Powerful & Inspiring story of your life, thank you so much for sharing it.

God Bless You!!!
It's interesting how life plays out, not just our own lives, but in general. Kids & elderly can sit a spell & talk, but the "productive years" we run around so busy working just trying to make a living, for many, that's what most of our memories consist of, 20s, 30s 40s 50s & 60s, on that treadmill, the merry-go-round of work work work.
When cancer forced me to slow down during treatment, I reflected on that, wanted to change my life going forward. The way society & life is set up, you either bust your butt, thinking you're accomplishing, ( but really getting nowhere), or sit on your butt, poor, worried & starving. Either way, having a meaningful life balance can be very challenging.
I can't believe I've been on this planet as long as I have & pretty much life is still as much of a struggle as it ever was. Having someone to share it...doesn't make it any easier, either. In fact, then you've got someone else to worry about!
All we can do is the best we can. We aren't perfect & life never plays out the way we think it will. EVERYONE gets their dose of Bullcrap in life. The best we can do is just try to handle it with as much grace as we can muster & try to put a smile on someone else's face & always try to come from a place of Love & gratitude, cuz however bad things get, it could be worse! When we finally leave this life, at least we can know we tried to make our little world & the few lives we did manage to touch a little better for having known us. I always turn to humor, too. I believe it has kept me somewhat sane, as sane as a crazy chicken lady can be.

When I stand before the Lord someday, I hope He will say, You did alright kid.
Chronic pain & permanent damage from either the illness itself, or the treatments of such illnesses, really poses a challenge. I can honestly say that caring for loved ones dying ripped my heart up, that was more difficult than facing anything else. You chose to do something wonderful & I can only imagine how difficult that was, but you persevered.
May God continue to Bless & Smile on you!