Told him I'm definitely feeling some chest congestion this morning, and told him about the TMJ pain I had last night, though that seems to be considerably better now. He asked if I was running a fever, and the answer is no: current temperature 97.7 (can't take my temperature by mouth with my jaw wired shut, so I do what the hospital did--take it in my armpit!). Also asked is my cough productive? Yes.
He said that given that, it's likely nothing to be alarmed about. His instructions are to continue taking the antibiotic (first thing I did on getting up this morning) and motrin (or ibuprofin in this case), and also take deep breaths into lungs and hold it, try to expand them to help squeeze out any fluid or something to that effect. For the TMJ pain, he speculated it might have gone into spasm, so he suggests use warm moist heat on it as per post-op instructions.
The joint does feel a lot better this morning, even though the hydrocodone has worn off. I was able to sleep again after taking it, and didn't wake up until close to 9. When I did, I found the pain had radiated outward to the supporting muscle groups, which would certainly seem to imply the joint had spasmed and now everything around it was trying to compensate. I'll start the moist heat after breakfast, I guess.
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