White and, although it hardly seems like a year since the last AGM, significant amounts of work and research have been going on. Katherine took everyone through the many developments that have taken place in our group over the past twelve months. Our Treasurer, David Leen, then explained where all the money had gone and asked us for some more. No one seemed to object to this! Alyson Elliott concluded the formal part of the proceedings with some interesting insights into her work on the mailing list database and what it revealed about us. Her gender breakdown chart, showing a 4% “don’t know” category created some amusement! Alyson assured us that the ambiguity was not quite as astonishing as it seemed, since this was her own analysis, not members’ self assessments and that some of the data, for example, first names, or professional titles could apply to either sex. What a relief! 

Trevor Howlett’s medical lecture followed, in which he outlined his practical approach to managing Addison’s. He went into some detail on his preference for a three-times daily medication regime, his own approach to hydrocortisone day curve analysis and how he establishes baseline dosage for his patients at Leicester Royal Infirmary. His lecture was followed by a lively question and answer session. Our heartfelt thanks go to Trevor Howlett for his extremely interesting and informative lecture. 

As we broke for a much-needed cup of tea, our two wonderful Endocrine Nurses, Judith Kisalu and Clare Gagen, demonstrated the emergency injection technique to forty members and their friends and partners (but only ten at a time please!). Our sincere thanks go to Judith Kisalu and Clare Gagen for so generously giving up their Saturday afternoon to help us. 

Old friends met up again and new acquaintances were made in a friendly and convivial atmosphere and, according to our records, 48 members of the ADSHG and 18 of their friends and partners attended the meeting. Unfortunately you only have my word for this, as we also were without Deana’s good friend, Lynda’s authoritative presence on the door. I was busy trying to look busy and not really preoccupied with the fate of Millwall in the FA Cup Final - even though I’m not a Millwall supporter. Who chose Cup Final day for the Annual General Meeting?  I think some serious thought and top-level discussion needs to go into next year’s choice of date…