Injections...

My babies....I feel so lucky to have them happy, healthy, and here in my arms where I can hold them, kiss them, and love on them.  They are such a gift.  I don't think I will ever understand why I was blessed with my two kids and other great Moms don't get the same thing.

The other day I had 3 of the 8 little kids so we were driving around putting up some private road signs to keep the disrespectful hunters out.  I stopped in at our friends/babysitters house to drop off a check.  I didn't go in the house and was gone for about 60 seconds when I heard Everett yelling out the window.  This then turned into screaming which I thought was him and Scarlett fighting.  I rounded the corner of the house and Everett's head was rolled up in the window.  I freaked out, ran, pulled open my door, and rolled down the window to free his head.  Thankfully it rolled up on his cheek and not his neck.  Note to Everett: don't bring your two your old sister's attention to the window buttons and then stick you head out the window to see the baby kittens.  Note to mothers everywhere: don't leave kids in the car with the car running unless they are unable to get out of their seatbelts.  Again, so thankful for my kids and that it was his cheek and not his neck.  Please God, help us get them to 18 years old and beyond.

Okay, now onto the injections.  After all I have done my hips and neck are still extremely hypermobile and it doesn't take much to set things back.  I have yet to be pain free.  I have come a long way (I no longer sit in the dark closet curled into a ball crying trying to figure out how I will live like this) but things just are strengthening enough.  I had my follow up visit with Dr. Beeson (the most amazing doctor in my world) to see how things were coming and I mentioned the issues.  She suggested I might try Prolotherapy injections.  I said, "come again?"  I learned that they are injections done by Dr. Angersbach (the newest most amazing doctor in my world) and they are made up of B12, dextrose and provocaine.  This is injected into injured joints and tissues and it stimulates the joint to heal and lay down more tissue to stabilize it.  There are different kinds of prolotherapy injections too but this is the kind that I needed.  The first day I went to see her we did my sacro-iliac joint.  Lets just say it was very painful.  She injected about 6cc of fluid into four different spots in my SI joints.  Wow the aching it caused having that much fluid in there on top of the swelling I already have.  The pain passed though, and I discovered that all the coaching I do with patients on breathing through contractions was beneficial for me too.  Practice what I preach.  The day after my SI joints got shot up my neck was in full "freak out" mode again.  This is also known as Cervical torticollis to me and I had to work on top of it.  By about 1:00 in the afternoon I was so crooked and hurting so much that I couldn't continue to ignore it.  I called up Dr. Angersbach to see if she thought it was okay to have prolotherapy in my neck the way it was.  The answer was "yes" although she doesn't normally do the injections two days in a row and I must be a glutton for punishment.  When I got to her office she could see why I was there though.  Cervical Torticollis gives you a very weird posturing to your neck.  I can't make my neck move into the position unless I am having an episode.  She shot up my neck, my jaw, a few rib heads, and some other stuff and when I was done she told me I had to tell my husband I was "officially tough".  I told her I didn't want to do that because he would make me take the "tough" jobs.  My neck felt better after the injections and by day two afterwards I had full range of motion again.  My daily pain is still here but it takes a good 3-4 weeks before you see the full effect of the injections.  I may need another round but I am okay with that.  At this point I don't care about how bad the temporary pain is.  If it fixes the problem permanently I am a huge fan!  Oh, I almost forgot the best part.  These injections have an 84% success rate and the doctor said in my case it should work exceptionally well.  I was choking back tears when she told me if everything works out I should be back to normal functioning.  I went to physical therapy a few days after my injections and my hips were level and strait!  HOPE!!!!!  My gut is coming along too but will be a slow process. I cant eat much dairy....this is FOREVER!   I had a little bit of a pitty party for myself when this finally became apparent to me but I already have been mostly dairy free since we started this whole thing so I have just continued on.  It isn't too bad.  It makes my food selections healthier and I still eat small amounts of it when I want to.  The best part...I don't get stomach aches like I used to!