Ray and I went to WAGS today, to a big room where the sound echoed. But the air conditioning was spot on and the circle of tables held 48 people, all of whom seemed glad to be there. This was only my third meeting so I am still struggling to fit names to faces, carers to survivors etc. But Ray is greeted by the Scallywags menfolk with waves and smiles and the cry:"Ho, Ray." And his smile is a mile wide.

We had a break to wait for a guest speaker who didn't turn up so we got some chatting time in. A couple of women came over and said "hi" so that was nice. We helped ourselves to tea, coffee etc. The second half of the meeting was a lot of reports. I will tell you a few of them that struck me as just the type of thing I would have wanted when Ray first had his strokes.

The WAGS group has formed a Mentoring group where patients at the local hospital who have had strokes will be able to be paired up with a "buddy" if they so wish. The mentors (ten of them) have done a lot of training and are just about to be assessed before gaining access to patients. Even if the stroke survivor doesn't want to join the program a survivor and a caregiver will go to see them before they leave hospital. There will be an opportunity to pass on information, answer questions and maybe draw them into our group or refer them on to another support group, which should be a great help for first-timers lost in Strokeworld.

The other report was from a group who had been to a National Symposium on Stroke Awareness in Canberra, our capital city. They were pleased with the amount of information they had gained and also that one of our members had been a speaker talking about how WAGS had been set up, how it is funded and how it has impacted on the lives of the members both caregivers and survivors alike. They felt that their imput had been heard and valued.

I am going to their Women's weekend in November, it has a minimal fee, mostly sponsored from group funds, will have two formal dinners and two guest speakers in the mornings with the afternoons free. This is being held only about twenty minutes away from where I live but it falls in the period when I have Ray booked into a fortnight's respite so I will not have a worry about him and will be able to concentrate on learning more about my fellow caregivers and maybe find out their coping skills. I am looking forward to that. I am pleased I was able to book that time off for me. I am getting used to the idea now that Ray and I will have separate breaks. It is an option others have used for some time out and I need to feel it is just that, a break from full-time caring to make me a better caregiver.

This time we also stopped and had lunch with some of the group. And the service was atrocious. The meal booked for 12.45 came at 1.45! By then some of the more irate survivors were showing the irritation that is a bit beyond socially acceptable in some cases, with their caregivers trying to hush them up and calm them down. But the food was well prepared when it came and the time gave me an opportunity to find out a bit about my neighbours at table which was informative. Ray and I had the same meal and both enjoyed it. Some of the others complained about the meal but that was probably because they build up a head of steam while waiting, or maybe it was the second glass of liquor.

There are a lot of diverse deficits in the group, we sat opposite a man with Aphasia who shoots out single words with a three word sentence capacity. But he is one of Ray's new friends and was happy to sit near us. The(survivor) co-president (all positions are shared) was telling me she returned to her old job after a years' break and is still working 19 hours a week only after five years due to fatigue issues but her boss is just happy to have her back. As she works in a government department that works with people with disabilities he now views her as a consultant as well as a worker. She seems to be a really nice person and I am looking forward to getting to know her more. My neighbour on the other side also a survivor has had to overcome language difficulties but turned out to have quite a witty turn of phrase and I will get to know her more at the weekend too.

Support groups are all different, just as we are all different. I came here because I didn't have a support group locally I could relate to. Now I have. But I will still be here anyway. Because there are all kinds of support and it is a blessing to give support as well as to receive it.