It's a rainy, cold day, so what's a girl to do? Go get a cortisone shot, of course. As anybody who reads this blog regularly knows, I haven't posted much in terms of biking for the last few weeks (other than the Hospice ride). Well, there's a reason - I haven't been riding. Among the reasons, and one of the dominant reasons for this is because my left leg has been protesting, right around the lateral distal aspect, i.e. the outside bottom portion. So, being a proponent of RICE, I took some time off thinking, overuse.... After about a month off, I put my bike on the trainer, got on and started pedaling. I expected my lungs to protest, my back to protest, my shoulders to protest, and well, my body to object to the application of exercise. Pleasantly, that didn't happen. I worked up a quick sweat and kept a decent cadence for a half hour. Unfortunately, within the first 5-10 minutes, my left leg began to protest in a swollen, painful way. This wasn't just protest for the sake of objecting to the work - it was a real owie.

Just to check, I went back the next day to the trainer, and once again did a half hour, and sure enough, same thing within 5-10 minutes, only this time, it stayed with me when I got off the bike. Aw, man, not again. I don't want to spend another minute with an orthopod, I'm not about to even contemplate surgery again this year. Give it a day, see what happens. The next day, it was moderately o.k.. I give it that day of rest, and the next day, I feel even better, so I chance the trainer. Nope.

So, today, I saw a GP with the idea of seeing what my options are. A GP isn't as tempted to cut as an orthopedic surgeon. He said rest and lots of ice. Anti inflammatory medication is usually prescribed, and that can be the oral kind, or they can just do a cortisone injection right into the knee. NSAIDs, yum, like I haven't had too many of these things in the past 10 months.... Injection puts the medicine right in the joint, bypassing my nauseated stomach. And, I should be feeling well enough to do a ride this weekend (there's one sponsored by the Evanston Bicycle Club that could be pretty interesting....). Chances are, it's not the biking that's doing it, chances are it's the left leg compensating for the right that's caused the problem. Blah, blah, blah, yet another wonderful development. Anyway, I opted for the shot.

I slip out of my jeans, stick my left leg out, and he puts iodine all over the outer portion of my knee. First shot anesthetizes the location where the cortisone is going to go. He puts it in a little, injects a little, in some more, injects some more, all the way, plunger to the end. He said it would hurt and I'd feel some pressure. If that was hurt and pressure, my pain threshold is through the roof. All I'm doing is watching the needle go in thinking that it's really wrong that I can't feel a thing even though my knee's obviously eaten 3 inches or more of needle.

Second needle contains a milky white substance. Unlike at the dentist, there's no waiting for the anesthetic to work - he just pushes the whole thing in and the pushes the plunger down. I'll feel some pressure. Nope, I feel nothing. The syringe empties and the needle comes out and a band aid goes on.

Anyway, here's what my knee looks like post cortisone, and my right knee for comparison's sake:


Left


Right

Sorry the images suck, but it was dark out and I had a hard time focusing. Anyway, you can see the swelling on the outside of my left knee that is the focus of my pain. While my right is still a bit atrophied, it does emphasize the differences.

I'd always heard that cortisone really really burns, and that you should avoid it if at all possible because of the pain. So far, no pain. Yes, when I was walking out, I could feel the numbness in my knee, but that's pretty much worn off by now. I don't feel any burn, pressure, or pain associated with the shot. We'll see if it does anything for my knee. We'll see if I can't start paying more attention to my walking, and get my right leg to bear a bit more of the burden. Maybe things will finally work their way out and I'll be back to normal, whatever that is....