A dozen days

Sorry for not posting yesterday, but I was actually out and about a lot. 

Now nearly two weeks into recovery, I'm trying to stay busy and productive. I'm writing, I'm taking care of some things with my place (you wouldn't think a ceiling fan blade replacement would take four visits to Lowes and Home Depot to resolve!) and today, I had an interior designer come over to take a look at my living room and master bath, which I'm planning to redo probably starting late in the year when my budget allows again.

So recovery is moving along...

Sleep and Swelling

I got about six hours of sleep last night. Right TMJ pain is still causing me issues, making it hard for me to fall asleep. Can't relax when it's twinging, which it seems to do after just a couple minutes of lying down... or more unfairly, after about five minutes of playing video games. Must be a stimulation/stress reaction. I can get around it with hydrocodone, but... I prefer not to do that.

During my trips out yesterday, I realized that I'm not as self-conscious as I was about going out, since the swelling in my jaw has gone down significantly now and my profile is looking not far from normal at this point. I'll share some pictures tomorrow, which marks two weeks post-surgery. The thing I *don't* like to do when I'm out is talk... because I know I sound weird, having to pull back my lips and talk through my teeth as I must, and if you're looking when I talk, you can see the rubber bands over my front teeth. Was talking on the phone with a couple people who called yesterday and they were having trouble understanding me.

Foodwise... 

Tried two new things yesterday. Answering a craving and a hunch that it might work, I got a large chili from Wendy's, bringing it home to puree. It was actually pretty good that way, though perhaps I should have thrown in a little beef broth first. I also got... a seedless watermelon, thinking I could juice it in the food processor. Took a couple rounds to get all the chunks out, and the juice came out frothy. Tasted better this morning after it had been chilling in the fridge overnight. To be honest, I think I need to stay away from soups for a while. A sure sign I'm sick of them is that the smell is making me a little ill. What to try instead? canned pastas (like Spaghetti-Os), and fruit. Starting tomorrow, I'll hopefully be cleared to throw strawberries into my blender mixes as well.

Side Benefits

One thing I've been meaning to discuss for a while are possible side benefits to this procedure. I mean, you hear about the complications, but what else might this procedure do for me? There are actually several things:

• Reduce gag reflex - I think I mentioned this in an earlier post, but Dr. Jelic noted that in his experience, people with severe sleep apnea also have severe gag reflexes as a consequence of the body being on a hair-trigger to keep the easiliy-constricted airway open. I think it was his assistant who went on to say that they've seen several times that people who had a bad reflex and then had this surgery had almost no reflex afterwards. That would be a welcome change for me, since my gag reflex gotten me into trouble in the past with dentists, orthodontists, and ENTs.

• Help TMJ issues - this remains to be seen, but with the jaw being moved/realigned/straightened out, that can help in the long run with TMJ issues. The twinging I'm having I'd prefer to think is a product of the muscles trying to accommodate to the new extended jaw position, and that it will go away over time. Dr. Jelic said that what should help the TMJ issues the most is just not chewing for weeks on end, giving the dislocated discs a chance to recover a bit and perhaps slip back where they're supposed to be. Not sure how realistic that is, but it is possible that I'll have to go back into the physical therapy to restore my full range of jaw motion once the rubber bands come off. Had to do that once before, back in 2010.

• End Acid Reflux - this would be surprising and welcome if true. Dr. Jelic says that acid reflux can be caused by sleep apnea, because there's a suction effect up the back of the throat involved with a constricted airway. If this is true, I could cut back on the Nexium I normally have to take for heartburn and reflux. Don't get me wrong--Nexium's a wonderful drug, one of the true miracle pills in my experience (it's cleared ulcers and at least temporarily ended my reflux in the past)--but it's also expensive. I don't like having to take so many prescriptions as I do now, both for the reflux and for RA. If I can cut that back, so much the better, and it would be wonderful not to have to worry about heartburn any more either. The thing about this one... I've had doctors deny the two things had anything to do with each other. Let's see if they were wrong.