[annapurna]

As a second note, I am doubly glad for all of your help and perspective. Many friends in my local church and community have a VERY stoic attitude about pain and disability. They feels we were born into this world so that we could experience pain, suffering, and loss. Because of this belief, the concept of using pain management or restorative surgery is, in their opinion, somehow circumventing the "divine purpose" of life. Based on this belief, physical pain and disability are to be accepted and endured with cheerfulness, not corrected or aleviated through surgery or drugs. I should be quick to state that these ideas are NOT representative of my whole church, just many folks in my own little rural area. I guess that after spending seven years here I've unknowingly bought into that mentality. Thanks for the wake-up call.