hi - it definitely sounds like you have been through a horrible experience. I think when you live it day to day you really don't realize how bad it is until you step away. One of the most impossible things to do is to understand crack abuse if you aren't a user. I'm grateful that I never tried it or wanted to try it.
People that get sober from this drug are just done with it and do everything that they need to do to put that into place. It truly means changing everything. And it is something that is never done because someone else wants them to do it - it's only because they have hit their bottom.
Unfortunately, that bottom isn't going to be reached as long as he knows that you are there and can be cajoled into taking him back and forgiving him. Catch 22, huh? We keep thinking that there is some way to "do it" and make it work the same way that they probably feel about crack.
People can recover from crack abuse but only if they really do EVERYTHING that it takes. It is rare for that to happen however. I have read some really sad statistics - like 3% of crack users stay sober. I don't know if it is that low but I know that it is bad.
My husband used for 20 years and did the absolutely most deplorable things a person can do. He lived in a crack house for a year, destroyed his family, lost his business, got arrested, etc. He has been sober for 5+ years but does not work a program any longer (and hasn't for the last 3 1/2 years). I thought that his getting sober was the trick - but I was really wrong about that. Just because he was sober didn't mean that he acted better. In fact, he was actually more tolerable when he was using.
I'm sorry for your pain but it will continue unless you begin to take care of you. When you ask do people ever recover from crack I hear you looking for reasons to stay with him. Maybe they do recover but it's rarely around the people that they were with while they were using. Just a sad truth. It is a drug that causes so much damage - and it definitely has long term consequences.
The experience, strength, and hope that I have to share with you is that taking care of yourself, working your own program, developing boundaries, having consequences and sticking to them are what will set you free. Trying to find a way to stick with him is not nearly as productive as taking care of yourself and developing your own life.
Short term pain for long term gain.........a life without an addict or living with the fear of relapse.....sure sound better than what you are going through.