Friendships & illness: Which ones last, and which ones fade?

I have lost some friends due to my health issues as I am unable to do a lot of activities I have osteoarthritis and restless leg syndrome also lower back issues it affects my walking abilities I have some friends who understand my situation

some friends have fallen by the wayside after the initial outpouring of care. It has been hard at times. I have questioned why? I think they couldnt relate, maybe it scared them.. but ultimately they weren't prepared to hang around to see where my recovery led.

Especially when you are still 'you' still talk about the same things, still laugh at the same things. Their loss I say, as they miss out on all the big wins, when you manage to reclaim something you thought was lost for good.. and the journey you go through with those few special people around you.. That bond is so strong, unbreakable even. 😍

People l thought of as friends disappeared as my arthritis got worse over the past 22 years. I now see none of these so called friends & sadly realised they were mere acquaintances. I attempted to keep in contact through the years but contact dwindled or they had prior plans so were unable to meet up. After being disappointed by them twice l never bothered them again.

I have lost many friends over the years, but those who know me well, have stuck with me through thick and thin and I them. True friends don't turn their back when the s**t hits the fan!

I've had a couple of so called friends though who began to take on my health problems as their own (I mean, why would you?!), to get disabled benefits and a parking badge; I kid you not! That woman started out as a neighbour and I knew there was something about her that I didn't like, but I gave her the benefit of the doubt and because friends with her. Slowly but surely, she began to say that she had the same issues as me, only on her social media, they were worse than mine and she had a diagnosis! They were all lies, which I called her out on and she got nasty, so it was bye-bye "friendship"...she is still lying through her teeth, but karma will catch her up one day and I hope I am there to see it.

Friends of friends publicly slandered me in a thread on Facebook which started as a question by my cousin on her allowing her then 9 year old to walk to the shop on his own. They said I was lazy, found tike to sit on Facebook all day, should get a job and stop pretending to be ill. I was fuming, they didn't know me, they knew of me via my estranged niece and chose to believe her lies about me. Those are the kind I hate.