My Journey to Recovery

Persistence wears down resistance.

-  William J. Federer

It has certainitly been a long journey so far since hurting my back over 4 months ago. It even sounds strange saying 4 months as it feels like a year already. I have seen so many doctors while being passed from one to the next as nobody really seems willing to look outside the box and figure out what is actually going on with me. I have been told that I wasn't having much pain even though I said I was. I have been told I will just be in pain forever and there is nothing to be done for me. The back doctor blamed my problems on my hips and the hip doctor blamed my problem on my back. My choices were to either listen to this nonsense or continue to move forward until I found something that worked. Until I found answers that made sense.  

I chose to move forward. I found a way to deal with the pain I have been experiencing by changing the way I thought of pain. By excepting it vs. fighting it. It really helps. And now I am starting to see results. I am experiencing a faster recovery time even though I am not really able to be anymore active without pain I will take what I can get. 

I am going to try a treatment called prolotherapy. This is an injection of an irritant in my iliolumbar ligament in my back. This creates a localized inflammatory response which triggers a wound healing cascade, resulting in the deposition of new collagen, the material that ligaments and tendons are made of. Which in turn helps rebuild and heal the ligament making it stronger. 

I was told by a doctor I met recently that this treatment is kind of like religion. Some people believe in it and some don't. I figure first of all I don't have much of a choice as I haven't been given a better option and also I would be crazy not to go with the doctor that thinks I can make a complete recovery vs. the doctor that pretty much told me my I had no hope of recovery at all. 

Being given hope helps me continue moving forward in my journey to happiness and health. Anything is possible if you just believe. Anything can be done if you put in the effort. Of course these statements probably only go so far and there are some things we can't control and can't conquer but we can control how we feel about them. We can control how we react to them. And going into a challenge with doubt or disbelief is not going to prepare you for victory.