advice wanted for dealing with old school family

May 15, 2003

Oklie Doklie Folks,

One more issue for now and I promise I'll go back to work and quit

pestering you all.

What do you say to family ( & a few friends) who just don't get it? For

instance, my dad and mom keep hounding me about the pain meds Cameron (my 10

yr old son) and I take on almost a daily basis. We usually take minimal

doses of darvocet to " take the edge off " our pain and to help us function

" normally " for school and work. Neither of us have to have it absolutely

EVERY day, but more days than not. I can't seem to make my folks ( & I

sometimes wonder if my hubby understands it either) comprehend that pain meds

most likely ARE the " norm " for us now. You have to understand my family is

one of those that if we had a bad headache or something growing up, you were

told to " bear with it " and it " might go away " ....ONLY as a last resort were

you allowed to take aspirin or tylenol.

My folks are determined to keep us from being (you'll love this term)

" hop-heads " the rest of our lives and think we should " get tough " . Well,

yall all know - sometimes, our " toughness " just gets used up.

Any suggestions? Oh yeh, they tend to believe anything I can pull off a

website and show them...so maybe something IN WRITING that explains we are

actually some of the luckier PC sufferers? Also - my husband still voices

thoughts of maybe Cameron and I were misdiagnosed and this will all just go

away. <sigh>

Thanks for listening and offering any suggestions~

Donna Womack

(Cameron's Mom)

Fort Worth, TX

May 15, 2003