Three months ago I underwent a round of stem cell injections into my sacroiliac (SI) joints. If you've been following my blog you will recall I've also had a lifelong SI joint problem. It all came to a head about 18 months ago when I completely tore the joints while riding my bike.
Anyhoo, in the fall of 2013 I endured a series of platelet rich plasma (PRP) injections that didn't result in any improvements. This eventually led to my more serious quest towards surgery. When I first met with my Prolotherapy Doc she performed an ultrasound on my SI joints and literally gasped when she saw the images on her screen. "Oh my god!", she said. Apparently she had never seen an SI joint so severely damaged. A lifetime of crashing will evidently do a tap dance on your body. Who knew.
Fast forward to Fall 2014 and my recovery from surgery wasn't improving at a rate I was satisfied with, so I contacted Dr. Alderman again and spoke with her about stem cell treatments. She explained that in some cases tissue can be completely devoid of cells, caused by repeated trauma where the body no longer sends healthy cells to repair a damaged area. Which explains why the PRP injections didn't help. PRP attaches itself to tissue only when there are cells present.
So she suggested we try stem cells, which is far more expensive, a bit more painful, but almost always more successful. Yesterday I met with Dr. Alderman to follow up and see how my SI joint was progressing. After checking out my joints under ultrasound she gasped again! But this time she was greeting with a much more pleasant looking image. In her own words, "You actually have tissue in your joints again."
I must admit, the before and after images from my ultrasound are pretty shocking. After being told what to look for, it was pretty clear that there was significant regrowth of tissue in my SI joint. She told me it usually takes a few months before patients start feeling real changes, and I'm right at three months. I've been slowly improving, and she said I will continue to improve over the next year. So hopefully 2015 will be the year of healing!
I'm still tight most of the time, and with the exception of this $#@!&%$ cough that's got my back tied in knots, my body is beginning to feel normal. I'd say it's feeling normal again, but I haven't been pain free in 25 years, so I'm feeling out this whole normal thing for the first time.
New disc, new joints. Two down, (fill in the blank) to go.
Peace out!
