That's not a needle, it's a sword

Today was was steroid injection day for me, so I started my morning at the specialty clinic in the hospital. I spent the days leading up to this going back and forth on having this procedure done, I had really started to feel like I didn't need the injections because training had been going so well. I get slow, I get sore, but I keep getting. Last Sundays 20 mile walk erased all of those doubts and I felt secure in my decision to have this done after the struggles of that longer walk and the pain and waddling of the day after.
What I had done is an injection of a steroid called Kenalog, it went up into the hip joint through a rather long needle that we inserted on the front of my thigh and moved upward toward the joint until they just tapped the bone and filled that cavity with the steroid. It's very similar to the process for the contrast that was done for the MRI arthrogram that was done previously.
This illustration is slightly misleading as the needle used today was inserted lower in the front thigh, and this shows it as coming in from the side, but it shows a good overview of what was done today.

The surgeon, fellow, and nurses all expressed surprise that I was doing both hips at once as usually people elect to spread them out with a week or two between injections so that you have time to recover. I know that I don’t have time for that, especially as I need them to last the same length for this whole adventure. 

They used an ultrasound to guide the needle this time, and my surgeon did the right first and a fellow did the second to further his training. I want to say that I was stoic, handled it heroically, and was brave, but I made quite a few ow noises and clenched and unclenches my left hand in aneffort to hold still and keep my lower half relaxed. I have to admit that it was hard. When it was all done I was sweating and a little nauseated. I was surprised as I handled the last injection better, but this one hurt worse and left me feeling shaky. I realized why after the fact, they let me take a photo of the needle. 

Not gonna lie, I showed this to everyone at work today. 

I'm in pain today which isn't unusual, but I should feel positive effects within 3-7 days, just in time to leave for Porto. If this does a lot of good it means that I could be a good candidate for surgery to repair the cartilage, as it's designed to alleviate the pain of the peeling labral cartilage. If it doesn't it  means that the pain I'm feeling is likely due to the osteoarthritis that comes with my condition, and I will need to pursue different treatment options when I get back. So, fingers crossed for more relief and less arthritis because I have miles to walk and goals to achieve well beyond this camino.