Thursday, April 30, 2009

Desperate

That is what I'm feeling right now. Desperate. Desperate to be without pain. It has been almost 2 weeks now of complete and utter pain. I can make it to the bathroom without crutches, but that's about it. Anywhere else I go, the crutches take me there.

Starting two weeks ago tomorrow I started having very severe pubic bone and pelvic pain after doing really well for about a month. Last Thursday it got to the point where I was considering going into the ER to get some help with the pain. Friday morning I called my orthopedist and she gave me a prescription for Lidocaine patches and wanted to see me on Monday. Monday afternoon she did a brief assessment, which mostly consisted of her seeing me in tears from the pain, and decided we would do one of two treatment plans. She wanted me to go to my physical therapy appointment that evening and find out if my hips were out of alignment. If they were, I was going to be scheduled for a cortisone shot into my SI joint. If they weren't and my alignment looked good, I was going to be scheduled for an MRI of my left hip and get a cortisone shot into the front of my hip.

I went to my PT appointment and I was out of alignment, but just a hair. My physical therapist didn't think this was what was causing my sever pain, so she did some tests on my hip. Her conclusion is that she thought I needed both things done and she said that she would call my doctor to let her know that.

So Tuesday morning I had my MRI and my cortisone shot. The cortisone shot was actually easier to handle then the MRI, because laying completely flat with my legs straight is VERY painful on my hip. The shot gave me some relief but only in a very specific part of my hip. It can take up to 7 days to get the full effect, so I'm hoping by next Tuesday it will be helping even more.


Fastforward to this morning and my MRI follow up with my doctor. The MRI showed a Cam Lesion (pictured below, the lesion is the shaded area and is extra bone on the hip).

My orthopedist did not think that this would be causing the amount of pain I am having and if it was the pain would have been helped more by the cortisone shot. So we're back to square one of not knowing what is going on. This was very disappointing to her and upsetting to me. We were both hoping that it would show SOMETHING, we could fix it and then I could get on the road to recovery and a pain free life.

Since that didn't work, we're on to the next step. Tomorrow morning at 9:45a I will be getting a cortisone shot into my SI joint. This is a very painful procedure and I will be sedated for it. At the same time the doctor will be assessing my SI joint to see if she can maybe figure out the cause of my pain. Then on Monday I will be seeing the hip specialist at Summit Orthopedics. The hope there is that he will have more ideas as to what could be causing my issues and we'll get some answers.

Right now I am just trying to make it through the pain. I am not my normal self. If you encounter me, I'm honestly not trying to be rude, but I have very little energy left after dealing with the pain, which makes me VERY crabby. Plus I'm not sleeping well because I'm never comfortable. The little bit of patience I have left is reserved for my children, so the rest of you may experience a whole different me. I apologize in advance if I'm out of it, ignore you, don't respond to emails, phone calls or when you are speaking to me face to face, I'm probably just working really hard not to cry or yell in pain. It's nothing personal, promise.

I would really appreciate prayers for tomorrow morning and Monday. First of all, I'm terrified of needles and am freaking out a bit about having one shoved into my pelvis. Secondly, I would really like this procedure to help with the constant pain. On Monday I am hoping to get answers or at least started on tests that will give me answers.

If you made it this far, thanks for letting me get this off my chest. I'm suffering and letting that out does make me feel a bit better.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Hugs and prayers! Let me know if there is anything I can do!

Carol E. said...

Chronic pain is the total pits. I'm so sorry you are going through this. Saying prayers for you!