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Aug 13, 2009, 03:19 PM
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Member Since: Jul 2009
Location: Phoenix, AZ, USA
Posts: 2,779
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Not sure I'm a very good ranter but here's my two cents.
For those of us who learned early to NOT REVEAL to most people that we have disabilities, we suffer privately. My family never cared. I had one good friend who cared and was always there for me. She didn't understand everything but she was my friend. Unfortunately, she died 12 years ago and I miss her every day.
My current husband is very supportive but he wasn't always. He used to think I was lazy, too. I have been slowly teaching him about bipolar illness. Last fall, I fell down my basement stairs and broke my left femur into four pieces. I was alone in the house and had to drag my leg about 30 feet to get to a phone, was carried out in a sling and now have two titanium rods in my leg that go all the way down to my artificial knee that was already there. I am left with an obvious limp but am pretty strong physically. My recovery was miraculous only because I was placed in the most God-forsaken hell-hole of a rehab hospital you can imagine with nurse Ratchett and everything and I worked hard to get out of there in one week.
My point is this: I pointed out to my husband all the pain, determination, and effort it took for me to learn to walk again. He said yes, he saw that. Then I said, when you have a mental illness, THAT determination and effort are the very things that are often lost. Lots of people asked me how my leg was coming along but I've NEVER, EVER had anyone ask me how my bipolar is coming along. Giving him that comparison helped him to understand a little more.
I am through with suffering alone. I am so happy I have found all of you. 
__________________
 Vickie
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