The Shot from Hell
Yesterday, I had a cortisone injection directly into my hip joint at the Really Good Hospital. It is over an hour away but there are no good doctors or hospitals in the East Bumfuck area that I live in. The reason why I had it done there is that, according to my doctor, the hip joint is "complicated" and thus this needed to be done by a radiologist using fluoroscopy (live X-ray).
Bear and I left early enough to get to the hospital with a comfortable enough amount of time to register and settle in. Of course, when I got there, I was told they were "running a bit behind schedule." Like over an hour behind schedule.
Good thing we brought our Kindles.
When I was finally brought into the procedure room over 75 minutes later, I was prepped and given information about the procedure. I expected the doctor to come in and do what he needed to do but that did not happen. I was stuck lying on a hard, flat table for what seemed like an eternity. It kind of was. That 45-minute wait was not only very boring—I was forced to stare at the ceiling for the entire time as I was kind of immobile—but also very painful. My back was killing me from the hard surface, but then about halfway through the wait, my hip started joining in on the fun. Joy.
The radiologist finally arrived with a string of apologies but I was just happy to get it started and over with. He told me he would numb the area of the shot first. He would then inject a contrast to make sure the needle was in the proper location. Finally, he would push in some lidocaine as a pain killer, followed by the cortisone. The whole thing took about two minutes.
It was a very long two minutes.
A very PAINFUL two minutes.
The numbing and the contrast were not bad. However, they were pushing 10cc of fluids into a narrow joint. A very narrow one due to the osteoarthritis. It might not seem like a lot to you—it is only about two teaspoons worth—but my hip felt like it was being slowly dislocated. As I have actually dislocated joints before, I am intimately familiar with that type of pain. Let's just say it was not fun.
By the time I got off the table though, I did not feel too bad. I could walk back to the waiting room under my own power to meet up with Bear. I figured the lidocaine was doing its thing, but I also knew that it would only last a couple of hours. I told him to take me back home so I could stretch out and rest for the rest of the day.
It was when the lidocaine wore off that the real hell began.
Anytime I moved, my pain shot up to a 9 out of 10. Lying down? A good 7-8 no matter what position I was in. Everything hurt and nothing I took helped. Not even the Good Pain Meds.
One thing I should explain: my pain scale is unlike most people's. I cannot go by the standard 1-10 scale that you see in doctors' offices:
Why is that? I used to play ice hockey.
As I mentioned in a previous post, hockey players have a strange concept of pain. I do not know if it is based in the machismo expected from the players or if you just get used to the pain after a while. What I did learn very early on was that pain is relative and that it is all about how we perceive it. So somebody else's level 8 may be just an annoyance for me that I ignore. If the pain is interfering with my life and I can no longer ignore it, we're looking at a level 7. Level 8 is when I start getting into the really bad pain, while at level 9 I start getting nauseous as the pain is so bad. Level 10? I am passed out from shock due to the pain.
Now can you see why that pain scale doesn't work for me?
Maybe I should bring this one with me when I go to the doctor:
I will give you an example of my distorted perceptions of pain. Back in the day, I shattered and dislocated my right ankle during a summer hockey camp I went to. Yes, that is a thing, and it is very popular in Canada. While I will admit to passing out from shock when it occurred, I tried to "skate off" the pain after I came to. I even walked to the locker room under my own power. As I was walking, my ankle did not feel right. I asked the trainer if it was possible to dislocate an ankle and he said "you can, but it's really difficult." I was like "oh, OK" and stopped thinking about it.
I'm an idiot, right? To be fair, I did not know how serious it was. I knew I did something bad when I went down, but nowhere near the reality of it. It was not until I got to the hospital and saw the x-ray that I thought "oh that's not good."
Yep, I am weird.
Anyhoo, last night I was getting a bit worried about the pain. You see, no one told me of any potential complications after the shot. The only thing he told me was that I may feel "a little soreness," which would be a level 2 for me. This was most definitely not a level 2.
So, I did some research—as that is my thing—and saw that I may have developed a cortisone flare. This is caused by either the shot really aggravating the inflammation already in the joint or I was having a reaction to the cortisone. As I have had multiple cortisone shots over the years, I doubt it was the latter. Per the recommended instructions, I did ice it and took some additional anti-inflammatories, but as I said, nothing was really working.
At least today I am feeling a smidge better I can walk and not be in excruciating pain, so that is a step in the right direction. The pain is still noticeable—around a 7—but not nearly as bad as last night. Maybe I'll continue to improve as the day goes on. Hopefully.
In the meantime, I am going to spend the day resting I do not want to aggravate the joint any more than it already is. Thankfully, I do not have to go anywhere today.
I just hope all of this helps in the long term If it does, then it will be worth it Short-term pain is worth long-term gain. However, if it does not help, I do not know what I'm going to do as a replacement is out of the question for now.
Bear and I left early enough to get to the hospital with a comfortable enough amount of time to register and settle in. Of course, when I got there, I was told they were "running a bit behind schedule." Like over an hour behind schedule.
Good thing we brought our Kindles.
When I was finally brought into the procedure room over 75 minutes later, I was prepped and given information about the procedure. I expected the doctor to come in and do what he needed to do but that did not happen. I was stuck lying on a hard, flat table for what seemed like an eternity. It kind of was. That 45-minute wait was not only very boring—I was forced to stare at the ceiling for the entire time as I was kind of immobile—but also very painful. My back was killing me from the hard surface, but then about halfway through the wait, my hip started joining in on the fun. Joy.
The radiologist finally arrived with a string of apologies but I was just happy to get it started and over with. He told me he would numb the area of the shot first. He would then inject a contrast to make sure the needle was in the proper location. Finally, he would push in some lidocaine as a pain killer, followed by the cortisone. The whole thing took about two minutes.
It was a very long two minutes.
A very PAINFUL two minutes.
The numbing and the contrast were not bad. However, they were pushing 10cc of fluids into a narrow joint. A very narrow one due to the osteoarthritis. It might not seem like a lot to you—it is only about two teaspoons worth—but my hip felt like it was being slowly dislocated. As I have actually dislocated joints before, I am intimately familiar with that type of pain. Let's just say it was not fun.
By the time I got off the table though, I did not feel too bad. I could walk back to the waiting room under my own power to meet up with Bear. I figured the lidocaine was doing its thing, but I also knew that it would only last a couple of hours. I told him to take me back home so I could stretch out and rest for the rest of the day.
It was when the lidocaine wore off that the real hell began.
Anytime I moved, my pain shot up to a 9 out of 10. Lying down? A good 7-8 no matter what position I was in. Everything hurt and nothing I took helped. Not even the Good Pain Meds.
One thing I should explain: my pain scale is unlike most people's. I cannot go by the standard 1-10 scale that you see in doctors' offices:
 |
| This damn thing doesn't work for me |
Why is that? I used to play ice hockey.
As I mentioned in a previous post, hockey players have a strange concept of pain. I do not know if it is based in the machismo expected from the players or if you just get used to the pain after a while. What I did learn very early on was that pain is relative and that it is all about how we perceive it. So somebody else's level 8 may be just an annoyance for me that I ignore. If the pain is interfering with my life and I can no longer ignore it, we're looking at a level 7. Level 8 is when I start getting into the really bad pain, while at level 9 I start getting nauseous as the pain is so bad. Level 10? I am passed out from shock due to the pain.
Now can you see why that pain scale doesn't work for me?
Maybe I should bring this one with me when I go to the doctor:
 |
| A bit more accurate |
I will give you an example of my distorted perceptions of pain. Back in the day, I shattered and dislocated my right ankle during a summer hockey camp I went to. Yes, that is a thing, and it is very popular in Canada. While I will admit to passing out from shock when it occurred, I tried to "skate off" the pain after I came to. I even walked to the locker room under my own power. As I was walking, my ankle did not feel right. I asked the trainer if it was possible to dislocate an ankle and he said "you can, but it's really difficult." I was like "oh, OK" and stopped thinking about it.
I'm an idiot, right? To be fair, I did not know how serious it was. I knew I did something bad when I went down, but nowhere near the reality of it. It was not until I got to the hospital and saw the x-ray that I thought "oh that's not good."
Yep, I am weird.
Anyhoo, last night I was getting a bit worried about the pain. You see, no one told me of any potential complications after the shot. The only thing he told me was that I may feel "a little soreness," which would be a level 2 for me. This was most definitely not a level 2.
So, I did some research—as that is my thing—and saw that I may have developed a cortisone flare. This is caused by either the shot really aggravating the inflammation already in the joint or I was having a reaction to the cortisone. As I have had multiple cortisone shots over the years, I doubt it was the latter. Per the recommended instructions, I did ice it and took some additional anti-inflammatories, but as I said, nothing was really working.
At least today I am feeling a smidge better I can walk and not be in excruciating pain, so that is a step in the right direction. The pain is still noticeable—around a 7—but not nearly as bad as last night. Maybe I'll continue to improve as the day goes on. Hopefully.
In the meantime, I am going to spend the day resting I do not want to aggravate the joint any more than it already is. Thankfully, I do not have to go anywhere today.
I just hope all of this helps in the long term If it does, then it will be worth it Short-term pain is worth long-term gain. However, if it does not help, I do not know what I'm going to do as a replacement is out of the question for now.
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