I'm back.....sorry!

Hello Everyone!

It's been over 2 years since I've written an update.   I can't believe that time can go by so quickly.   With this blog still live I get monthly emails that tell me how many people visit the site (it's about 250 per month) and I thought that was it.  I would think "wow, people are still seeing it in their Google searches" and move on. Assume that most people poke around quickly and leave.  And maybe that's what happens....but some of you have left me comments!  Comments that I have to read and approve to be published on the site.  And I haven't been seeing the emails notifying me of the comments.....until today!  I honestly don't know how that happened, but I have comments from 2018 that I haven't even seen until today. 

And I'm so sorry.

I started this blog because when I was going through my ordeal there was SO LITTLE information out there that I vowed to share my experience so that people wouldn't feel so alone.

And then I had surgery.   And then I had a baby. And moved. And, and, and.....I just let it go.

Well, I'm back.  I might not be here as often as I would like, but I promise to check in, give updates and answer questions.  Because just because my accident/surgery/recovery is over, doesn't mean this type of injury doesn't happen to people every day.


So....how am I today?

My last post was so down.  I can't believe I left this blog like that.  The recovery was hard and long.  At 3 months post-surgery I decided to have an embryo transfer (oh yeah, I was going through IVF while prepping for surgery...) and got pregnant.   So the recovery was even harder for me since my body was dealing with a lot.  I had the crowns placed on my teeth (16 of them) when I was about 3 months pregnant.  Then having the baby almost 1 year exactly since surgery was definitely rough on my jaw.  I was on painkillers after the birth, and they were so necessary.

To make a long story short, having procedures and recovering while pregnant was EXHAUSTING.  (1 star out of 10, do not recommend).  Having a newborn 1 year after surgery was also EXHAUSTING.  But now that I have the benefit of hindsight, I can say that I now see just how long the recovery really is.   It takes years, y'all.  After 6-8 weeks you can go back to work.   You can do it.  But even now, 3+ years later, I'm still seeing improvements.

Using my jaw now isn't nearly as painful as it used to be.  Before and after surgery it hurt to talk too much, hurt to eat too much, hurt to exercise too much.  I couldn't run, because of the pounding.  I couldn't sing along to the radio.   Now if I eat something chewy or hard or difficult to manipulate in my mouth it's more frustrating than anything.  I will often have sharp pains as I am doing it, and some pain afterward, but it goes away quicker than it used to and I don't need to take pain medication to manage it.   I take pain meds so infrequently now, I'd say it's not even once per month.  I feel like my muscles are stronger now.   When I lift weights, I have be very careful not to engage my neck, and there are a lot exercises that I just absolutely cannot do. It makes it frustrating because I have to be very careful what I do, but I find that over the past year there are far fewer times that I'm in real pain after working out than there used to be.  Running isn't an instant pain generator as it used to be.   Life is just so much better than it was even a year ago in terms of my jaw.

As far as my teeth go, as I mentioned they were all capped a few months after my surgery.  It felt like I was all done with procedures, and it was a false sense of security.   Just one month after returning to work from my 1 year maternity leave, I got an abscess in my lower front tooth.  The one right over the break site (where I lost the tooth during the accident) failed.  That tooth had had 2 root canals already, and just couldn't stay.  So in October 2018 the tooth was pulled by my oral/TMJ surgeon.  In May 2019 he put me under again to place the implant post, and then in Oct 2019 I had the tooth placed on it.   Since it was a front tooth, I spent a year wearing my retainer to keep the space and somewhat cover the hole it left, and it was terrible.  I talked funny, had to take it in and out to eat, and I was so self conscious.  I had a lot of breakdowns over having to have more work done.  But now that the tooth is in I feel much better.   Unfortunately the tooth beside it is a bit loose, and my dentist says eventually I'll need an implant for that one too, which sucks.  And since I insist on implants instead of bridges, I'm paying out of pocket for the whole thing - our insurance doesn't cover implants.  Argh! It never ends, my friends!!

Anyhow, that's a quick summary of how things have been.   If there's still anyone out there reading this, I'd love a comment to know so I know to keep writing!   And as always, ask questions. I promise I'll answer them now!