Southern California Support Group Meeting

Our little group is growing. I can remember when we had only two or three people getting together at the Abilities Expo in Long Beach, CA. During our latest meeting which was held on May 31, 2003, we had 19 participants. Our group includes caregivers, as well as people with TM. We offer a means of "venting," comparing medical treatments, comparing medications used for our varying symptoms, our frustrations with the "outside world" that does not understand what we are living with daily. The main topic of discussion during this meeting was offering small ideas of how to make daily life a little simpler. One suggestion was to have several "grabbers" located throughout the house, such as one in the kitchen for items placed too high, another one in the laundry room to take clothing out of the washing machine, and one in the living room to grab a paper off the floor.

We do not suggest any of our medications or treatments be taken without the advice of our own physicians. What we do offer is options that can be taken back to our doctors, to ask if a particular treatment option would work in our individual case.

We had several new members come to the last meeting, and we had several "regulars" that were not able to come, and we did miss them. We have become close friends. When somebody does not come, questions are asked, "Have you heard from so-and-so? Are they doing okay?" Please, if you are unable to attend our meetings, just keep in touch with us so that we know you are doing well.

During our last meeting, we were very surprised to see Lou and Luna arrive with their 10-week old new baby son. We had all been anxiously waiting to hear any of the latest news from them and were so happy to see the beautiful baby. Our next exciting arrival was Rick and Bob. Rick had become paralyzed a second time during the Christmas holidays and was struggling to reach the level of improvement prior to his relapse. At the last meeting, Rick was still in a chair. This time, he walked into our meeting room and he received a standing ovation and cheers. Rick credits his improvement to grueling physical therapy and a lot of pressure from Bob to keep going when Rick couldn't keep going.

We had a silent auction that went on during our lunch meeting. Several items had been donated by merchants and TMA members. We put these items on a table outside of the conference room for inspection and opportunities to bid on the items. At the end of the meeting, we announced the winners of the items. The money that was raised during the silent auction was donated to the TMA to cover costs for the Seattle Strategic Planning Meeting. After the winners of the merchandise were announced, we had the raffle drawing for Ann's quilt. Although the winner was not one of our members who were present, we knew that the quilt was going to a home where it would be much loved.

Our meetings are held in Garden Grove, California. We do understand that there are so many people who are unable to drive that distance to attend, and we would like to see more locations for meetings in Northern California, the San Diego area, and the greater Los Angeles area. If anybody lives in these areas, please contact either Cindy or me at the numbers or email addresses below, and we will do whatever we can as far as suggestions or ideas to set up support groups that will be available to all people with TM and their caregivers in all areas of California.

We are not your typical support group. We are people living with TM, and once we meet for the first time, we develop friendships that just continue to grow. Please think about this, and if there is no support group in your area, please consider taking the initiative to start one on your own. If you contact Cindy or myself, or any of the other support group leaders that are organizing in the U.S. and around the world, any one of us would be more than happy to share our experiences on how to make a support group happen.

By the way, if you have Internet access, please take a look at the latest picture of our smiling group that was taken during our last meeting. The webpage address is: http://www.myelitis.org/local/california/index.htm

Deborah Capen
dcapen[AT SIGN]myelitis.org
(909)658-2689

Cindy McLeroy
cindymcleroy[AT SIGN]sbcglobal.net
(714)638-5493