JagerJoe -- You've had multiple health challenges in 3 years? Two open-chest surgeries to put in stents, then arthritis and nerve pain! That's a lot of woe!

A couple of things about the arthritic back: One of my co-workers has spinal stenosis, narrowing of the channel through which the lower spinal nerves run. He had pretty much constant pain in his back and legs. His neurosurgeon performed an operation to "clean out" the channel, but one of the nerves -- L5 -- was found to be kinked, and after the operation he lost all feeling and control in his left leg below the knee.

The point is, surgery which involves nerves sometimes has unpredictable effects. It's not the fault of a bad doctor or a botched operation, it's just that no one can be certain what the near-microscopic nerves are like inside the body and exactly what will happen when they're disturbed.

Is his disability better than the constant pain? I dunno. He isn't sure either! There are no perfect solutions in this imperfect world...

Your situation is heartbreaking. What kind of work do you do?