Eric,

Sorry to hear you were subjected to such a question but sometimes I think people blurt out what they want to ask trying hard to not convey pity but rather try to express concern in their own way. You have been to the edge and back!

I saw a news story on tv the other day and there was a teenager that had 6 radiation treatments to his jaw when he was an infant and the jawbone never grew. People have made fun of him all his life and his mother has been fighting the insurance company for reconstruction literally all this kid's life. I really felt for him and marveled at his smile and thought how he shares our life in such a way while having no surgery (like me) and only 6 treatments.

My entire right arm is deep red with huge welts from a burn back on December 20 and the doctor says let it breathe but my wife won't even go out to dinner with me unless I put on a long sleeve shirt. I wore one yesterday for 2 hours and just from rubbing and sweating it durned deep purple, one of my favorite bands of old, was swollen about an inch above the regular welt and now the next day I have a four inch blister that will turn orange tomorrow burst the next day and then hurt a few days after that. When a child looked at me in the grocery store and started crying, the mother asked what in the world happened. I smiled and told her I cut myself shaving.

Wear your badge of courage proudly, you certainly earned it.

Ed