The research is encouraging and hopefully will lead to more effective treatments. I think hope of a cure is a little far fetched right now, since at this point many research teams have been spending years looking into cures for autoimmune diseases with very little progress. On the other hand, once the first team cracks it for the disease they're working on it will be so much easier for the rest. But it can certainly get us better understanding and better relief while we wait for that time and that is very hopeful.

For me this didn't start with surgery, but with repeated trauma to the same area over and over and over... until this happened. It was a fall, but a fall that left me with a sprained ankle and in need of crutches and kept happening every 2-3 months, and this after a severe nerve injury to that leg several years prior. I'm not sure that qualifies as just a fall at that point. I did get a really bad flare with an injection though, which is the last time I'll ever let someone do a neck-stabbing to try to relieve my pain. The pain was worse for several days than it had ever been before.

I still don't feel sorry for mice. Maybe that makes me a horrible person but I grew up on a farm and they were a serious nuisance. We also had one in our house a few months ago that led to some chair standing, some screaming, and some being poked fun of by my husband. I don't like the things.