I guess I can answer that. Because I've had my share of medical problems and heartbreak. My husband developed terminal cancer at the same time I had breast cancer. He died 6 years ago at the age of 56. The summer of 2003 is when I had my herniated disc putting me in bed for 6 weeks unable to walk or sit. He was a teacher and was fortunately able to care for me but his whole summer, when he would have preferred to rest and play golf, he took care of me. Having been diagnosed several years earlier with Barrett's esophagus he went for yearly endoscopies. He had his that summer in early August. It came back as cancer. So, after taking care of me all summer, he gets cancer and has surgery in late August. I was barely walking at that point. We thought we had all dodged the bullet. He goes back to work in November. The following June the cancer has metastasized and is terminal. He died a year later, after it went everywhere, including his brain. He never lived to see our daughter graduate from college, walk her down the aisle or see our two grandchildren born (one from each child). I will never enjoy what would have been our retirement years traveling and enjoying the fruits of our years of labors. Living alone, especially with pain and no one to help, is a struggle. So, yeah, I get to say, why me?

I have other medical conditions that I will not get into, but yeah, I do get to say "why me". It's someone else's turn who hasn't had to face what I have, someone who would be better able to handle it.

And none of this is to say -"my life is worse than yours" type of rant. That is not my point. We all have our burdens. I am sorry for yours.

I am sorry that you have had pain and have a child with a physical deformatity but am happy that his surgery has been successful. Surgery seems to be one of the areas that has promise for things indicated for it. Having a child with a medical problem is a huge worry for parents. I am glad he is doing well.

But "learning to live with it" to me is a cop-out. I could hang out a shingle and treat people with various meds and tell them to learn to live with it. If that's the best they can do why is health care so expensive?