Day 42 - 6 Weeks! What?!

Today marks exactly 6 weeks of recovery. In all honesty I don't know what to say about that. More than anything I feel so lucky that I was finally able to get this after hoping for so long. After all of the years of physical discomfort and being self conscious about how I look from the side, I was given the chance to fix it. I'm thrilled with how I feel and look right now. NO PAIN! My TM joints don't hurt for the first time since I was 12.

But what do I do with myself now? I spent so much time thinking about surgery, so much time hoping for it. There was so much thought and emotion put into this for such a long time, several years actually, and now it's done. Tons of anticipation, thought, emotion, up and down and then BAM it's over.  I'd compare it to speeding off the edge of a cliff. The edge keeps on coming, then suddenly you're flying through the air. I know, it's hard to explain. It's just such a strange feeling.

As for my physical state I'm not too bad, but not quite good yet.  I had a nice kick into reality last night when the exhaustion hit me. I though I could just come back to school and jump back into the game, but I'm not quite ready. I'm still emotionally and physically not up to what I was. I just get worn out so quickly.

Let's talk about pain. Pain is pretty much a non issue, save for a couple twinges here and there. Certainly there's no constant ache or stab. The most discomfort that I have now comes from trying to open my mouth. The right joint still has a break, so that hurts when I open too wide, or strain too much. I do worry that I'm going to lose mobility, just because I can't push myself too hard when I try to open. Yet another thing to ask my OS about.

Swelling is still doing funny things to my face. Every day I look in the mirror is a little bit different. Little changes are happening all day. I'm still quite puffy when I wake up, and then I get puffy again if I over work myself. Some days are worse than others. I still have quite a bit of swelling left that hasn't gone down, but I know time is going to fix that.

My gums are still 100% numb. My skin is at about 80% feeling and deep tissue is at about 70%. Some spots like my chin and patches of my cheeks and upper lip are more numb than others. Those parts are at about 60% skin and 55% for deep tissue. All in all I have enough feeling to move and make normal facial expressions. Smiling is still a little funny. I think I'll do a smiley picture tomorrow :)

I think that's about it. 6 weeks out and I'm a little lost, but all around doing well. I'm excited to see all of the final changes and what they'll bring. Until my next post, be well everyone!