Flutemaker, boy, can I relate to your post. And in MANY ways.... but right this moment I'm pressed for time (have to go to PT and walk my dog before then) so I'll pop back later to do a longer reply.

No platitudes. Believe me they're not all they're cracked up to be. Just life smackin' ya in the face--ONE MORE TIME! Sometimes you just want to shout "ENOUGH ALREADY." But that's ok. That's how life is. It isn't always how we would have chosen it. But we face it and move forward--no matter how cruel a hand it seems to have dealt us at times.

Oh no.... you aren't diseased, you are a person who HAS a disease. Your identity, however, isn't the disease. Remember, and remember this fully and kick yourself in the @ss if you have to to get it through your thick skull, you are a PERSON. And you are a person with a disease---NOT a disease with a person. Nope.

Life sucks sometimes. Someone on this board has a tag line that says, "If the world didn't suck we'd all fall off." Yup!

More to follow..... I'm a mouthy little one (oh I know that will SHOCK some people here ). And many thanks, Moi, for your kind words and your caring touch for others. Thank you for alerting me to Flutemaker's post.