How do you cope?

My husband is wonderful and knows that certain things will make me sore (like vacuuming) so we have a pretty good set up of who does what around the house. He's not a big people person, so I deal mostly with the childcare stuff and grocery/home shopping. This also helps me to get out of the house (I work from home) so I at least get up and about each day more than I might otherwise.

This is great but I also have times where I very consciously make myself ignore the pain I'm feeling. Sometimes I wake up so sore and achy but I tell myself I can only be upset for a few minutes. After some practice, it has helped some. There are still those days when not a darn thing I try helps at all, though!

One other person that helps me is my grandmother. She's been dealing with this since she was about my age so it helps sometimes just to talk to her because she and I can understand what the other person means about how they feel and we don't have to worry about someone not understanding or believing what we're talking about.

Your husband sounds like a wonderful one! It's great he helps you with the chores, you'd not believe how many guys don't even help their wives with the chores! But it's great you have found this kind of support, it truly means a lot!

As for your grandma, gosh, it's always good to find someone who knows what you are talking about and understand you. I know some lucky people who have never or rarely have experienced real pain! So naturally they will never get what we are talking about. That can make things worse! But once you connect with someone who understand and is going thru the same, then it's wonderful!