Respect the Limp

Well, I can cross prolotherapy and ozone off my bucket list, and hopefully fix my knee once and for all.

After hurting my knee during this race, I've spent the past four months trying to heal via rest and PT, but it didn't seem to be getting there. It got better, but was never really where I wanted it to be. At this point, the doctor thought the pain might be caused by a tear, so I had three options - prolotherapy and ozone, platelet injection, or surgery. I opted for an MRI so I'd know what I was really dealing with and learned that nothing was torn - yay!  Based on that, I was advised to go the less expensive, less painful, and less recovery time route of prolotherapy. And now my iPad recognizes prolotherapy as a word....haha. But, I digress.....

Prolotherapy is an injection of basically sugar water into an area with limited blood supply to cause irritation and increase the blood supply, thus improving the tissue's ability to heal on its own. He also advised ozone.....some sort of oxygen substance.

Having had cortisone injections in the past, I was a little nervous about how it might feel after....cortisone was all well and good until the numbing agent wore off and then BAM - worst pain ever. However, I was assured this would be very different.

The procedure itself was pretty easy and painless for getting nine or so shots. The only ones that really hurt were the numbing ones. The first one caused some weird muscle reflex/jerking thing, which was odd and a little freaky. He asked what happened and I really wasn't sure. Once I was numb, it wasn't too bad....felt a lot like jello running through my veins if you can imagine. What that feels like.  And some pressure and a feeling of fullnessas it went on, but that's about it. Three shots later and the inside was done. On to the front.  That part was....weird. Really weird.  And it was right on the side of the tibia, so I could feel most of it. Felt kind of like lava running down my bone. Ouch. But, luckily short lived. There was another shot that had to be jostled or something to get the muscle firing. Also weird. Then on to the quad.  Not bad at all once it was numb. And then it was over.

Knee felt full and was all sorts of oddly swollen. Almost like a smaller version of what happened at the race. Walking was interesting since half of my leg was numb.....doctor told me to respect the limp and go slow. Haha....after a stop at Walgreens to get the pain killers and Safeway to get some chicken - I was told to eat protein and not carbs, so my Friday night go-to of pasta was a no go, it was home to rest and let the healing begin.

Now, it looks far less deformed and is a little more achy.  And my leg muscles are softly quaking....it's weird, but not awful and hopefully that means the stuff is working. I just hope it stops before bedtime.

For now, I'm excited to relax and watch the Red Sox, and sleep in for the first time in as long as I can remember. Though, I do wish I was heading out for a run or to volunteer tomorrow, I think I could use the rest.

Over and out....