The group gets started and I am leaving my job...

Such a lot has happened since my last post. Where to begin...

We (yes, I now have a little team!) held the first planning meeting for the new group yesterday. It was exciting!

Our first full meeting is scheduled for 26^th March[Update: This date has now been chanaged to 9th April as the room turned out to be double booked] and we have a suitable space provisionally secured. I’m told that we might get as many as 200 people wanting to attend so we need to be organised and have somewhere that can accommodate that many people.  I feel that it is all coming together and that together we can make it happen.

But between then and now we have quite a bit to do and need to get more people involved to help, our team needs to grow, please get in touch if you’d like to get involved!

Another BTF group, based north of London in Milton Keynes are already helping us and have said they’ll come down to London on the day, which is wonderful. I’ve been up to see them twice and they have been great, providing lots of guidance and advice. They meet at the OU and it was so good to see what a difference their group is making for thyroid patients in their area, and from farther afield - I wasn’t the only person who had travelled to be there.  They have been going for more than nine years.

So, quite a lot of progress has been made and I will share more about our plans and intentions on subsequent posts.

Another major development, I have handed in my notice at work. I saw a new specialist doctor. She says that on top of my autoimmune hypothyroid I also have adrenal exhaustion. So my whole body is now conspiring against me. She talked me through this diagram (which annoyingly I don’t have a copy of so can’t share) showing the connections between the brain, the central nervous system, the immune system and the endocrine system which are all interlinked and in my case, not working very well at the moment.  

She gave me a real Paddington Bear Hard Stare and said “are you sure you don’t need a complete break?” And I said “oh no, I’m fine working three days a week at the moment and I want to get back to doing full time as soon as possible.” Then I thought about it afterwards and a few things happened at work and I decided that actually I’m fed up struggling to do a good job there and not getting a great deal of appreciation for my efforts or recognition for the good results I’m delivering. And I had a big chat with my most adorable husband and he said he’d support me if I left. So after a lot of soul searching, I resigned!

I can’t tell you how pleased I am with the decision. And my husband says I seem much perkier as a result. I finish next week, even though I was on a three month notice period my boss agreed to let me go early. I’m just tying up loose ends there so other people can pick up my work next year.

So 2011 will be a big adventure. Hopefully my health will improve and I will have more time to focus on setting up a support group for thyroid patients in London as well as some other pet projects and just relaxing. Hurrah! I can’t wait.

I’d love to hear from you if you’d like to get involved with helping set the group up, or if you might like to attend the meeting in March, or if you have any experience of running a group elsewhere and can offer any advice or insights that might help us as we get started.  

Thanks so much for reading, it means the world.

Peace and light

Hope