Hi David,
I was in a 6 year relationship when I hurt my back. I lived with a woman that I thought I was going to marry some day. Without getting into too many details my girlfriend didn't seem to care much about the pain that I was in. She didn't really help me much either. She thought I was exaggerating. I was horrified to have someone that I loved so deeply and someone that I thought loved me equally treat me like crap. My chronic pain and her inability to help me tore us apart and we were never able to recover. We struggled through another year of heart break, but I realized that the problem was unfixable because she lacked something very basic: compassion. She had many hardships in life (both parents died at an early age) which could explain it.
Going through a spinal injury is difficult enough, but then to compound it with a failing long term relationship made it exponentially worse. Both my back and my heart hurt for a very long time.
A year and a half later my back is somewhat better and my heart is a lot better. So, I just wanted to tell you to hang in there and if you ever want to talk I'm here.
I know that someday I will find someone that will be able to deal with my limitations and love me for who I am and not for what I can or can't do. You will too. I have since changed my priorities in what I look for in a mate and now have been dating girls who are teachers, volunteers and social workers. It's funny because that is the kind of person that I should have been looking for in the 1st place.
Dan