Jaw Recovery
Well, I can honestly say it’s been a long eight weeks!
This Tuesday marks the eight-week point from my jaw surgery. As I mentioned in my last post, dealing with TMJ issues for years, and going through the treatment for that, it became evident very early on in the treatment process that where my jaw joint needed to be and where my teeth fit together were too far apart for dental or orthodontic treatment alone. So surgery it was.
The surgery itself went very well, and the surgeon was very pleased with how things went. My first day or so in the hospital was kind of a blur. The swelling was atrocious, and actually go worse for the first week after the surgery. My head looked like I was in some kind of special effects for a movie to make me look fat. It made it very hard to eat or drink (I couldn’t close my lips for a couple of weeks), not to mention talk.
The other thing I hadn’t realized was how much the surgery would affect my sinuses. I knew he’d be up there and that I’d be stuffy – but I had full sinus surgery a few years ago (constant sinus infections, polyps, deviated septum, the whole deal) and the aftermath was as bad as it was after my sinus surgery. I knew how to handle it, really, with irrigation, etc., but having to deal with that on top of everything else was little fun.
Then there was the numbness and pain. I never lost any feeling in my tongue or throat, but otherwise my teeth, gums, lips, and chin were pretty much completely numb initially. That masked some of the pain, I think, but even at first I had a dull pain between the roof of my mouth and my sinuses, and that pain would be the worst at night when I was laying down to sleep.
Energy was probably the biggest problem, because my diet was basically restricted to things I could get through a straw (not even sucking on it at first, but pushing it through a straw with a bag), and not chewing anything. My diet consisted of smoothies, milkshakes, cream of wheat, some pureed soups, etc. When I could use a spoon things got a little easier and I had a few more options, but for weeks it was difficult to get up and move around for any significant amount of time, simply because I wasn’t getting a normal amount of nourishment.
For the first couple of weeks, I spent most of my time in the bedroom resting – watching a lot of TV, mostly. I caught up on a few TV shows, most notably Firefly (I had never seen it, and I was very impressed) and The Office (via Netflix streaming, and now I have another favorite show). I had hoped to get some reading done, but I found that I really didn’t feel like reading much. I eventually progressed to the couch and played some XBox games (Force Unleashed, Lego Star Wars, Lego Indiana Jones, Fable II) and movies (Kevin and I have been going through Harry Potter). So my downtime basically turned into a gluttonous media-fest.
At tis point, my sinuses are totally healed (took about 3-4 weeks to get there). Swelling is still present, but it’s not really uncomfortable. People who see me about once a week still comment that they can tell I’m getting less swollen. The numbness is still annoying, but it is receding and getting more “itchy” in different places. I have a lot more feeling inside my mouth than I had even a week ago. It’s kind of like having novocaine, but instead of taking 3-4 hours to get feeling back, it takes 3-4 months.
Last week, at my six-week appointment, I got clearance to chew for the first time since the surgery. I’m restricted to things that don’t offer much resistance, like pasta, soft chicken, ground meats, baked potatoes, well-cooked vegetables, etc. Some meals have been a challenge to figure out what to eat, but even still it’s had an amazing effect on my energy level. I’ve been doing lots of different things at home, and we’ve even gone out to eat the last couple of days for the first time in nearly two months – Doc Chey’s Noodle House (lo mein), IHOP (eggs and pancakes), Holy Smokes BBQ (chicken salad for me), and El Ranchero (chicken burrito and chile relleno).
With the improvement in my diet, my energy level has increased dramatically. Last weekend I spent all day Saturday doing laundry, and then Sunday and Monday Amy was sick (some kind of stomach bug, very flu-like) and I did everything for two days. Not that I wasn’t tired after all of that, but I was able to do it. A week earlier that wouldn’t have been possible on my mostly liquid diet.
This week, I’ll get clearance to eat anything softer than a raw carrot, which means pretty much anything I really want to try. I still have some issues with function – numbness inside makes it hard to tell when food is stuck in my braces, my jaw is still a little tight with the swelling so it’s hard to bite into big things, etc. But all of that is getting better by the day.
The difficult part is going to be trying to not gain my weight back. I lost about 10-12 pounds during this recovery, and I’d like to keep it off.
The orthodontist has also started tweaking my braces again, so I’m on my way to the final stretch of this whole mess. Sometime this year, I’ll get my braces off, and this multi-year process will come to an end.
Lastly, I want to give a HUGE thank you to everyone who helped us out during all of this. We had a lot of meals brought by (and Amy got very good at turning many of them into a soup I could eat), people came by to help do some chores around the house, or just watch the kids so Amy could run some errands or even just get some extra sleep. All of your efforts were very much appreciated.