I can relate to you guys.
Mine show up readily on an x-ray... Degenerative disc disease-nerve root irritation...no disc at all at 6/7 and 75% gone at 5/6..arthritis all through my neck and back.....Pain just about all through my body as it is something that just slowly worsens.
Left leg 1/2 inch shorter than the other.
BUT>>>I have everything that I came into the world with..I am so grateful for that because lots of our brethren don't.
I was having a bad day once and was taking my usual walk through Wal-Mart- to just get out and get a little exercise and pick up a few things.
Kinda feeling sorry for myself, just a little. Asking God why I had to live like this.
When I was 16 i fell an honest 20 feet out of a tree hunting raccoons in Central Penna.
When I was 21 i was pulling into the turning ;lane to make a left turn into traffic. A young man going home from college fell asleep-when he looked up, there I was broadside-in the correct lane-but it looked all wrong to him. He hit me right at my front door 60-65 MPH.
I was in a1960 Chevy and only all that iron and steel saved me.
Broke my neck and back...The 6 cylinder engine was upside down under the hood-tore it out of the motor mounts and the transmisson.. and flipped upside down. All 4 tires flattened-the backseat in the TRUNK.. and the roof came to a point.
Had surgery YEARS later to repair the damage.
Got a degree from Penn State in Wildlife and a Degree In Fores Biology at Univ of Montana.
Now get this-all my life lived in pain and I fall a lousy 8-10 feet working in the STEEP mountains outside of St. Regis in Montana, and that lousy fall does me in, incredible.
Was rehabbing myself by then-running three or four days a week-3-5 miles, lifting every other day and still practicing my martial arts.
The neurologist said that if I hadn't been in such good shape i might have really hurt myself-really?[:@]
Tried to rehab me for about 5 yrs-gave up and reccommended retirement-at 45??????
And don't get me started with Work Comp.....What a period of sheer hell in my life then.
Guess I haven't dealt with this as well as i thought I did.
Wow...wasn't figuring on this man...

Any way, there I was at Wal-Mart and just kinda bitching a little at God and there at the checkout line was a man and his young wife and 2 small kids-the guy was probably in his early thirties and had both arms off at the elbows.. I had to turn down another aisle so no one could see the tears.
That's why I never bitch or complain-out loud about my condition.
There is always someone worse off than I am. I told that to my current doc, who has been pressuring me for more surgery for at least 8 yrs.
He said, "Yeah but they're getting harder and harder to find aren't they Leep?"
God Bless you all and thanks for the opportunity to get some things off my chest that I didn't even know were there.....
Take care:
Leep Out: