sounds so familiar. I only know that if you don't listen to the warnings, it will come crashing down and you won't be able to choose for awhile. My Dr, advised filing for disability 4 years prior to my crash. I now wish I had gone back to school at that time. Now I only go to Dr and therapy visits...good wishes to you!

Thank you for your response. I wanted to answer some of your questions and I appreciate any feedback.
I have a great family support system, my husband works very hard and he has told me he just wants to see me happy. We run our own business and I am even limited in what I can do with it, we had to hire someone extra to do some of the work I used to do.
I am currently working part-time in the health care field but I have been off for 2 months because of my health problems.

I have been doing a lot of thinking, wondering what is important in my life. This is the most time I have spent thinking about myself since I had my children!
Maybe this is happening as a wake up call for me to start looking after myself for a change.

mydreams, that's got to be hard. Really hard. But if your doctor is telling you this, maybe it's time to take a step back and really think about it. Is there something else you've always wanted to try? Is there something else you feel suited for?

Also, don't feel you have to make an all or nothing change if you don't want to. Perhaps instead of changing careers suddenly, you could see if you could drop down to 3/4 or half time? Would that be possible? That way you could stay in your current career while dealing with your health issue and also searching for what will be next for you.

How supportive are your family members? How much financial support do you have outside of your job? Is there anyone you can lean on?

Hang in there and keep us posted. I'm very curious to see what this is going to bring to you. I know it's got to be scary, but maybe there will be--as Ariane says--a gift in the change.