Progress has been slowing down, mostly because all the most pressing problems have been fixed anyway. I thought I would give you an update on most of the symptoms that I had problems with at the beginning, to give you a quick update on where I stand after one month.
Pain
Pretty much no pain, expect when I sleep on one side for too long and my joint starts cramping up. It's noticeably getting better though, and changing position fixed the problem. I sometimes have a few teeth pain like they are waking up, or because of clenching/band positioning, but nothing that requires painkillers.
Swelling
Progress is very slow on that front, but there isn't that much left. I'm still definitely swollen on the cheeks, especially towards the top, and on either sides of my nose.
 |
| Swelling. |
Numbness
I think it has slowly started coming back to life. It's still definitely numb in the same areas (shown below), but I'm starting to get weird feelings like vibrations, buzzing, and yesterday, it felt like there was a hair on my chin and it was the most annoying thing ever. I kept trying to remove it but there was nothing. At least it's a good sign!
 |
| Numbness |
Talking
I have no problem talking, but I have an annoying lisp with my bands on. It gets much better when I remove the bands though, so I'm not too worried. The hardest thing is trying to talk when I'm smiling because someone said something funny. I can't bring my lips around all that hardware in my mouth while smiling, so forming "m" and "p" is impossible. People seem to understand me, unless English is their second language. I still need to learn to unclench my teeth when I talk. It's a bad habit that I formed form the early days of surgery.
Diet
I'm pretty much used to the liquid diet and got a routine down, but I'm getting more and more cravings for my favorite foods. I'm excited to start chewing, but also a little nervous because I know it won't be a piece of cake (hah!). I'm expecting lots of frustration and probably some joint pain and other annoyances, but it's part of recovery after all.
Fatigue
I'm still quite tired to be honest, but I'm still not always sleeping a good 8 hours a night. Sometimes I get only 6 hours because I don't go to bed early enough and have to get up in the morning. I now take a 60 to 90 minutes nap every day, but I still feel tired during the day. As I've mentioned in another post, there might be other reasons than the surgery or the failure of the surgery (since I got the surgery to fix sleep apnea and chronic fatigue). I'm still going to wait before I investigate. My surgeon said it could take anywhere from 3 weeks to 3 months to start feeling a difference, and I have read other bloggers say they didn't recover their energy until a few months later, so still crossing fingers. Plus, I'm in my period right now, and it has always been a big struggle energy-wise during that time of the month, so right now it's hard for me to evaluate.
I've been "working" again the past week, but it was only one client and they ended up not having much projects to send my way, so I probably worked less than 6 hours during the week. I'm pretty happy about it though, it gave me an extra week to relax before going back full-time. I hope next week won't be too packed so I can ease myself back into it.
So that's where I stand for now! As you can tell, things are slowing down and there isn't much to talk about anymore, so I may start posting every week instead of every day. I'll keep you updated on my chewing adventures, but I don't think a daily post will be necessary for that.
Let me know if you have any questions in the comments section!
No comments:
Post a Comment