Introduction/Looking for Others with Chronic Medicals

Hi: I'm Lin. I live in Peterborough, ON, Canada. I have a wonderful grown daughter I'm very proud of and a great (the cutest) 5-year old grandson. I re-married 11.5 years ago to a wonderful supportive husband. I will be babysitting him Mons and Fris. during the summer which is wonderful although I have a hard time keeping up to him so I've planned mornings at the YMCA with other children and some afternoons at a neighbourhood park with play equipment and a supervised wading pool. I had to retire early due to medical issues and am currently on a Canada Pension for Disabilities. I was born with Crohn's Disease (inflammatory bowel disease) with allergies and Rheumatoid arthritis associated with it; I have Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Restless Leg Syndrome (both sleeping disorders and affect my ability to drive); about 10 years ago, I collapsed and a series of tests and a hospital stay showed I have Dilated Cardiomyopathy (most likely caused from a flu virus - one of the 1/4s of my heart is elongated, stretched and floppy and cannot pump the blood back to my lungs for oxygenation properly); a couple of years later I was diagnosed with Type II Diabetes and as it has progressed I have become Insulin dependent (with the dieting that is getting less and less though); and most recently I've been dealing with Osteo Arthritis, Cough Syncope (I can pass out when coughing - also affecting driving restrictions), and Mitral Value Regurgitation (the valve at the top of the damaged section of my heart has become stretched (probably from the attempts to repump blood) and needs to be fixed (not eligible for a replacement I'm told but hoping for a non-invasive procedure rather than Open Heart Surgery to put a clip in) (I'll have to go to the wonderful Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto, hopefully in September to see if I qualify and where I'd be on the waiting list -- very expensive and relies on donations to the heart centre!). The good news, is that I rarely look sick so I can go about and not have people constantly asking me if I'm alright. I use a cane more for balance than anything but that doesn't make one look ill. Every day I remind myself there are millions of others much worse off than I and I count my lucky stars I don't have some of the issue so many others do. I can't always try to be upbeat (when issues pile up on one another all at the same time) but I try,. I keep busy during the day working in my garden (need lots of rest breaks but I get a lot done) in the spring, summer and fall, knitting in the winter, doing housework (my husband does the really heavy stuff), cooking (most of our food has to be prepared from scratch as I cannot tolerate more than 1200 gr of sodium in a day), reading, being on the computer, babysitting my grandson, and I love painting - pet portraits, landscapes and decorative pieces - in acrylics. I try to keep the computer and the TV for the evenings so I don't spend all day on them, lol. I took an Aquafit course for over a year but now I do exercises on my own and I do 70 mins. a session and try to go to the YMCA in their therapy pool Tues, Thurs, Sat, and Sun. I find it makes me feel good, I am more limber, and more relaxed when done. I'm interested in talking to anyone with similar interests and would also like to talk to those with chronic conditions - how do they handle chronic pain, being different, having dietary restrictions making socializing and going out difficult, conflicting advise from medical personnel, keeping a positive attitude, what exercise they are capable of, etc.