Where Are The TSW Vets Today?

Hi all,

I know those of you that follow the RSW bloggers probably wonder what happened to the ones that are no longer updating their blogs very often, maybe not since a couple of years ago. The first group of vets came together in 2010 in a Google support group to support each other, which eventually led to the cumulative thousands in the ITSAN forum and Facebook group, plus other specialty groups.

I can't speak for a large portion of the early support group members but I can tell you that some of the core vets that helped out or were on the board of ITSAN, are living their lives again and want the best for everyone else coming down that road less traveled.

We recently had a "catch-up" reunion call with these comrades, (even though I was in the hospital for a case of pancreatitis, and had to pass on the reunion call) the vets came together on the call and really enjoyed catching up with each other. Everyone lives in different states, so it's quite a job to coordinate getting everyone on a call with three different time zones!

The new ITSAN president, Kelly Barta, took my place facilitating the call and did a great job, which I never doubted. Kelly recently traveled to my neck of the country and we had an enjoyable and talkative lunch together. We even got the server to take some pics of us. :) I just love this lady, she is a torch runner with a heart of gold, picking up for the former hard-working comrades of this cause. She travels often to represent the suffering TSW community to bring more change to the whole outlook and knowledge of this drug-induced, iatrogenic disease.

So the first generation vets of TSW had a wonderful time catching up, sharing their stories and how life is now for them. There is life after TSW but it would have been hard to convince any of us of that when we were in full throngs of steroid-withdrawal hell. As I've said many times in our support groups, "this too shall pass." You will have some or many scars and you may have bumps down road, and most likely will not be the same person coming out of it as going in. That can be a good thing as that is what suffering does and if we can take the good, improve our outlook on the precious gift of life, and let the bad stay in the past, this is how to overcome. We help others because no one else understands this beast like we do. It's truly not what happens to you in life, but how you respond to it.

BTW, calling all vets with blogs, to please update so the desperadoes that look to us for hope and encouragement on this hard road, gain some stamina to endure. We all know that feeling and need to be a light, spurring them on in the darkness of that TSW tunnel. There is a new tomorrow waiting for you!