Will is taking me to the pain doc to get an epidural steroid injection this morning as a first step toward remedying the leg pain I've had for months. I feel optimistic now that the real source of the pain has been identified.
We live in an age of specialists. The knee bone is not connected to the thigh bone it turns out--at least not when it comes to medical treatments.
The knee joint is indeed connected to the thigh, which is connected to the hip, which is connected to the network of nerves running down the leg from the lower back. But a separate doctor is needed to attend to each part; it was a physical therapist and a massage therapist who discovered that what I've been experiencing may have little if anything to do with my knee replacement.
I assumed that I was having a particularly lengthy recovery from knee surgery, and the knee doc must have assumed the same. He sent me pain and PT prescriptions, along with: "I wouldn't worry about it. Replacement recoveries take longer for some people than others."
I wasn't asking the right questions, nor was he. It was my massage therapist, not the doctor, who suggested I get an MRI--which revealed severe bulging of L4 and L5, binding the nerves that run all the way down the leg from the lower back.
Once again, as in so many areas of life, asking the right question can make all the difference. If I had known months ago what this was, I'd be way further down the road to finding a solution. But I am where I am: hoping these shots from a pain doctor will stop the pain, then seeing a spine and back doctor to decide where we go from here.
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