Thank you so much for your response. It resonates with what Andreas has advised and thus I can now plot my resurgence ever further. Perhaps my "condition" is not near severe as I had imagined, and if this is indeed the case it appears I have wasted the past eighteen years of my existence worrying about something that may not be...
I do hope that your operation went well, and that you are now free of woe and consequently ready for yet another adventure!