Tara -- I hope in that you going through all this process, you will soon find that silver lining. And hopefully, it will be in the form that the repaired/replaced stim works just as well or BETTER than the previous one. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for you
Thanks for the update. It sounds like you're on the right road. And don't worry about being upset about not getting back the life you used to have. Totally normal, and I'm sure all of us hurting people fantasize about what our lives would/should be like had we not been burdened with this beast. But, I can tell you this...... through this process, I've learned a heck of a lot more about people and life than I could have in my healthy body. Now, I just hope that this earthbound wisdom grants me some major brownie points when it comes to the afterlife........
God Bless and Good Luck!!

Vanna