Life as I Know It: "Pain goes away. Pride lasts forever." ~unknown

Round 5 of prolotherapy...check! After six weeks, my Dad and I returned to Mishawaka for another treatment of prolotherapy. I am such a "routine" person. We have a routine down for on the way there, while I am prolo'd, and for on the way home. Routine gives me comfort; especially on a day that is not the most comfortable.

On the way there, we chatted and listened to Jimmy Buffett and the Zac Brown Band. We listened to this song multiple times. It has turned into a "drive to prolo" tradition. It lightens the mood and calms the nerves. When we got to Mishawaka we stopped at the usual gas station. While my Dad filled up, I went inside and got my usual English muffin sandwich at Subway. I ate it as we drove to the office. By now, we don't need written directions. We know we are at the correct street when we see the Hooters Restaurant on the right and the Honkers Restaurant on the left. Whatever helps :)

Once we got to Dr. Cantieri's office, I was called back right away. I knew the drill....Get on the scale, sit to have my vitals taken, and then wait for Dr. Cantieri to come and get me. When we went back to Dr. Cantieri's office, we talked about how my last six weeks were, my progress, my concerns, and we even chatted about family. Dr. Cantieri is a doctor who cares about more than just the doctor stuff. He wants to know how I am doing as a person. He wants to know how Brad and I are doing as a couple. As a person who happens to be a patient, that means a lot to me.

I told Dr. Cantieri that I still felt like I was improving, and that I gauge it by how much I have to brace myself. I told him I have not had to wear my neck collar or back brace nearly as much. I did tell him that my left lower rib area, and upper neck area still are giving me trouble. With that, Dr. Cantieri asked about my hip, and I told him that, yes, I do have problems with it from time to time, and when I was a gymnast my SI joint gave me lots of trouble. He examined my hip and decided to prolo the area because, he explained, that if my hip is loose and not working properly, it can be causing me a lot of the rib pain that I experience.

After discussing everything, Dr. Cantieri started the injections. He warned me that the hip joint is one of the most painful joints to have prolo'd. Wow, he was not kidding. I nearly came off the table, but it was over and done with pretty quickly. After my hip, my SI joint area was injected along with my rib area, upper back, and neck. With this round, I again did not have to have nearly as many injections on the right side of my body. I just have to continue working hard on getting my pesky left side under control with PT and prolo. I am proud of my Dad because he was able to take the pictures without getting sick; especially since he told me later that day that the hip injections were hard for him to watch.

As I was being injected, Dr. Cantieri and I talked about Georgia, different styles of prolotherapy, and how his son is in the Air Force. When I was finished, we discussed how he wants me back in 4 weeks instead of 6 weeks to stay on top of my hip. So June 27th, I will be going back for round 6.

We were on the road an hour and a half later. The ride home is very different than the ride there. On the ride home I lay in the back, wait for the Tylenol to kick in, I surround myself with pillows, and I lay in silence. Definitely no chicken song on the way home.

When we got home, I followed my usual routine of laying on my pillow fort in our chair. I was hungry so I ate dinner, and then about an hour later, I was getting sick in the bathroom. I have embraced it as part of the routine, and have come to terms that it is just part of the day. The thing about it is this: I know that all of the pain and sickness I feel on the day of prolotherapy is temporary. I can deal with temporary, as long as I continue to feel that my body is achieving more stability. As my sister-in-law, Audrey, would say, "Life is hard...get a helmet." I just know that prolo days are days I wear my "helmet."

Today, I am supposed to be visiting my classroom, but it will have to happen another day. Since round four wasn't as bad, I thought I was going to be able to function enough today to go see my Wexford family. After beating myself up a tad that I am not there, I finally just had to chalk it up as, "It is what it is," and hopefully I can go tomorrow before therapy. So, today I have embraced the fact that it is a "moving very slow, blogging, kind of couch day."