Congratulations to you for working through your pain! Marls' comment on watching anxiously for return of pain seems insightful to me. For my part, I'm in a a state of fairly continual low-grade pain and glute-cramping lately; when the pain recedes, I worry about it returning which is a kind of anxiety, and is very much tied into anticipating the pain. It's very consuming and depressing. To deal with this, I am working on being in more in the present, accepting things as they are. Meditation has helped--simple mindfulness, noticing the endless run of my thoughts without judging them. For inspiration in this vein, been reading Kabat-Zinn's insightful little book, Wherever You Go, There You Are. I wish you well!