Time for the injections

I got there early – highly unusual for me. I've always joked church should start at 11:03. I knew what was going to happen and I could hardly wait.

The nurse practitioner knew her job. She came in and immediately started checking about how I felt and asked if I had any questions. She started to explain the procedure and got my attention when she said that she would be injecting two different kinds of stem cells. I didn't know that there were different kinds other than those from umbilical cords and analogous, ones drawn from oneself.

She explained that the cord provided two kinds. The blood itself had one type and the cord had another kind called Wharton's jelly. Each replicates and helps create the type of cell that the recipient needs. In my case, it is meniscus. I have very little cushion in my knee so my knees hurt most of the time and keep me from doing a lot of things – like walking an incline or decline or using stairs. Those are the everyday things. More than that, it keeps me from doing other things that are important to me – crawling around on the floor with my granddaughter, sitting in a circle with my students and more active things like snow skiing.

She and April used a sonogram to identify exactly where she wanted to do the injection on each knee. She cleaned my knee, used betadine and then numbed the knee for the injection. On the left knee, she chose the outside front and the injection was pretty easy. The other knee would be done after I was no longer wearing the brace on the left knee.

They brought in the braces and adjusted them to fit although she said I would have to make adjustments as well. Before I left, Dr.  Kirwan came in to talk about how to adjust the braces in a way different rather than just adjusting the main strap. Adjustments would have to be made from the inside for the best fit. I also discovered that putting them on while standing worked better than while sitting. They stay up better.

I knew better than to expect anything immediate but I left in high spirits with instructions to take it easy, not to lift anything heavy, stay off of pain meds and a few other supplements. Staying off of medications would increase the inflammation so the stem cells would answer the 911 and go to help there.

In two weeks, I would go back to Integrated Medical NT to start rehab. I know I need it. Pain had changed the way I move. I would have to rebuild muscles and learn to move correctly again.

The braces work best for me over leggings. I tried them over jeans one day and had trouble keeping them up. I was reminded about how to adjust them from the inside and it made a world of difference.

I'm so excited!