Bad Knees Blog - take 3

Cortisone is my friend.

At the end of the last episode, the good doctor was about to unload a syringe ful of cortisone into my knee. I've had cortisone shots in the past, but this one was different. First, unlike the other two I've had, which were done without lydocaine and injected into the front under my kneecap with little to no discomfort, I noticed this. He gave me a shot of lydocaine in the right side. I thought, I don't need this. These things barely register on my pain meter. Then he jabbed me with a knitting needle, shifted it around a little to explore every little corner, and pumped the magic in. He asked, "Can you feel that?"

I nearly went through the roof. "Ya!"

Oh happy pain.

By the time I was getting into my car, my life had gotten a whole lot brighter. By the time I got home, my limp had turned into a walk (more or less). And it got better yet. I could sit, stand, bend my knee, and kick field goals again. The best part of this came later. I slept without that pain for the first time in weeks.

So why did it take so long for me to go back to that well? I knew it could help, but I'd always been told that too much of that good thing would damage the knee even more. Overuse of cortisone can cause muscles to waste, cartilage to break down, bones to thin, and tendons to weaken. When I mentioned this to the doctor he said, "You have a very high tolerance for pain (Of course I do. I'm a Youper), but you don't have to have this kind of pain. Your knee is really bad. Nothing we do here is going to make it worse, so what are you saving it for?"

Well said, doc. To hell with the pain.

That was Wednesday. I'm not running, and I still have a few aches, but that's all they are. And here's the irony: now that my right leg has eased up, I have minor pains in the left, formerly known as the bad knee. I guess it's relative. I'm hoping the effects hang on for the next month and a half when I start the stem cell therapy.

Coming up - I'll tell you about the three clinics I contacted, what they offered, how they interacted with me, and the costs.