My doctor's appointment

Some of you may know that I've been having some problems with my back/sacral nerves again. I started having a tremendous amount of pain in my lower back and left hip starting in early September. I started getting deep tissue massages to help out, changed my workout up and hoped that it would get better. Things didn't improve so I finally called my neurosurgeon to schedule an appointment. I was concerned that I would have to have another surgery.
I had my appointment this morning. I took my MRI films from December, and was prepared for just about anything. He looked at them, compared them to my old films from July 2007, and then did a physical exam. He did several range of motion tests, had me walk (my gimpy limp is back), then on my tip toes, and then on my heels. He then pushed on my right buttock, and while it wasn't comfortable, it wasn't horrible. Then he pushed on my left buttock and I immediately rose up on my tip toes and had to stifle a yelp. (It's been almost 1 1/2 hours and it still hurts from that little push... seriously, that's messed up!) He was very concerned about my reaction. Because I have already had back surgery, have seriously degenerated discs in my lumbar spine, bulging and protruding discs in my lumbar spine/sacrum AND a mild form of lupus he thinks that I have a condition called sacroiliitis. (Mom, Julie- click on the word for a link to the diagnosis, symptoms and treatment.)
The treatment for this is a cortisone injection into the joint in the buttock. Fun. I was just saying how much I missed having those horrible epidural injections with the 10" needle, so now I get to have another shot. This won't be into the spine, though, so Dr. Thomas says that this will be a much easier procedure and recovery. He's sending me to a pain specialist for treatment. If it works I should know within hours (or up to 2 days) because the pain will subside quickly. If it works the injection will treat the pain and the problem. (Yay! I love two-fers!) I really hope that it works! I'll find out soon when I can get this taken care of. As far as I'm concerned it cannot happen soon enough. The pain is terrible, but if a simple injection can take care of it I will be thrilled. If it doesn't work then I'll go back to Dr. Thomas, have some more tests and come up with a new treatment plan. It's pretty straightforward so I like that!