It's, I remember I was just thinking, I got involved with the Arthritis Care fairly early on and, but it wasn't right for me because I was looking for somebody who was like me, I was 21 when I was diagnosed, I wasn't in my 50s, 60s, I was trying to do something with my life, you know, you're still, having relationships, you're wanting to do your career, you're wanting to be this successful career woman and you know you want it all and I couldn't meet any, I hadn't met anybody even within the hospitals where I was going who was like me. So I tried the Arthritis Care but like I say it wasn't, unfortunately they were lovely people but no it wasn't right, I went a few times and I've tried another organisation down in the southwest, but that was the same thing again, it was the elderly ones.
So then, when I came up to Yorkshire, I had been really ill for a while and I thought I've got to try something again come on, I need to get out, I was living in the middle of nowhere and lost contact with everybody I was working with and everything else, so I joined the young side and it was the best thing I did really because it really, they had an understanding of it and introduced me to a group with similar conditions, like everybody with arthritis, there's so many different fractions of it anyway.
They knew that you got tired, knew that you may not be able to go out for a drink in the evening and I think that's when I started to accept what was going on, that it was okay, that it wasn't a failure on my part to have this huge flare up going on and I wasn't able to have my career and everything else, it was just one of those things that, it was just another experience to have to go through in life and there's others that were going through it with you.
So yeah so I joined them and they were great and ended up after a while meeting a great bunch and moved again to an area where I am now.
So I would say to somebody if their newly diagnosed and they're thinking about joining some sort of group, do it, even though it might not, this, you know, whatever group might not be right, don't put it off, just keep, you'll eventually find something, it might even be a night class, you know it might be something like that you want to get involved with or, or just don't isolate yourself away and hide away, that' a big no, get out, you know, or get somebody. Even if you want somebody to come in and, and be in your own home and, and get to know you or, we have a group and our [name of person] said if the confidence needs to be that you want somebody to come and pick you up to take you to the group because you're frightened to go in that group by yourself, that's the biggest thing is to walk into a completely new group, all by yourself, that's a big thing, so if you need to get to know somebody beforehand, to be able to hold your hand basically to go in, then try and find a way round that and do that, because that's the biggest stepping stone is getting outside your own home and having the courage to make a step towards something new yes. |
