ANXIETY FORUM...NEW FRIENDS AND GETTING ONE TO FACE THEIR FEARS

I'd have to dig deep and a long time ago to find the thread and related PM's....but I just had to share this heartwarming "success" story that at the time...captivated all of us on the Anxiety Forum...watching it play out was amazing.  A lovely lady named Carol came to the forum with severe anxiety over a soon upcoming complex surgery to correct her obstructive sleep apnea.  Now, of course anyone would have anxiety over that, but dear Carol had a history of Anxiety issues on top of the already present pre-op fear!  She was finding it literally impossible to muddle through day by day let alone get to her very important doctor's appointments.

Something about Carol soon pulled just about every "regular" poster to her thread...along with loads of others...offering her words of encouragement, helping her cope "minute by minute" and giving her virtual "high fives" every step of the way!  Her thread soon became HUNDREDS of posts long...it became like a biography...and you could literally SEE her progress right there in black and white.  She became braver and more able to face each obstacle.  We all truly grew soft hearts for this woman.

Our one CL at the time, JSGeare.....took it one step further. A few of us had begin talking to Carol on the phone to offer her a bit more support as the big day grew near.  A few of us discussed it in PM's...and since she had openly shared with us where her surgery was going to be....JS was able to arange for a floral arrangement and the most amazing computer generated card that had all of our MedHelp "handles" on it with personal "get well" messages that contained a LOT of the humor and jokes we shared with Carol to help her through her days.  We sent it to her in the hospital.

I spoke to carol shortly after she was released from surgery...(which was a success...a long recovery but she did well)...and she cried when she said just how truly touched she was that we reached out in the way we did.  I told her that everyone gets support but that her story took on a life of it's own and there wasn't one person in our Forum who wasn't cheering her on.

I've been part of a few online communities, but I can honestly say that I've NEVER seen anything quite like that and was proud to have witnessed it.  You could feel the love and support for Carol just pouring out into her thread, and while SHE was grateful, she never realized just how much she did for us....she served as an inspiration for all of us "Anxious-ites"...proving that we CAN overcome Anxiety, even in the most difficult of situations.  If there could be a mascot for our forum...I'd vote for Carol!  Carol and the rest of our community ALL benefited from our new found alliance with each other.  It was truly something to behold.  I'm going to dig through my old posts and see if I can find the old thread to post a link to....it's something I would love to share with you all!

[nursegirl6572]

I found her ORIGINAL thread that she came to the forum with...if you look under her nick...you will see the saga continue on subsequent threads.

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Anxiety/I-feel-so-helpless/show/513156?personal_page_id=13185#post_2895127

[margypops]

Wow I have only just seen this what a remarkable story , and yes how wonderful.How wonderful all the members were aswell who supported her, is she still on the forum ? this is a great success story thank you for sharing it with the rest of us ...

[nursegirl6572]

Hiya Margy!  Thanks for asking about Carole.  She hasn't been on the forum for a long time, but just today I left her a voice mail message.  I hope she gets back to me, then i'll update the story.  I'm going to try to get her to post herself, that would be great!  What a remarkable woman she is!  Glad you enjoyed the story!

[margypops]

hi did you ever hear from Carole she sounded like a great person ..be lovely to get an update .