Posted by Bob (152.163.206.212) on July 02, 2001 at 01:53:33:
In Reply to: Hiya Charlie. Yes Georgia made it! posted by ChuckC on July 01, 2001 at 13:30:09:
As far as her "giving" someone a ride, there was nothing giving on her part at all. I had posted on the board to get the address of the convention. I mentioned that I was from the Buffalo area and might be going by bus, train or driving. Shortly thereafter, I received an E mail from someone (trip) saying there was someone in the Albany area (about a six hour drive from my home and actually, away from Atlanta) that wanted to go but had NO money and gave me the phone # of this person. I called and she said she would drive down in her car ( if I went 6 hours to meet her ) but she had no money. No problem!!! I left my house with $600 in my pocket. I could have flown if I had wanted to, but I was more interested in actually meeting someone else with CH and having the opportunity to discuss if CH has any similar effects on them.
Any way, I went 6 hours in the wrong direction to enable HER to get to the convention. During the trip, I paid for everything. From the gas in the car, anything she ate or drank, hell, even the cigarettes she was smoking! She even managed to pocket my $10 change from the last gas stop. Did I care about any of it? Do I really care about money? Not at all! I was more concerned with trying to learn more about the hellish nightmare which has taken over most aspects of my life. My whole reason for even going at all was to try to pick what is left of the other cluster people's brains. The more info I have, the more info I am able to provide to the Chronic Pain team which treats me. The Accupuncturist, who is an MD, is extremely interested in any and all aspects of all symptoms and side effects I experience. He is much more interested in helping combat CH than any Neuro I've ever seen. So anything which helps him will hopefully help me.
Most of the people I met were very nice and only too happy to discuss what CH does to them. I was thrilled to actually talk to another CH 'er in person. However, there was one person who, for whatever reason, felt the need to cop an attitude when I tried to ask him some questions. The last thing I need in my life right now is the attitude of some long-haired hippy boy. For perhaps the first time in my life, I exercised some discretion and walked away. It's eating me alive inside, but I did it. That's really progress and my psychologist will be quite happy to hear it Tuesday.
At the one meeting I attended on Saturday, the main topic seemed to be about how to best work together to bring about greater CH awareness. The biggest road block you face is yourselves. And I happen to be unlucky enough to be part of the crew on this sinking ship. Most of the crew are bailing water for their lives, while a few try to punch more holes in the good ship Cluster.
Answering another clusterhead's question is a problem? Petty bullshit on the message board makes a laughing stock of us all! We tell Dr's about the site, they check it out and a few short minutes on the board cheapens the whole CH experience in the eyes of the Dr. I'm just as much, if not more so, into fun and games, and if provoked, to retaliate. The board, however, is not the place for it. There are so many other ways to communicate nonsense. The board could be such an effective weapon for our doctors if only they didn't have to sift through so much dribble in order to get to use it. There are so many different treatments we all encounter, therefore, we offer the Dr's a clearing house of CH knowledge. Knowledge that they would not have without the feedback of MANY ch'ers. It's tough enough to even get them to check out the site, and then they find crap! Do you think they will be checking it out again? Probably not!!!!
Any way, my point is that helping each other is what this thing of ours should be all about. I was only to happy to help Georgia out, by footing the bill, to get to the convention. I'm a sucker for a hard-luck story. Most everyone I spoke with at the convention were great. Some real nice people! Unfortunately sometimes the whole bunch ends up getting thrown out because of a few bad apples. Before we can effectively get the word to the street, helping each other should be our # 1 priority.
And what the hell is with all the waffle houses down there. For those who never actually got to Atlanta, due to the remote location of the convention site, it was a pretty OK place. After I left the convention, I spent about 4 hours downtown and got to see the place at it's finest,
late on a Saturday night. Who could ask for more!