That 'struggle more physically and financially' is also one of the things that limits choice for different forms of treatment - unless you have invested wisely in good friendships and are able to trade 'skills' it may be an impossibility to access daily massage, or physical therapy, or things like classes in yoga, tai chi etc. the wherewithal may simply not be there......

There are aspects taking charge of one's condition, or rather, being encouraged to do so that can make me uncomfortable. The notion that dis-ease is about an individual having not done the right things in their life, and being able to 'cure' their self is great when it works, and perhaps some do keep the faith, and find they are improved beyond belief, but that is not always so.

A dear friend, in her last two years of cancer which she had fought valiantly, was persuaded that she could 'cure' herself if she did the right things; a mother of young children she was desperate for a cure, and went a very long way down this route. With a lot of effort, hope, and help from family and friends. Following a visit to her therapist she was injured badly when a car collided with hers on his driveway. He neither came out to see how she was, or contacted her to enquire how she was, and in the weeks that followed distanced himself from her completely. She was found on x-ray to have developed metastases in her bones, and the ones that were broken quickly became a focus of the cancer, she never recovered.

It made me think a heck of a lot about the complexities of health, wellness, and disease. Some who had faith in the therapies and the therapist said perhaps she did not have enough faith...... I thought she had bucket loads, she fought all the way.... Did it give her hope for a while, yes, did it cure her, no.

We are not always the authors of our fate. There would be no such thing as doctors if it were not so......