Wednesday, September 14, 2011

2 Weeks Later - How am I doing?

Not bad, is how!

I've managed to keep my weight up by perpetually eating fresh, tasty smoothies and soups. I've managed to keep my spirits up by spending time with friends and laughing as much as the stitches in my mouth allowed.

On Monday I had another follow-up appointment with Dr. Li and all seems to be going well. He loosened my rubber bands, so my jaw is slightly more mobile. However, it had the unexpected side-effect of upping my pain levels a smidge. Mostly I think it's because I've been a nighttime teeth grinder/clencher for many years now. I believe that with the increased freedom, my jaw is going a little crazier at night, making for some achier mornings. Ibuprofen still seems to be doing the trick, for the most part though, so other than a few painful tweaks of my jaw, it's been okay.

My sleep has been a little disrupted from the increased achiness, but my energy levels still seem to be increasing a little every day.

Dr. Li gave me the go ahead to talk a little, but before surgery I was told to give it the full four weeks before talking, so other than a few words here and there, I'm trying to stick to my relative vow of silence. Just two more weeks! Communicating via the written word and pantomime hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be. A friend of mine bought me a small whiteboard before surgery, so I pretty much just carry that with me everywhere I go. It's made me a little more selective about which thoughts I think are worth communicating, but it hasn't stopped me from having real conversations with my friends and family.

Also, if I want to be able to communicate with someone without them having to check my whiteboard every three seconds, I found a few hilarious online text-to-speech programs. A quick Googling will give you a slew of options. I've used this one a bunch: http://www.oddcast.com/home/demos/tts/tts_example.php. My favorite accent is Veena's.

For those who are farther away, I have Pidgin, where I can talk to my friends on gchat, MSN, and yahoo.

Skype has been a great way to keep in touch with my parents after they left last week. We've been video chatting - they talk and I type my responses back. It feels more like a real phone call than instant messaging does, so I really recommend it as a way to touch base with those you're used to calling on a regular basis.

I'll try to get up a Day 1 Post-Surgery retrospective tomorrow.


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