Hope Springs Eternal

I have some good news about pain. No, it's not gone, but it is becoming more and more tolerable. The lidocaine and steroids wore off so the good news is that it means that this ablation worked and is now taking effect unlike the last time. I still can't understand why burning or cutting the nerves is not immediate, but that's the way it works. My doctor is cautiously optimistic, just as I am. He is wonderful. I still take pain medication, but the difference is (I think) that it works on the muscle pain now that the SI joint pain appears to have responded to the ablation. Before just recently, it didn't seem to make any difference whether I took pain medication or not because it did nothing at all for the SI joint.  I may always have to take it, but I'm hoping as the muscles I haven't used for so long, start working, again, I'll be able to take less and less medication. He told Susan that he may prescribe another round of aqua therapy. She works with him a lot so he gets updates all the time and visa versa. :)

I have been to the mall to buy a sofa which is the first time I've "shopped" in the mall in four years. Rather than "walk" the mall as in "therapy", I try to walk to enjoy it. I stay on even ground, temporarily, because of balance problems. Sometimes, I push it too much, and then I back off and remember "baby steps".

I can grocery shop. I can clean house. Instead of vacuuming three feet at a time, I'm up to vacuuming the whole downstairs at once. Not without pain, but it's bearable pain. It seems to be a little less pain each day. I really didn't think the ablation worked so I was surprised with this turn of events. The doctor who did the ablation went in so many more times than the first and he said he was trying different approaches. He is a hero in my eyes. Even if I can get six months at a time out of ablations, I'll take what I can get. In most cases, the nerves eventually repair themselves.

Inside I feel like shouting from the roof tops, but I almost feel as though I don't want to jinx myself. Silly, I know. I feel so grateful just to be able to walk to the mailbox and back without pain. I can't walk Jack, yet, because I need to stay on level ground as I don't want to risk a fall. (Again, because my balance is still not great.) I met Susan for dinner the other night. I parked the truck far away sort of as a test for myself. I walked to the truck and back without even a twinge of pain. Those steps were the most pain free I've had in years (without lidocaine in the joint).

So! The trailer stays for now. I made reservations for Charleston in the spring with Susan. She can help me get Jack into the truck. I can't wait! I'm hoping that this time I can walk around more in the city. And now, a trip west isn't just a pipe dream for the future.

I hate writing about my pain, but if I can make one person aware of their SI joints and ablation and how it works, readers will just skip over if not interested.

Son, Michael, has his own back problems. Fortunately, while they are painful, they are not serious enough to require surgery. He loves cycling, but it irritates his back, so from my favorite state of Oregon, he ordered a recumbent bike.

There's definitely a learning curve, but knowing Michael he'll be past it in no  time. Naturally, I had to bite my lip--my instinct wanted to tell him to stay on the sidewalk. :)

Bogey--he gets so comfy!

You tawkin' to me???

Jack takes a snooze. Bogey follows him everywhere--especially in the back yard.

Back to the Future, Maybe? That's my precious Lizzie by my chair, and of course a younger Jack.