Hello,
I cannot express how happy I was to find these support groups and to realize there is a good place to share. Thank you for being there for everyone.

I lived overseas in Eastern Europe for 21 years where I taught at an American university. Since COVID helped encourage me to come back to the US, I have come to realize how much I need peer and professional support. I am afflicted w severe osteoarthritis and have a lot of metal in my knees and in my spine. I have not been lucky getting the pain under control despite using a well-respected local pain clinic and having regular and varied treatments, blocks and steroids.
I just began my retirement but I still teach on line now and it is what “saves” me. As I age (now 72), I realize how vulnerable age makes us feel and how we get dismissed with “old person” statements. If another doctor says to me “You know you are at that age” and pats my hand, I will jump across the desk at him (and yes, mainly male docs say this).

Anyway, I look forward to getting to know some of you soon.
Lucia