Skrape & others,
I think it's such a delicate balance. Of course we want to have hope that the next thing we try - or the next medication, treatment, etc. developed - will do the trick for us. That's normal and. I think, mostly healthly. But the reality is also there that we ultimately have to learn to adjust to "what is'. For many of us, the likelihood is we'll have some level of pain, and will have to manage that (why they call it pain management, not pain cure).
Everytime I've tried something I've thought THAT would be the medication, the treatment, the procedure, etc., and if all else failed, I'c finally try surgery. I don't think I seriously thought about
surgery not working. All my other surgeries in my life have helped me (but none of them have been this major). I just assumed that I'd have to go through the recuperation, etc, but that it would be worth it. I still think I'm healing from that experience - the experience of surgery, what I saw as the "last step" - failing, and even making some things worse. Being laid off via phone call while I was out on medical leave was like a double punch to the gut.
There is no answer that applies to everybody. But ultimately we either deal with what we have the best we can, or we live in even more bitterness. I'm not sayiing this is easy, by any means; it's what I'm struggling with right now.
Don't know if this helps any, but I do understand.
PaLady
Post Edited (PAlady) : 3/16/2009 8:54:43 PM (GMT-6)