Ronnie,
That is so true!! It certainly helps to have a sense of humor. Thanks for making me chuckle!! Empathy is a tough lesson for many people to learn. Until they have to endure a crisis themselves. But somehow you me and so many others drum up the strength to get up and keep going. For myself that strength is from god and for my three children.
What is your motivation?

@grandmar Yes, Ronnie - if we all gift wrapped the areas that hurt, there would be no question of how we are feeling! Thanks for the smile.

As an ex nurse who has suffered chronic pain for the past eight months due to chronic pancreatitis,which I’ve just had diagnosed, I think I’ve just realised that absolutely no one,with no matter how much training or experience, can tell or even begin to imagine how much pain another person is in. I remember being ‘conditioned ‘ to think “ you’re so many days post op, you can’t possibly need analgesia that strong”, and by the same token no matter how much training in psychiatry someone has, they can’t tell what someone else is thinking or what is going on in their head. If, by some miracle I ever went back to work, I would hope that this knowledge would make me a better, more understanding nurse.