Good for you for posting ToughChoices. That is rough stuff. There is nothing like pain to test us on so many different levels.
I really encourage you to get to the Docs. They can help you manage the pain, which might include low doses of meds that won't endanger your ongoing recovery. They can also tell you what some next steps are as far as further medical intervention. They might be able to fix you!!!
The one thing not to do is to settle in and try to live with pain, because that is no way to live, especially if there are other solutions that the Docs can offer.
Things do indeed get better and better, and make so much more sense, the longer we are in recovery and on our healthiest albeit imperfect roads.