For millions of women, it’s an issue they’re all too familiar with and it’s something they deal with every day.

April 22-28 is designated National Infertility Awareness Week. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate 1 in 8 couples have trouble conceiving, that’s 15% of American couples.

It’s something Dr. Richard Jenet, Chairman of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Women’s Health Center at Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center and practicing physician at About Women OB/GYN, sees too often.

“We often times have to really calm people down. People get really anxious if they try for one month and haven’t gotten pregnant,” he explains.

Dr. Jenet says when a patient comes to him wanting to start a family, he starts with the basics – getting blood work and taking both general and reproductive histories.

“We talk about some healthy life choices and have people try to get pregnant on their own. Unless there’s something obvious, we don’t talk about infertility until after a year of trying.”

Most couples get pregnant within that year, but if not, Jenet starts looking at other factors, “Several items are taken into account: age, weight, health conditions and lifestyle, just to name a few.”

If there are no obvious problems, Dr. Jenet says that’s when a reproductive endocrinologist is recommended to help pinpoint the issue.

But, Jenet says the advances in medicine, over his nearly 30 years in practice, allow women more alternatives than ever before, “There are more medications. There are more treatments. There are a lot more options.” And, that means more hope for women trying to get pregnant.

To learn more about OB/GYN or endocrinology services near you, call 1-800-SENTARA or go to sentara.com.

The Clifton Community Woman’s Club will host the 46th Annual Clifton Homes Tour and Silent Auction on Friday, May 18. Tour: 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Silent Auction: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. at the Clifton Presbyterian Church. Proceeds benefit the Club’s 501(c)(3) Charitable Trust and are distributed to local scholarships and charities.

The Tour offers guided tours of four beautiful homes in Clifton. Visitors can tour a farmhouse built in 1900 with furniture and antiques specific to Virginia. In another home, bold colors and true Williamsburg style combine to create a fun family atmosphere. A third home balances natural elements and 18th-century proportion. A fourth home is a Georgian hilltop manor with Virginia-made furniture and original artwork.

Free guided tours are offered for two historic churches: Clifton Baptist Church (1910) and Clifton Primitive Baptist Church (1871). Other events with free admission include a Silent Auction, Trinkets and Treasures, and wreath sale at the Clifton Presbyterian Church.

Tour tickets may be purchased in advance for $25 at local businesses: in Manassas at Flower Gallery; in Clifton at Adler’s Art & Frame, Belle Jar Design, and Hydrangea of Clifton; in Centreville at Banner’s Hallmark; in Burke at Five Star Hair, The Picket Fence, and The Yarn Barn; in Fairfax at Twinbrook Floral Design. Tickets are also available online for $30 at cliftoncwc.org or at Clifton Presbyterian Church (12748 Richards Ln, Clifton, VA 20124) the day of the tour.

Please visit cliftoncwc.org or contact Kay at kaygilbert@cox.net for more information.

CenterFuse and Innovate Manassas is set to launch the first LaB Bootcamp 101.

The boot camp starts May 2 and runs until July 25.

The Bootcamp is held every other Wednesday evening doors open at 6:30 p.m. until 9 p.m. The cost for the eight-session program is $200.

The program is ideal for those individuals in a home based business or any startup including those in the idea phase. Any people with the passion, vision, and insight to start and grow a business.

The LaB Bootcamp offers assistance and training in:

• Challenges and opportunities for new and growing ventures
• Innovative marketing
• Business Concepts and ideas
• Legal considerations
• Sustainability
• Financing the business
• Accounting
• Fundamentals and operations
• Using technology & social media
• Intellectual Property
• …and much more!

The LaB Bootcamp is a series of intensive education sessions designed to help entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs develop the skills necessary to create successful, growth-oriented businesses.

A team of business leaders and guest entrepreneurs provide an interactive experience which will prepare participants to create/grow ventures successfully. Attendees also receive one-on-one consulting assistance.

Focused, intense, and packed with useful material, LaB Bootcamp is tailored to aspiring entrepreneurs, helping them answer the following questions:

• What is a good business concept?
• How can I determine if my business idea is a good one?
• Do I really need a business plan and, if so, how can I write a great one?
• What do I need to know about my customers and the market, and how can I get answers?
• Where do I get financing?
• How do I make sense of the numbers and which numbers really matter?
• What is a business model, and does my business model make sense?
• What is guerrilla marketing? Are there ways to do more with marketing while spending less?
• What does it really take to succeed in business by myself?
• Where do I go to get the information I need to organize my new business?

A team of experienced business leaders all successful entrepreneurs work with participants, introducing ideas and concepts, and showing you how to apply them to a current or potential business. At the end of the eight sessions, participants will have completed a business plan and have the opportunity to pitch their idea and plan to a group of potential investors.

WOODBRIDGE — On Monday, April 2, 2018, Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center ushered in a new level of care with the introduction of left-sided pulmonary vein ablation. The Sentara Heart & Vascular Team, led by Dr. Aysha Arshad, Medical Director of Electrophysiology, performed the first of its kind procedure for the hospital.

“This is wonderful for our community,” says Dr. Arshad. “This means the beginning of more complex procedures in the Electrophysiology Lab here at Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center, which opens up these vital services to members of our community. They won’t have to travel long distances for care because our highly experienced staff and physicians are the same that are working in all the top hospital centers in the area.”

Left-side pulmonary vein ablation or pulmonary vein isolation is used to treat Atrial Fibrillation, also known as AFib. AFib is a type of heart arrhythmia or irregular heartbeat that an estimated seven million Americans live with every day.

In atrial fibrillation, disorganized electrical signals originate in the heart’s upper chambers, or atria, causing the rhythm to be irregular. Because the contractions are not coordinated as in a normal heartbeat, the heart does not pump blood effectively to the rest of the body causing patients to experience a racing or quivering heartbeat, dizziness, shortness of breath and often feel tired.

People with AFib have a five times greater risk for stroke. 

After living with the condition for three-years, Woodbridge resident Claudia Warszawski, was looking for relief.

“I’m a very active 67-year-old. I walk three days a week at the mall and I just couldn’t keep up my pace. I’d have to stop and it was irritating,” said Warszawski.

After consulting with the grandmother of five and reviewing her history, Dr. Arshad shared she was a perfect candidate for the procedure. 

As the Electrophysiology program at Sentara Heart & Vascular Center has grown, so have the services. Left-sided ablation is the latest advancement of the program. In ablation, areas of tissue in the heart that cause arrhythmias are destroyed. 

“In left-sided procedures, where AFib comes from, it involves tackling circuits on the left side of the heart. There’s no natural passage to the left side of the heart, so we enter through a vein in the leg and travel to the chest where we make a tiny puncture in the interatrial septum with a small needle and pass a catheter through that tiny hole to the left side of the heart. From there we create a 3D map of the heart and get to the circuits that cause AFib,” explains Dr. Arshad.

After the procedure is completed and the catheter removed, the tiny hole heals on its own over the next four weeks. A chip, implanted in the chest at the time of the procedure, allows real-time monitoring of the patient.

“It’s the whole advent of real-time telemedicine,” explains Dr. Arshad, “The device will track her rhythm all day and at night transcribe it into a report, which will be emailed to me that evening. The device downloads all that data so I’ll know how she’s going to do long-term.”

As for Warszawski, days after her procedure she’s already feeling better, “This gives me a new lease to live the life I want before I was tired and always had heart palpitations and flutters. Now, I can’t even feel my heart beating, and that’s a good thing!”

If you’re experiencing a racing, fluttering, pounding or irregular heartbeat, don’t ignore those symptoms, find a healthcare provider at 1-800-SENTARA or Sentara.com to schedule your exam.   

Chick-fil-A Bristow turns nine years old this week. Check out these other awesome anniversary week specials.

And, don’t miss the party coming this Saturday.

Chick-fil-A Bristow is located at 9939 Sowder Village Square in Manassas. It’s open 6 a.m to 10 p.m. and is closed Sunday.

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Seniors have specific challenges that we often don’t think about when we’re younger. One of those is downsizing. Often, after the kids are grown and have moved out or a larger home just becomes too much to manage, seniors opt for smaller living spaces. This transition can prove stressful for all concerned, but especially the senior homeowner. Here are some ways you can help ease that move from big to small.

Strategize – This is the first step after the downsizing decision is made. Think about reasons for downsizing and formulate goals with the senior homeowner. Reasons could include financial, accessibility, health, proximity to family, maintenance or something else. Set goals that match the reasons. Would a one-level, two-bedroom home three miles from the grandchildren work well if it had wheelchair accessibility? Or would a condo be a better option? Is assisted living the best choice? Don’t make any decisions before you have a strategy.

Bring in the pros – You have your expertise, and others have theirs. Get a team of professionals behind you to help ease the transition for everyone concerned. Start with a good real estate agent to help with selling and buying. Be sure the agent is familiar with senior moves and up-to-date on communities that support seniors. Ask people you trust for recommendations on lenders and moving companies that are experienced in downsizing.

Manage the process – As a loved one of the senior who is downsizing, it can be difficult to hand over the reins to someone else. But sometimes, it’s better to let a third-party oversee the details. Timing the move, changing over utilities, notifying doctors and others of the new address, organizing packing, etc. can become overwhelming. Consider hiring a transition specialist or moving manager to coordinate the many aspects that go into moving.

Get prepped – Downsizing isn’t just about packing and shipping, unpacking and organizing. It’s about acclimating to a life in a new setting. Help your senior loved one by preparing them for what to expect. Talk about emotions and concerns. Get a plan of the smaller home and draw out where belongings will go. This will help determine what needs to be given away, as well as help the senior homeowner adapt emotionally and physically.

Respect belongings – Downsizing usually means you can’t keep everything, but that doesn’t mean everything should get tossed. Once you have helped your senior homeowner separate items into keep/give away/sell/throw away, pack what is going. Then ask your senior to give family members opportunity to take what they like. After, get ready to donate, but remember that selling some items could be a viable option, too. When it does come time to donate, be sure to let your senior help decide where.

Set up to settle in – Don’t let your senior move into chaos. Before they arrive to the new home on moving day, set up as much as possible. Make sure the main living spaces are inhabitable and recognizable, especially if there are memory issues. Put things in familiar arrangements and intuitive places. Make rooms attractive and practical. Remind your senior homeowner that they can rearrange things if they want so they feel comfortable but empowered.

Downsizing doesn’t have to be a depressing life event if handled correctly. A little planning, a lot of patience and tons of TLC will help you relocate your loved one to a place they can enjoy calling home.

This post is sponsored by Home Instead Senior Care, serving Prince William and Fauquier counties.

Joshua Goad and his wife are always on the go.

“We are very active. I’ve got a sailboat, a kayak. We enjoy going to the gym and working out. It keeps us young,” says the 56-year-old, smiling.

It was during one of his usual workouts when something unusual happened.

“I was at the gym and overexerted myself lifting. At first, I didn’t think anything of it, but then, I started to notice a bulge near my groin region,” he recalls.

Like a lot of people, Joshua Goad thought the problem would fix itself and heal on its own until it didn’t. It was about this time, he started to realize he might have a hernia. 

“I would get to the point where I was lifting, exerting and I could actually feel it tightening up on my intestines, the intestine that was hanging out. At that point, I said, if I strangulate this thing, I could be in a world of trouble,” he says, remembering.

That’s when he made an appointment with board-certified, Sentara Medical Group surgeon, Dr. Steven Nakao. Dr. Nakao quickly diagnosed Joshua with an inguinal hernia.

Dr. Nakao says hernias aren’t that uncommon, “A hernia is when an intra-abdominal organ, or fatty tissue, protrudes through a muscle defect.  This can occur in numerous areas of the body, the abdominal wall, diaphragm and in the groin.  Patients can have a single hernia or numerous hernias at one time.”

While asymptomatic hernias can be observed for some time, Joshua and Dr. Nakao discussed the options and decided surgery would be best. That’s when Dr. Nakao shared with Joshua, he was a candidate for robotic surgery.

“We can tackle all types of hernias using this method. We can approximate the muscles due to the advances in technology and be able to sew easily in the abdomen and then place mesh, if appropriate, through the small incisions,” said Dr. Nakao. “So we get both a return of muscle function and repair of a hernia through small incisions.  This is great for both post-op pain and time off work.”

Joshua had his surgery at Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center in December 2017. He says he suffered some discomfort those first few days after his procedure, but it wasn’t long until he was back to exercising.

“The weekend after my surgery, my wife and I went to the gym and I was pretty much able to do a limited workout,” says Joshua smiling.

Now, four months later, he says he’s doing better than ever before and doesn’t know why he waited so long.

“I couldn’t have asked for anything better, I was very confident in Dr. Nakao and his abilities. And, he and his team were very helpful. The whole process was smooth,” says Joshua.

And, he has this advice for people living with a hernia: “I should never have let it go for so long. I guarantee it (your hernia) will not get any better. What are you waiting for?”

You shouldn’t live in pain, that’s why Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center is hosting three, free hernia screenings over the next few months on the mornings of April 14 and May 19. The screenings are free, but you must register.