In which I get shot in the butt

On Thursday DeLee came by my house in the morning and drove me over to the Spine and Pain center.  I'm not kidding about the name.

They're direct about the reason you're there.

The doctor, with the help of a heavily shielded nurse, used an xray machine to guide his needle deep into my right buttock, where he deposited about a grapefruit sized bolus of steroids.  Or possibly a tablespoon sized bolus.  It felt huge though.  I mean, right then it didn't because first he gave me a local anesthetic.  But when that wore off.. sitting was not so much of an option.  I stood a lot on Thursday.

As an aside, since the shot needed to go into my sacroiliac, my butt had to be bared.  But I didn't have to strip.  Shirt pulled up, pants pulled down.  It felt pretty illegitimate.  And then my doctor was cute.  Hi!  This is my butt.  Good gravy.  Could it get any more awkward?

I am uncertain if the shot is working the way it should.  My L5-S1 joint isn't so painful, but it had already become less painful after the brusque physical therapist showed me how to work on my tilted pelvis.  And now the sacroiliac joint feels like I got kicked in the butt.  Like I should be black and blue.  Just on my inside parts, though.  Apparently it takes some time for all that stuff to absorb and do whatever it's going to do.

My instructions were to rest on Thursday and apply ice every hour, which I did.  Friday I went to work like normal.  Saturday I went out to the park like I always do.  My instructions were not to increase activity, so I didn't.  I even did less mileage than the previous weekend.

Today I sent a note to a friend who has been down the steroid shot route before and knew what to expect.  "I feel like somebody pegged me in the butt with a softball," I wrote.  "Is that normal?"  She replied that I might need to be less active on it, and to try heat.  I wrote back "I was less active!  I mean, I only went 8 miles instead of 11.."

My friend says, "Uh, I think I see why you might be experiencing some pain still.."

I obviously don't have the first clue how to exercise in moderation.

Wednesday I go back to PT lady so she can evaluate my efforts.  She reminds me very much of some riding instructors I've met.  Very blunt, outspoken, and REALLY GOOD.  Unfortunately I couldn't completely keep up with her rapid fire blasting of anatomical descriptions and consequences of various problems, but I *did* get her to give me paperwork specifying precisely how the curative exercises are supposed to work.  I was very impressed with her insight and knowledge.  I love it when I meet people who are very good at what they do, especially when it's something that would be very difficult for me.  I can't look at a person and tell you much about how their body works.  She can look at me and visualize how my bones are connecting, and make the mental correction to how they should be connecting.  Just amazing.  I just nodded and tried to pay attention to what I needed to do to make it better.

I expect that both PT lady and my chiropractor will lecture me about not taking it easy enough while we're changing how my inner parts relate to each other.  Medical professionals get like that.  Like it's so easy being me?  You do not want to know what happens when I'm forced to not hike for a while.  *shudder*