9 Weeks Down...and still a LONG ways to go

Tuesday of this past week (July 27) marked the 9th week since my surgery. The days have really gone by fast, but it seems like it was sooooo much longer ago that I was in the hospital.

I feel like I'm stuck in a gray area now...what I mean by that is I feel mostly like my old normal self, and yet I don't cause I'm not fully healed yet which my jaw constantly reminds me of everyday. I still can't chew any type of food. I'm SO tired of mushy foods, juice and Ensure. And what normal/solid food I can eat - like pastas - I have to cut up into itty-bitty tiny little pieces in order to eat, well not eat cause I can't chew, but so I can swallow it. UGH!!!! And I've still got 3 weeks to go on the not chewing front...slowly, so very slowly, but surely that day IS coming...

Then sometimes I actually forget that I had my jaw bones sawed apart only just over 2 months ago and that I'm not fully healed yet. I feel good so I don't think about it. Then I'll smile a little too big, or laugh a little too hard, or talk a little too long, and then my jaw reminds me that I'm NOT 100% quite yet! Or, I'm make a sudden movement, like when something startles you, and I'll get this weird pulling sensation in my upper jaw which is apparently normal. Man, Dr Q wasn't kidding when he told me this takes a long, long, LONG time to heal! So again - UGH!

So besides my mood being in the crapper (there's a couple other things contributing to my mood besides my jaw and recovery, but I won't go into that), here's what's been happening the last three weeks with the jaw -

I've been in to see Dr Nelson twice since my last post and really not much to report on the ortho progress (this week is the first full week since the surgery I haven't been in to see him so maybe that's a good sign?? :) ). He took off one of the very back brackets on the bottom, and I still need to wear the rubber bands at night. And he told me that I could have the braces off by the end of October!!!!!! Woo Hoo!! :) :) :)

About two weeks ago or so the right jaw joint area starting hurting really bad. Too much movement - talking, laughing, stretching, etc - sends shooting pain in my joint and ear, then the whole side of my face aches. Ouch. So I saw Dr Q on the 21st and told him about this pain. He pressed and prodded all around my joint, and found some real tender spots, and during all this he also had me opening and moving my jaw side to side. It freaking hurt REALLY bad! Not fun at all. :(  He told me that it was muscle spasm-isms and gave me some exercises to do twice a day. Those exercises hurt to do. :(  No pain, no gain, right?

Oh, and Q took out the wire hook that had been in my upper front jaw since the surgery. That being pulled out was a funky sensation!

I gotta say that not everything has been gloomy and gray the last couple weeks - I was able to finally get out on the river two Saturdays again w/friends, and had a really good time. I crispy fried myself in the process, it was still worth it though! lol  And last wkd we had our first girls night out in a really long time that was a lot of fun. And after a night of talking and a lot of hard laughing, my jaw didn't ache! So those exercises are working!! ;)