Meeting with Another Acromegalic

I met my first one in person today, Ellen!! I posted about it shortly on Acromegaly Bloggers, but I wanted to share on my blog a little more in depth. She and her husband were very sweet, open, and funny. Thank you Ellen for sharing so much of yourself with me. I truly appreciated it, even though I don't always show my emotions openly. I felt like we'd known each other for a long time already, since we've chatted online. I truly wouldn't have suspected she had Acromegaly if I'd met her on the street! I'm not sure if that's due to her treatment of Sandostatin? I had noticed that I thought she looked different since I'd first seen pictures of her online (prior to treatment). I wonder if the Acro monster is losing some of it's grip on me since I've been undergoing treatment too?

I remember years ago when I first started developing Acro (unbeknownst to me), and I literally felt like I was changing into a monster. Physically, and mentally I felt as if I were transforming. I would look at other people, and I recognized them as if they were a different species. I really identified with the link Ellen posted on the "Hulk" on Acromegaly Bloggers, although I didn't have the increased height of the Hulk. Anyway, I kind of expected to identify with Ellen when I saw her in that way. As if we were members of the same species :-) But I don't feel that happened. I'm not sure why, but I thought that was funny.

We talked about so many things, and it was nice to commiserate, and to share our similar experiences. I have to confess talking about Acromegaly still makes me feel like too much of a worrier, or a complainer. We do have legitimate health issues, that I can't ignore. I wish I'd had more to contribute, that I could've helped in some way besides basically affirming that we suffer from similar ailments. I know that can be helpful in its own way though, based on my own personal experience. We're not alone, and although I'm sorry she has Acromegaly too, it's also a positive thing that we share this disease. That we can identify with each other. That we're not crazy as I've thought so many times in the past :-) Seeing another person with Acromegaly who seems so "normal" on the outside was very gratifying. Living with the disease every day can be such a drag on our energy, and our outlook. But we can stay positive, and we can beat this disease to a certain extent.

I wish I could meet more of you in person. If only to hug you and say, things are going to be OK. Dealing with Acromegaly, especially in the first few months is such a shell shocking experience. But so many people I've talked to have gotten through surgery, and started treatment, and started to return to semi-normal lives. Yes, we still live with the disease, but so many of us have almost beaten it. I've never been to a therapy session for Acromegaly, or for people with tumors or cancer. In many ways this blog has been my own little therapy session. I hope everyone is doing well. In fact, it would be nice to have updates on how people are doing. I worry when I haven't heard from people for a while. Worrying is like my full time job :-)