The past week was jam-packed for me. I went down to Roswell, GA on Monday and on the way, had to stop at ER in Blairsville for pain shot so I could make the drive. I am so tired of the pain in back, hip and leg.
I am impressed with how well Union General Hospital has improved and especially impressed that there is no hospital odor, chemical odor that used to hit me in the face when I entered. No cleaning products smell assailed me when I walked through the door. In fact, there were no scents at all. Just clean atmosphere inside the ER and in the waiting room. I applaud the folks at Union General.
In Roswell my sister, Gay, pampered me, massaged my back, and let me sleep and rest all I wanted. We went out to dinner one evening with old friends visiting from Texas. That was fun.
Before I came home I made a stop in Canton, GA to discuss stem cell therapy with staff in a clinic where they said they do 2,000 a month. This clinic only gives injections for joints, not for the many other things stem cell is used for these days. It is so quick and easy they could have done mine that afternoon, but I don't make decisions like that without careful research and lots of thought.
The cost is out of sight and of course, no insurance will pay for treatment, but just two injections in my knee would begin the healing and within three months I'd have no pain. No surgery and no long recovery from surgery. This therapy uses umbilical cord and placenta from C-Section births to harvest stem cells which are injected into the patient's injured joint. There are no moral issues here as the mothers donate the needed tissue. Blood is taken from the patient also to separate certain platelets that are mixed with the stem cells before injection.
Meredith Vieira and her husband Richard Cohen who has MS have appeared on several talk shows discussing their visit to the Vatican recently for a symposium on stem cell therapy. They say this is a breakthrough in medicine and will heal so many diseases, including MS and other auto immune illnesses.
Meanwhile, I shall try physical therapy for awhile. I see an orthopedic doctor on Monday and am anxious for him to read my MRI and explain it to me.
Have any of my readers had a torn minescus and how did you treat it?
I tore a meniscus in my knee a couple of years ago. I went to a physical therapist and he suggested riding the stationary bike at the gym for 20 minutes a day, with no pressure, just going around and around. He said I could gradually introduce "hills" and make it a bit harder but to start easy. Within a few months, the paid was much less. The other thing he suggested is to lose a few pounds, because each pound translates to four pounds of pressure on the knee. Now I have zero paid and am committed to that 20-minute bike ride four times a week. :-)
ReplyDeleteGood luck. Pain can be an all encompassing soul sucker can't it? Stem cell therapy is available as a treatment for MS here, but only if death is looming. Pain and increasing disability don't count as qualifying conditions.
ReplyDeleteHi DJan and EC,
ReplyDeleteI went to the orthopedic doc who only does knees. He thinks I need a knee replacement, but will help me do what I can to heal without surgery. I like your idea of the stationary bicycle, DJan. I do that at the PT session. I will do that and continue with PT, massage and chiropractic for some time. I am also going to pool walk as much as I can.
I do need to lose some weight and I feel sure that would help.