I’m so sorry to hear that Ms B.
I’m on a couple of Facebook groups for rare diseases. It’s handy for getting information that isn’t otherwise available. And the majority of people talk about how others just don’t get it, don’t have any patience, and that people drift away after a while of them not getting better. It’s not at all unusual.
But I finally figured out is that it’s definitely not personal. For someone to have empathy they have to be capable of letting themselves feel vulnerable, to be able to put themselves in someone else’s shoes. So many people can’t go there, they choose to put a wall up instead.
When the pain from my corneal neuropathy was subsiding, but then I started having Vision issues I had a neighbor say in a snarky way that she just couldn’t understand why I kept having eye problems. As if it was my fault. She’s one of these tough, always right people, with a mousy husband and who would never even accept any produce out of my garden much less help when she had surgery. So I wasn’t surprised other than her snide tone of voice. She pretends to be a Christian so I’m surprised she let it show.
Thanks.
Empathy is the key word.
It is so hard for others to put themselves in the place of someone else unless something like it or similar has happened to them.
And then there are some who just naturally have sympathy and can understand without having to have the experience.
That would be Christian like, what we are taught in our different religions.