re: Scared to death of my likely diagnosis

My uncle had it. He contracted it during WWII, but lived to be 66. He was in a wheel chair most of the time, but he got around, drove, and had a fairly normal life. I remember him as a positive, interesting guy who was fun to be around. I once mentioned to him that I had read Mutiny on the Bounty and he took me into his office, cranked up his ham radio, and the next thing I knew I was talking to a friend of his on Pitcairn island, one of the descendants of the mutineers.