Okay, I'm awake now.
On the subject of chronic pain - it can pass. It depends on why, and how. I have shared here before about my long-term chronic pain but over the last 18 months it has gradually eased to the point where at last I have been able to reduce my morphine levels. I had tried for years and could not; the dose just kept increasing, partly habituation and partly pain actually increasing over time.
Just before Christmas I took my last morphine. I'm now cutting back on other less strong pain killers. I'm still in pain, but not as severe and I'm managing it. I think a big reason for my improvement has been the radiation treatment for my breast cancer (need to check this out with doctors, it's just my theory) because the improvement began a few months after my radiation treatment finished. My pain specialist is blown away by this.
All I'm saying - never give up hope. I know, from my own experience, that you also need to shield yourself from false hope, but keep a kernel of "maybe one day..." alive inside.
As for the osteo component of my pain - easy child 2/difficult child 2 commented the other day that my collection of cushions (in the car) is rivalling her own personal collection in her living room and bedroom combined. But some of my cushions are expensive orthopedic ones for supporting this bit, or that, that hurts with pressure. I can't see them fitting in to a typical living room decor!
My improvement in pain may not last. I know that. But every day I'm able to stay off morphine, is a day when my body is adjusting the required dosage level back down.
I hope you feel better today, Jo.
And Buddy - stay warm! We had a freezer at work that went to 30 below. There were lots of strict safety regs about using it, because none of us in Australia can personally comprehend such appalling temperatures. My boss wanted to chill off a bucket of water so he put it in the freezer for half an hour. When he took it out the handle pulled off the bucket (the plastic had passed glass transition temperature) and managed to manhandle the plastic-coated ice block to the sink in his lab. I was sitting in there with him as, over the next ten minutes, the thing warmed up so fast that bits kept shattering off literally under their own steam. Bits of bucket fell off, chunks of ice would self-shatter with sounds like gunshots. It was very difficult to concentrate!
Marg