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Hi,
 
My wife wants me to join a local celiac group. Now that we have
this list server I know that a group exists, which I never suspected
before. But I am not going to join.
 
My family has been dealing with CD for 34 years now. My brother has it,
I have it, my sister has it and my father has it. I am also pretty sure
that my son has it (He is 12 and I will not get him officially diagnosed
unless the draft is re-instated.) So for 34 years I have been listening
to stories and complaints about intestinal activities. I have spent my
life listening to a litany of symptoms, many times in excruciating
detail. Many of the posts to this list server also start out with this
type of litany.
 
After all of this time, the last thing I want to do is meet a bunch of
people and hear the same thing over and over again. So, while I do
understand the importance and value of the groups, I cannot bring
myself to participate face to face. At least with the list server I can
get information without hearing about someone's latest ..., and I can
skip over the gory details when they are not emergency in nature.
 
So, color me supportive, but from a distance (I know that it sounds cruel
and hard nosed, but I OD'ed on the symptomatic details years ago.) I
even found myself telling my brother and sister if all they had to
talk about was their latest reaction that they should not bother to
come visiting as I wanted to get out of the toilet and on with my life.
Amazingly, they did stop and we now have wonderful conversations that
we never had time for in the past.
 
Bob Chapman
USA
 
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