Looking at surviving chronic pain from a different perspective

I'm posting this in case it can be useful for somebody.

I have permanent damage to my right side sciatic nerve and I take quite a lot of pain medication and also anti-inflammatories. because I am having surgery next week I have had to stop taking the anti-inflammatories and now I have fierce stabbing pain in my leg - much worse in bed at night.

Two nights ago I was awake most of the night - despite throwing down all the pain meds I could possibly take I was in agony. I was also troubled that I was keeping my partner awake. Yesterday we discussed it - I was suggesting that I go to another room rather than keep him awake. The genius that he is came up with another solution!

He know that I love watching movies, so he set up my laptop on my bedside table with earplugs .... I can easily get to it and I could watch all night without waking him ... it would keep me engaged and stop me thinking about the pain. As an extra aid to pain relief he also included a bottle of shiraz and a spill proof glass!

Fortunately I didn't need to resort to my own little private home theatre last night - I got 10 hours sleep (in 2 batches) and I wonder if just knowing that I had something fun to do took the stress out of the situation - instead of lying in the dark focussing on my pain I went to sleep thinking that if I did happen to wake up in pain I could have my own little party!

Hope this helps somebody.