I was recently mulling over a story I read about a British woman who as a child lived through the Blitz in London. On the first night of the bombings she and her family went down into a nearby Tube station where bunks had been built for everyone and the atmosphere was "jolly" as she put it. There was harmonica playing and everyone sang.
I think this Afib group is drawing on the same ability to lead emotionally that those who sang and built bunks and played the harmonica had in those dark times. The UK has that genius, which those close to them (here I am thinking Canada etc.) also manifest spontaneously.
Afib would be much darker for each of us individually without this lovely group. Thank you for creating it and for inviting others into it, like me, an American. I and many others appreciate this collective upbeat oasis and its practical help as well.
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Cabot
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Thank you for posting! We all know what a distressing and at times, very scary condition AF can be and speaking personally all I would like to do is share my experience with the hope it will help others, especially the newly diagnosed when the anxiety can be be very high.
My outlook is the more worked up and anxious you get the more it feeds the AF beast so finding coping strategies is a priority - but that seems to be the bit the doctors don’t always help with and there is a huge gap in any treatment plan.
Thank you for being a calm voice for people when what they counted on their whole lives --their heartbeat -- suddenly goes awry. It is truly a gift you are giving.
Yes, re treatment plan. AF is physical but how one deals with it - practically, emotionally and psychologically - makes the difference to how we live with it. Learned a lot from your posts CDreamer.
What a lovely, thoughtful post Cabot. I agree totally with all that you have said. Yes, there is certainly a special, warm and caring feel to this forum. I feel it also demonstrates how members truly understand and love to support others.Jean
Nice comments such as yours are always welcome. Some of use have been on this journey for more years than not and remember the bad old days before AFA was formed and this wonderful resource created.
It takes a special person to give of themselves year after year so that something like this can be built and maintained. There are many aspects to a good forum and we all thank you for making it work so well!
I totally agree with you Cabot. Sitting here in New Zealand, this forum has been both an amazing resource of knowledge and a great source of comfort. Prior to discovering this forum I was feeling very isolated, as I don't personally know anyone else that gets AFib. Interacting with other people deal with their struggles and successes really helps me heaps in my battle with AF. Keep up the good work everyone.
What a lovely post Cabot. The Spirit of the Blitz and Keep Calm and Carry On. We can do so much for each other and for others further afield when we come together for the common good. We share our experiences, knowledge and fears and have learnt so much from each other over the years. It’s a good feeling and one that can hopefully grow and carry on for as long as it is needed.
So very true, my mother lived in London during the blitz and spent many hours in a shelter before being evacuated to the country. She also has AF and lives with me as I am her sole carer, she is now 95yrs old and never complains about anything, a truly wonderful spirit!
What a lovely post! Thank you for sharing these positive thoughts. I've belonged to groups with different demographics and based in different geographical regions - mostly professionally- and the vibes are often different between them. I wonder if the general age of this group also contributes to our vibe here - I'd say most of us are over 50 and many are 70+. So maybe there's a bit more tolerance and wisdom that comes with that. Compassion too.
Being now over 70 myself I grew up when war time tales were told of how people survived - or didn’t. My father and uncle could not understand why my generation needed psychological help when they managed very well without. I once commented that they were too busy surviving physically to have the luxury of dealing with the psychological impact, that was to be left to be picked up by future generations as the cellular memory was passed to the next generations.
Walking to school, on my own aged 5, I had to pass bombed sites where once homes had been. Schoolmates died from Polio, Scarlet Fever. Measles meant 3 weeks bedbound isolation, not allowed out of the bedroom. TB vans visited the street every 6months to take chest X-Rays. School and family meals were strict and the attitude was - be grateful for what you have, you have food, you have shoes and clothes, don’t complain and if your friend doesn’t - share yours. I wasn’t always kind or compassionate or wise and often resentful because I didn’t have the latest ‘thing’. But those were are ‘norms’. it was only in adulthood I started to understand that my parents generation were those who HAD to have endurance, self resilience and a strong desire to create a better world, there were no other options. It was more normal to help your neighbour, despite your differences, than to argue and fight with them as too much horror had already been witnessed.
Tolerance, compassion and wisdom is sadly lacking in the times we now live in and war seems a long way away now, although witnessed still on screens, so our world has not changed that much so it is so lovely to find empathy, kindness and generousity exist here, with our forum members.
All credit to Bob, Jean and others who set the bar high so that the rest of us raise our game when commenting as well - makes IMO for much of the success of this Forum.
As a newbie here, I am very appreciative of all the knowledge and advice that the members of this forum have given. And especially to BobD with his calming words when I think I am going to die from my PACs!
I don’t know how people found this forum but I did a google search for afib following vomiting which led me to this treasure trove.
One of my closest friends lived through the Blitz. A few years ago we went to the WW II Museum in NOLA. About half way through we had to leave. It was just too much for her. She also told me about rationing in Great Britain for years after the war's end.
Absolutely agree with you. The sense of ' comrades in arms' has helped me so much in good times and bad.Our condition isn't really understood by those not in the Crazy Heart Club,I feel. Not that they lack in compassion or sympathy.
GPs and even some Cardiologists are often ill informed and hence not much use in terms of support.
I can come on here with concerns and know I'm with friends who have wide ranging experiences .
Knowledge is power but also the solidarity of fellow AFibber is invaluable.
My mum was 5 during the Coventry Blitz and remembered a lot of it. Her Aunt worked in munitions there ( a long bus journey) often the buses were unable to make it due to bomb damage. Mum remembered seeing ( she'd be about 7 then) a house with the whole of the front missing,she said it looked like a dolls house, all the furniture still inside!
One thing I like about being from the UK is our great sense of humour, black humour at times but it gets us through.
Beautiful comments, I couldn't agree more, Cabot. Like many who have commented already, my parents' and grandparents' generations experienced two very long world wars, and had no option but to get on with it. One grandfather spent WWI as a medic in France, was shot twice, and returned to the Front both times. His wife (my gran) had Afib none of us knew about until after her death (the "don't make a fuss" generations). In WWII her house was bombed and she, my mum and aunt lived with a tarpaulin for a roof for years. My parents were married for 3 hours before my Dad left on a train to go to France in WWII. He was taken as a POW in June 1940, after he and 12,000 others defended St Valery for as long as possible, which allowed the time for 330,000 troops to be rescued at Dunkirk. Without which, the war would have been lost right then. He spent 5 years in a camp in eastern Poland which was also a concentration camp where over 100,000 people were murdered, in January 1945, he survived walking back to western Germany, the infamous "Death March", and finally made it home in summer. He arrived one week, went back to work on the Monday. He spent 18 months shortly afterwards with TB. No psychological counselling, no assistance, no recognition of trauma - and he was only 21 in 1940. Imagine! This forum has been a godsend to me, I've learned so much from so many kind people. That support has ensured that, during an AF episode, I try to stay as calm as possible and ride it out, thinking also of our forebears' incredible resilience and fortitude and "get on with it" attitude.
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