Lupus Support Group

I'm really in a quandry here, folks. I'm co-facilitator of our local (Fort Worth) support group, North Texas Chapter of the Lupus Foundation of America.

And I went to the meeting yesterday, and NOBODY showed up. Despite the fact that during last week, I got two rather frantic calls from relatives of persons who had found out a daughter or sister had just been diagnosed with lupus and they had a whole lot of fear in their voices.

So I explained what little I knew; that is, they have a right to be anxious, but lupus is not the death sentence it used to be, and once a diagnosis has been made, and treatment started, they will get better. I reminded them of the lupus support group meeting on Saturday and they swore on a stack of Bibles they would be there, so yesterday I dragged my sorry ass down to the hospital meeting room, where I waited. And waited. And waited. Meetings start at 11:00 AM and run until about 12:30. So at 11:45, I said, Screw it, and turned out the lights and shut the door.

This is getting to be a habit, folks. We had pretty good attendance for a number of years, but recently, only one or two people have shown up, and now None. We put a reminder on the community calendar in the local newspaper, an email goes out to those members to remind them, and yet.....

I have spoken to the Powers That Be in our Dallas Chapter, and their take is, "Don't worry about it." But I do. I've even thought of changing our meeting place to a cafeteria or some such public place, because parking is a problem at the hospital, and the meeting room is underground, with no windows, so it's kind of gloomy even with lots of fluorescent lights (which we're supposed to avoid, by the way.) I have toyed with the idea of having a speaker, but what would happen if I scheduled some busy doctor for that day and NOBODY showed up?

I realize this is not all my problem to solve, and I need to get some input from our membership. I'll check in with my cofacilitator, who has been sick as a dog recently, so I don't know how much she can help with this. And we need a FREE meeting space, where we can keep our literature under lock and key (due to the damn Privacy Laws, ya know-- how terrible it would be if Somebody Found Out You Attend a Lupus Support Group, for heaven's sake! And I also need to order updated brochures from our Dallas chapter.

Maybe it's time to give up this post to somebody younger, who has more energy to devote to this group than I do. Yesterday I turned 69, and I feel every day of that age right now. I've been battling this damn disease since way before I was diagnosed in 1988, and am currently in remission, thank you God, but I also have diabetes (insulin dependent) CHF and fibromyalgia. And just last week, I had such muscle spasms in my back for at least a week with no pain relief no matter what I did, that I went to my primary care doctor in tears, literally. She prescribed Valium, of all things, and it zonked me for 10 days. But it worked.

So now I'm back to paying attention to this community service, and need some more direction than what I'm getting. Keep in mind this is an all volunteer organization, except for our National headquarters. And I know sometimes some of our members are just too damn sick to attend. But newcomers? Those who begged for information and swore they would be there?

Maybe I reassured them too much. You think?

Anybody who has any ideas, please feel free to comment or email me at rmebrat38@sbcglobal.net and I will sure appreciate anything you have to say.