The support group

[cherrypiper]

I went to a support group meeting for AN here tonite. It has been kind of dormant for about 2 years. We had 12 or so of us who either had the surgery or the 3 who were in the wait and watch group. Some of them had the procedure , or what it was, as far back as 1988. This was really nice for both me and my wife.

They divided us into groups with a topic on each table. Headaches, eye problems, AN fears, Hearing.

First, i got to listen to others about their positive results. No Negatives were allowed.

Second, they all had the same issues as me at my time since surgery, 5 1/2 months.

Third, some of them  said how good i looked for this soon afterwards. Now that one helped me a lot as i live with it and dont see a day to day progress.

and they wanted my 2 cents worth on issues too. My input on my eye issues, face muscles (or the lack there of) , and hearing were just as good for them as theirs were for me.

so if you can , id strongly recommend going to a local support group.

[leapyrtwins]

Cherrypiper -

I strongly recommend attending local support group meetings also.

I've only attended one since my surgery because the group closest to me lost their leader.  They have since replaced her and will be starting meetings again in July.  Unfortunately, I can't make the meeting because I'll be out of town, but I'm very hopeful they will schedule many more meetings that I will be able to attend.

The meeting I attended was wonderful.  It was so nice to meet other AN patients and hear their stories.  I was contemplating a BAHA implant at the time and I met a woman who very graciously showed me her BAHA and answered a lot of questions that I had.  I'd never actually met someone with a BAHA before, so I found her help invaluable.  Talking to her reinforced my feeling that the BAHA was for me and I subsequently had the surgery.

Jan 

[danijake]

I really wanted to go, but I didn't make it. I live in Cy-Fair (290 @ 1960/Hwy6). My sense of direction is way off. I totally went the wrong way!! Traffic was a bear, so we gave up and went to a nice restaurant instead. Hopefully there will be another meeting soon. It would really help if I could get my family to go with me so they can see it's not easy. Was very upset about it.

[er]

I was also at the support group. I really enjoyed it. It was a little hard for me to hear because of the background noises, but it was nice to know and see that I was not alone. It also made me feel that I was very lucky to had found my AN  in time espically coming from a small town.
eve