My Trip to Capitol Hill - Diary: The Preparation

I am headed to Capitol Hill.

I will be participating in Headache on the Hill (HOH) which is an initiative of the Alliance for Headache Disorders Advocacy.  The dates for this are May 31 and June 1, 2011.  HOH is being held in conjunction with the 53rd Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Headache Society and what was National Headache Awareness Month that has been since designated instead as National Migraine Awareness Month - June.

What a privilege to be asked, but what a responsibility.

I decided to keep a journal, so others in the future who are interested in participating in HOH or similar activities might get a feel for what the experience is like.  Hopefully familiarity with my experience will lead to more and more Health Activists and patients taking similar action and participating in such activities that will benefit patients as a whole.  I don't know about others, but I always feel a little more secure when I have a clue what to expect.

After being asked, I have been awaiting contact from the AHDA and the NHF for further instructions, some of which I received yesterday. 

The AHDA is presenting a webinar on Tuesday that will help to prepare those of us who are rookies for the experience ahead.  Participation is optional, but it is an Issues Briefing and Advocacy Training Session for participants, so I really hope to be able to do it.  Goodness knows I need all the prep time I can get!

Hopefully I will get information about flights and other reservations by tomorrow, otherwise I'll give them a reminder call and see if we can make some headway there.  The date is very quickly approaching, and most flights I've been able to find have only one or two seats left, so I'm anxious to get that out of the way.  

I am hoping to be able to fly in a day early as flying often triggers a nice Migraine attack, but we'll see how that goes.  Flying out for home seems to be my trouble spot, as right now I see no way to make it home the same day I need to.  There are only so many connecting flights without me having to drive half the night to get back home.  Aaah, the disadvantages of living in the middle of nowhere.

I'll update when I have more information.  Stay tuned!