Re: Los Angeles Meeting With Bill Werre>Vera and Verlene

May 23, 2002

Hi all,

Had a great trip to see , (Fordy) and Jess Ford, and Aussie

Anne and Tony. The Aussies are great and made me feel right at home (just

wish they would put their steering wheels on the left side of the darn car

) I hate getting into the driver's side of the car and finding the glove

compartment in front of me instead of the steering wheel. Thanks to all the

Aussies for treating me so well, it's a great place to visit (and probably to

live if you could ever get used to walking upside down and driving on the

left side of the road ) They must have slipped the magnets into my shoes

when I wasn't looking as I did not fall off when I was upside down. All in

all, I flew about 21,000 miles in the last two weeks with 14 takeoffs and

landings in 6 different airports, and flying is still fun )

is still walking with assistance and sometimes listens to .

Jess is approaching her teen years and doesn't listen as well (but I think

it's a teen thing and not early MSA ) We took a trip to Eden (instead of

to Hell as Pam did) and I will try to get some of my photos to you as soon as

possible.

Tony and Anne took me all over the Gold Coast, many thanks to the whole

Pledger clan. Is Jackie missing me ) Anne is gaining weight and over 100

pounds now.

Bill Pilgrim also came down to Southport for a visit with Anne and me, so we

got to have a Queensland support group meeting.

The southern California group gave me a great greeting with a meeting in Vera

and Fred's family room. Note Vera's garden looks much better in real life

than in the picture she sent. She has enough bird houses for a bird

sanctuary ) Unfortunately I was extremely tired from 20 hours of airports

and flying at the time and was reliving May 22nd as I had crossed the

International Date line - I left Southport at 11 AM the morning of the 22nd

and landed at LAX at 10 AM on the morning of the 22nd ) Barbara

graciously picked me up at the airport and drove me out to Vera's home.

There I also met Vera and Fred, Bill, Verlene, and Cindy - so we had a

Southern California support group meeting - hopefully the first of many.

They had enough food to feed an army. Thanks to all the Californians also

for putting up with me - I know I dozed off during the conversation. Later

Vera and Fred drove me back to the airport - I slept all through the 4 hour

flight back to Washington and then went back to sleep here.

It was great getting to meet so many of you, you are a great bunch. Wish I

could meet all of you, but that is impossible. However, when you of you get

together, it does help to know someone else is having the same sort of

problem you are having. Unfortunately, Fred did not get to meet another

patient, but hopefully the next time they will meet another patient. Family

room meetings are great, our Washington, DC group has had great success with

that type of meeting. Just sitting around sharing experiences is a great

benefit to all.

I seem to have brought back the sunny warmth of Australia and California with

me as Washington has the warmest day in a week from what my daughter tells

me. They washed my convertible, so I may put the top down and go for a ride

)

Bye for now and hugs from Koala Bill )

May 23, 2002

Hey Koala Bill... Welcome home! We missed you.

Love,

Pam

Re: Los Angeles Meeting With Bill Werre>Vera and Verlene

>

> Hi all,

>

> Had a great trip to see , (Fordy) and Jess Ford, and Aussie

> Anne and Tony. The Aussies are great and made me feel right at home (just

> wish they would put their steering wheels on the left side of the darn car

> )

May 24, 2002

Bill:

I am glad you got home safe and sound. We were all so excited that you

were able to spend a few hours with us at Vera's, and even in your sleep

deprived state you were very good company. Your pictures of all our Aussie

friends were great, and as you said, the food was much more than enough.

For all you who live within the Southern California area, this was a

fun, informative get-together inspired by Bill's presence but something we

all agreed should be repeated on some kind of regular schedule. I know when

Bill first called me, and I talked to Vera, we hoped that it would result in

more meetings. Vera's home was pretty centrally located for those of us in

the L A area, but we think maybe we can vary the location enough to get those

of you who live in San Diego to come to some and those in the Santa Barbara

are to come to others. Let us know what you all think.

Many thanks to Vera and to Fred for their hospitality and to all of

you who were there for the great food. I wanted to go back yesterday and eat

some more.

love, Barbara

May 24, 2002