When they told me they would be shooting chicken cartilage into my knee, I thought it odd. However, since my torn meniscus last year I have been in continual limp mode. That has not helped me in any way. So if chicken cartilage is all the rage in surgery avoidance I am in. Shoot away. I had one super shot 6 months ago that changed nothing. This time we opted for the 3 shot series in hopes that its longer track record would do the trick. In between these two chicken shots, I have had 3 cortisone shots, each which lasted only a couple of weeks.
The three series is one shot a week for three weeks. Oh joy. I have discovered, in this process, that next time I need to have blood drawn I will let them know all my blood is in my knee. Mount Vesuvius erupts each time and they have difficulty getting it to stop. The results of the first two of this round of shots have made my knee more achy and less flexible. Pretty much the opposite of what it is supposed to do. If these don’t work I am looking at full knee replacement this summer. You know how I HATE surgery. For someone who had never been in a hospital until 5 years ago, (other than to birth my four children) I have had more than enough surgery to last a lifetime. The fact that this surgery will immobilize me for some weeks has me fretting already, and attempting to hike as much as possible until the day of.
The third shot went in today. The doc said she hates the look on my face when it goes in. To which I replied, “Then get the d@*# 8 inch needled out of my knee and I will smile for you.” Okay, you know I didn’t actually say it…but I did think it as I gritted my teeth and held back the tears. The bright side to this is that after cancer one minute of pain is nothing. There is always a bright side. 🙂