@Shaz51 

I'm not sure what else to say. 

With my partner's illness it has so far been a 2 year journey. It was picked up through luck and a great GP. The first treatment was 'take this drug for 3 years and then we'll check' - it worked for 6 months. There are 3 more types of treatment and it is now a process of take treatment B, when that stops working, move to treatment C. Realistically we expected a few years with treatment B, it has been around 8 months and it seems to not be working. (there have been a few other things along the way but I'm trying to not be too specific).

We found out last week that Treatment B looks to have lost it's effectiveness, though we have to wait 6 weeks to have that confirmed. Thankfully I had taken the day off work to be at the visit with my partner, I also then took next day off. I work in the healthcare/disability field so my workplace is supportive which is great, but I spend my work days focused on clients who have significant disability, or supporting other clinicians.

On a personal note I think my partner and I are both focused on each other that we are hesitant to admit to each other how deeply we are affected, neither of us want to add stress to the other. I also don't want to add stress to the friends I mentioned - one has a significant health/disability issue, and the other has a child with a significant health/disability issue, resulting in at least one of them being in hospital once a month.