Sentence:  ( 1 ) When an object was placed in the patient 's hand , he had no <WSD>difficulty</WSD> determining whether it was warm or cold , sharp or blunt , rough or smooth , flexible , soft , or hard ; and he could tell , simply by the feel of it , whether it was made of wood , iron , cloth , rubber , and so on . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  a condition or state of affairs almost beyond one's ability to deal with and requiring great effort to bear or overcome