This is a pain in the gut - Final Chapter?

After waiting over 3 weeks for my appointment, I finally got to see the pain management doc today or, as Doug calls him, Dr. Pain.  My appointment was scheduled for 10:15 a.m., but they called just before 8 and asked me to get there as soon as possible.  They had a few cancellations, and the doc had to leave the office early.  So, we were there by 9:15.  Did I feel a little rushed?  Slightly.

Not much to the appointment.  Dr. Pain feels that I have "nerve irritation," a condition extremely difficult to pinpoint and diagnosis.  He offered a spinal injection which would deaden the area.  That didn't sound too appealing!  Since my pain has subsided over the past 3 weeks with the proactive steps that I have taken (no bra, avoiding the tasks that compress the painful area and trigger the pain, etc.), I wasn't too enthusiastic about such an invasive procedure.

He'll recommend a course of physical therapy subject to insurance approval.  That's not always a given these days.  He also recommended that I stop the pain medication.  The rest is basically up to me.  He'll give me one of those scary shots into my spine if I call him up and make an appointment.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the worst is behind me and that I will continue to make slow progress towards normalcy.

While waiting to see Dr. Pain, three people left his office who could hardly walk upright, obviously in pain.  Made me grateful that I seem to be on the road to recovery.  Chronic pain is a pretty gruesome way to live.  My mom used to say that you could always find someone worse off than you - how true.  I need to remember how stressful it was to wake each morning knowing that I would be in pain by mid-day.  I need a gratitude check on a daily basis!

This afternoon, I finally finished the Christmas tablerunner.  The experiment with machine binding was less than successful - I wasn't happy with the sloppiness at all.  So, back to hand stitching the binding to the back of the quilt the way I've always done it.  To cover the "boo-boos," I decided to use gold metallic thread and use a decorative stitch around the finding edge on the front of the tablerunner.  I'll post a closeup tomorrow of the finished binding and also share more of why I was disappointed with the machine binding technique.  I think the decorative stitching adds a cute and festive look for the holidays!