Why do we - well because we don't have a choice other than to take our life. It might be cutting this hard question down to the bone, but it's one worth looking at with our eyes open instead of denying.

I've looked all over my tummy, but I can't find an off and on switch so other than death, why not just accept that we've got something we can't change and then just work our way through the problem the best we can. There are intersections in life where we have no other choice than to go onward and forward. What we do have a choice about is in how we'll live with something we can't change.

While pain is a constant thread all RSD patients have in common, it's not the only part of RSD for some of us. Severe mobility challenges, lack of circulation in limbs that leave us with chronic infections, chopped of body parts, blood clots and an appearance that's so bad we're embarrassed to be out in public. For those who decide to sort of crawl in a hole and wait for the inevitable I can understand why, but I also know we do have the ability to choose another way of surviving the hand we've been dealt.

While disabilities of the mind are by my set of measurements the worst kind out there, I'm also a firm believer that depression is one of the most treatable diseases/symptoms for those who really want to overcome it bad enough.

When I have my bouts of depression, what am I thinking about? What else - ME! Why, am I really that interesting? Am I really figuring out some wonderful solution that's going to help me escape the horrible situation I'm in so tomorrow will be wonderful and gay? No, not really, it's just so I can think about how awful things are and how bad I feel for myself. Depression feeds on itself just like any fire does so my solution is to change the topic and instead do anything and everything so I don't think about ME.

As much as we might pretend that we're some super duper computer where our brains can think about a dozen different things at once, we really can't. Instead we choose throughout the day what we'll spend time thinking about. I've found the best coping mechanism for dealing with my crushed nerves and RSD is by avoiding this rather annoying topic of ME at all costs even though I can't do so many things I use to take for granted each day. Instead of asking myself how I'm going to survive another day, I ask myself what I can do for someone else. It's a win-win scenario because when I'm not allowing myself to focus on my own suffering while I'm doing something for someone else, I'm getting so much more out of life even though so much has been lost now and forever.

I've always used the cliché that I let those who care and love me waste their time thinking about me and in return I'll do the same because there's always something we can do that will show how much we love and care those who also are having to endure our body damage and health problems as much as we are. We owe it plain and simple and it's time we start paying back.

When my dear friend who's spent hundreds of hours building my homemade lift/elevator called me up a couple nights ago with a broken notebook computer that he hoped I could fix, I was thrilled that I finally had an opportunity to make a small repayment for all of his generosity and darn hard work he's done for me over the years. I don't care how busted up our bodies are, there's always something we can do for others if we really want too no matter how much we hurt, how physically ill we feel or how bad of day we're having in general - so long as we really do want to do it.

I know you have so many ways of sharing so many skills and wonderful things you can do, so when you're feeling like you're at the end of your ropes and you can't see why you're alive another day, redirect that energy toward something positive you still can do. I promise you'll feel so much better.

If the day ever does come when you really are positive that life is over then maybe it's time you ask our government why we treat our beloved animals with more care than we can treat ourselves when we finally release these furry little friends from their suffering. As of today we don't have that legal right, and I think it's wrong.

There's not one single day when I don't battle guilt for the financial, physical and emotional consequences my accident has had upon my wife, family and friends and it's a hurdle I am constantly trying to deal with. Just the waste of financial resources alone is enough to eat a hole through my gut as I watch our hard earned savings dwindle each passing year just so we can keep a body that's only sort of living continue to drain so much from so many. Trust me, I understand exactly where you're at.

The only way we can fight back is by doing something, anything, whatever, just do something. Find coupons on line and print them out for family and friends and then pop them in thank you cards. Use that bread machine you have hidden away and make up a batch for your neighbor who trims your bushes or get out a needle and thread and cross stitch together a bookmark for that someone you love so they'll be reminded daily just how much you appreciate everything they do in your life. Find the reasons to still make joy in your life and avoid negativity at all costs. We already have enough.

You've got it inside yourself, you just misplaced it for a day or two. Now go out and find it and I promise tomorrow will be a whole lot better. Wishing you only the best, Bob.