I didn't have much choice. I couldn't walk until I was five years old. And I had constant surgery, broken bones, inflammatory attacks ... I spent as much time in bed out as out of it, sometimes.

[ As for the second question ... he shrugs. He's never actually been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, thanks to Barrayaran mental health care being nearly nonexistent. ]

Rather more than that. A difference in brain chemistry, though I couldn't tell you precisely what.