May 11 \”Pain: The Gift Nobody Wants\” ~Brand

Brad and I returned to good ol’ Mishawaka last night, in preparation for my prolotherapy treatment I had this morning.  We hit our usual hot spots: Life is Good, Meijer for Fat Tire and one Chobani (for my breakfast), and then Papa Vino’s for dinner…

I found my brother a beer called, Ranger, at Meijer’s that I decided I just HAD to buy him since he will be starting Ranger school on Sunday.  I felt it would be good motivation for him to get through, and know that an ice-cold Ranger beer would be waiting for him at the end.  As we were checking out at Meijer, we had a “first” happen.  The lady overseeing the self check-out, quickly made it over to Brad and me to tell us we had reached our beer limit.  Who knew Indiana had such a thing?  I was bummed because I hadn’t been able to get my brother the Ranger beer yet.  I decided I was not going to let her stop me so I inched my way over to another register, thinking I was being oh so sly.  Well, I guess I was not that sneaky because she busted me.  However, I’m happy to report that my story ends happily.  She allowed me to buy the beer since I was at a different register, I was using a different credit card, and a different ID.  However, she made it clear that she would “watch me all the way to the car” to make sure I did not put the Ranger beer in the same cart with the Fat Tire.

Whatev.

I got the Ranger beer.

Anyways, after such an eventful adventure, we headed to the hotel to see that Holly had been voted off Idol, and to finish watching the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction.  One observation I made?  The Red Hot Chili Peppers really, REALLY enjoy being shirtless.  I ended up falling asleep after watching a little Die Hard (not my choice, btw), but I slept pretty fitfully.  I finally decided to stop fighting the tossing and turning and got up at 7:30 to watch the Today show and write more thank you notes.  After slowly getting ready for the day, we headed to Subway, Starbucks, and then to my appointment.

Seeing Dr. Cantieri is always like seeing an old friend.  Or a good friend.  (I am not calling you old, Dr. Cantieri).  We caught up about personal stuff first and then got down to why I was there in the first place.  We talked about my pain and I showed him that I have been struggling lately with pain in my chest (around my upper ribs), in my mid-back area around my lower ribs, and on the sides of my neck.  He talked to me about how much I work the same muscle group each week.  For example, he asked how I often I work my scaps, and I told him 3-4 times a week.  He went on to explain that he thinks that the chest pain I am getting could be from doing too much in the same area without having enough recovery time.  Dr. Cantieri suggested that I try to alternate working out different areas of my body each week to prevent overdoing it. I am definitely going to work on this, since sliding backwards is the last thing I want to do.

Anyways, after going over the article with me that he gave me about this issue, he had me start on my stomach.  After examining me, Dr. Cantieri injected my mid-back, ribs, shoulder blades, 1st rib area, and then the sides of my neck.  Then I flipped over and he finished by injecting the front of my ribs and the front of my chest.  Fun, fun times, I tell you.

After I sat up, I drank my usual apple juice and took my usual Tylenol.  I scheduled to see him again in 6 weeks, and we took off for home sweet home.

Whenever, I leave, I think about the progress I have made since I started prolotherapy.  It is these times when I am stuck in deep thought that I realize that the pain I feel from the treatments truly is a gift.  It is this pain that has gradually helped my body become more stable, and more functional.

And for that I am grateful.