I can’t speak to all serious diseases, but I can give you all a real story that compares some of the  worst, most painful illnesses known to mankind.

My dear sweet wife came down with colon cancer. It almost killed her before it was accurately diagnosed. They looked at her age around thirty-eight to thirty-nine years old, and disregarded the symptoms that would point them to a grapefruit size tumor in her transverse colon. They detected a blockage which they could not get rid of. Finally a diligent gastroenterologist detected it. We demanded emergency surgery to remove it and we took an aggressive approach to fighting the cancer. That and a lot of prayers on our behalf beat it.

The tumor was remarkably painful, typically the pain danced between an eight to a ten on the pain scale. Then the recovery from surgery was very painful and the chemotherapy was very painful. But she survived. It has been about twelve or thirteen years ago and she is doing great.

Shortly after her recovery, she came down with neuropathy in her feet and toes. That was painful but manageable. I  finally got a diagnosis of Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue. I was finally seeing a great pain specialist, Dr. George. I was, somewhat managing my pain. No fibro pain can be completely removed as those with fibro can attest to.

Then, a while after my initial fibro episode, my wife was diagnosed with Breast cancer that has metastasized into her armpit. We elected a full mastectomy. She survived a very painful recovery and very painful chemo treatments. She had surgery, then chemo followed by radiation therapy. She was at a stage three. It’s been eight or nine years since that fight with cancer. Twice a cancer victim, twice a cancer survivor.

A while after finishing her fight with breast cancer, we were talking about our painful moments with our respective seriously painful illnesses. She made a comment that really surprised me. Keep in mind that throughout her whole life, her greatest fear was cancer. Her comment was, “I think I would choose cancer over fibromyalgia. With cancer there is light at the end of the tunnel. You live or you die. The pain eventually goes away. But with fibromyalgia, there is no hope, no light at the end of the tunnel.”

Her comment really surprised me. She really grasped the never-ending painful torment of fibromyalgia pain.

So what is the worst pain related illness out there. I can’t say with absolute certainty, but I can say the fibromyalgia is one of the most common illnesses listed under chronic pain.

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