The Cortisone Injection

My story.

About two weeks ago, I went to my rheumy for a checkup. While there, he noticed that my right knee was pretty inflamed, and suggested that I have a cortisone operation. Trusting his opinion, I readily agreed.

And oh. my. god.

They first cleaned off my knee with a large amount of iodine, prepared the needle, and set everything up. He then had his assistant spray a freezing stream of water onto the area right as he punctured the skin. 

After this point, they usually insert the 2 inch needle completely into your joint, and remove any fluid. After your knee is fully drained, they inject the medication. However, here's what happened in my case: 

You see how there is very little room between the area the needle needs to go, and the bone? Yeah. My  rheumy (who I love to death) had marked my knee a bit too low, and when he went in, he hit the lower bone. It was probably the most painful thing I have ever felt. After realizing that he had scraped along it, he pulled out a bit of fluid, and quickly took it out. He then injected my knee with a numbing medication, and did the procedure again, but slightly higher. After successfully getting the medication in, my knee was like a balloon. It was swollen with the medication, and throbbed whenever I bet it. It was like this for the next day and a half, and even though this process was not exactly a cup of tea, it did help. It was almost incredible how much it improved, it was almost as if I didn't even have any joint damage at all! If he ever suggests one of these again, I will definitely be getting it done, but with the numbing medication first this time.