Day 4 What a difference a day makes!

Yesterday, my pain was up and I was struggling with accepting the TMS diagnosis. Today, it feels much easier. I know there will be ups and downs, but there are a lot of encouraging signs today that are making it easier to accept the TMS diagnosis:

1) No 4:30am wake-ups from pain since I started the Structured Education Program
2) Acknowledged some anger and frustration related to body image and fitness that resulted in diminished pain
3) Have been able to lay flat on my back in bed for the past two days while doing my Structured Education Program "homework"
4) Was able to sit back in my chair at work with no pain on a couple occasions today for the first time in as long as I can remember
5) Muted pain/numbness on my walk home from the subway today - much less than usual - the walk was enjoyable!
6) My dermatitis has flared up worse than ever and basically overnight. I have always associated my dermatitis with stress so this has really help cement that my sciatica is comparable and as it is lessened my brain is trying to find another outlet.
7) I went for periods of time where I forgot about the pain!!!

In terms of the Question to Ponder for Day 4:

I have a great family doc, but like most it was discouraging to hear him immediately jump to surgery as the way forward after seeing my MRI and learning that I had been doing physio for several months. Things felt pretty hopeless after that. I continued with the physio, but it almost felt like I was on this inevitable path to surgery no matter what I did and deep down I knew that surgery wouldn't actually fix this pain. Today, with what I know about TMS now, surgery feels so distant and strange as a way to deal with this issue.