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Santiago.
I am 22 and was diagnosed with SAA when I was 19. I am currently actually feeling good, although I am drug- and transfusion dependent. I know that everyone who has AA probably thinks that it's hardest on them for some reason, but I've also felt that my age makes it especially hard to deal with such a condition. Sometimes I feel like... kids have their families to take care of everything, they probably don't have to make their own decisions about their care, and they don't have to worry about work or living situations or.. much of anything. And then adults are at least settled in their lives, may have careers that they can return to, etc. I, on the other hand, feel like I'm totally in jeopardy. Before diagnosis, I had a 3.8 GPA at a university whereas now I'm struggling just taking enough classes at a community college to be 'full time' so I can stay on my parent's insurance.
I also feel like most of the people I grew up with are at a really exciting time in their lives and they're starting to graduate from school and get married and all the normal young-adult stuff. I also know what you mean about difficulty connecting with people: especially those our age. I find it hard to even pretend to care about unimportant social 'crises' that my friends talk my ear off about. On the other hand, most of them are completely oblivious as to what it is that I go through. It's extremely difficult to even explain one hard day to someone who doesn't understand AA medical lexicon. It's also nothing that anyone really wants to hear...
I'm sorry for rambling on so much; this is just an issue that I guess I've been needing to vent about for a long time.
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