Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Support...and fitting in

This is going to be an entry that is a little different than my "usual". Today was a good day. Quiet, then busy in the evening. Tonight was the first MS support group meeting in my local community. I live in a rural mountain community and the nearest support group was an hour away. So, having one here is a big deal for us. Unfortunately, there are more than enough of us MSers in our local area to support an support group. (Is that a double negative???). Anyway, I had received several phone calls from folks saying they would attend, a few from folks who couldn't attend this one, but will be there next month. End result: ONE MSer showed up with her mom. Of course, I was a bit disappointed but, you know what? It was a GREAT meeting! It was conducted following the same format as if we had 15 people there, but the difference, besides the obvious, was that I had an opportunity to get to know a fellow MSer. We shared open, honest dialogue and it was absolutely WONDERFUL to talk to someone and say, "I KNOW" and hear the same in return. To know that we were discussing an issue and we both "got it". WOW. To be able to share symptoms and advice on treatments, heat issues and just to say, "ME TOO". It was great. I walked out of that meeting feeling like I belonged. For two hours I was with someone who was just like me. For two hours I was NORMAL. I wasn't the one who walked "different" or who was different because I forgot my words. I fit right in. I can't wait until next month. (We meet the first Wednesday of each month). Want to join us?

1 comment:

MS. ME said...

Adjusting to out ew "normal" is a daily process, huh? I'm not ready to dive into the support group world - which is why my other half convinced me to start "blogging". I tried just a computer diary but that was toooooooo boring, and I'm a Libra and need feedback, dammit!! LOL Glad you had a great face-to-face though - AWESOME! :]