Tia makes some good points…we don’t know where a disease will take us. My cousin just recently had assisted death as the pain of rheumatoid arthritis and complications made life unbearable…. I’m hoping ET does not give me that kind of pain!…yet I know others with less severe rheumatoid..certainly my husband has type 2 diabetes and no pain…living a normal life at 85.. healthier than me !

My brother is 75 years old and has struggled with juvenile-onset diabetes for decades. I have two longtime friends whose cancer has returned and for whom no chemo drugs are working. I feel lucky to "only" have early stage of ET, although of course I realize it is a progressive disease.

Well, I am not in pain and the hydroxy is not causing any difficulties so I feel fortunate. I am diagnosed w et and jak-2 positive.

All these chronic diseases are so heterogeneous, meaning they can go from few issues and easy to control to severe issues and difficulties to keep the disease under control that it is hard to estimate which illness would be easier to manage over time.
The only thing about RA and diabetes is that these are not rare diseases, that there are good clinics and specialists available to treat them, there is good counselling for patients, and plenty of research funds regarding treatment. It doesn't mean these are not tough diseases to have, just that there are more efforts to find a cure or better treatment for them.