(minirascal)

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

Wow, I leave you alone for a few days and look what happens..(haha)

I am so sorry that you had to endure all that pain at your OS appt.

Next time tell your OS that he can spare you all that yanking because

we have that bulldozer ready at all times. I kind of can say I know

the kind of pain you must have been feeling because last year after I

had my knee surgery the Physical Therapist had to manipulate my knee

to bend after months of not being able to bend it. It was surely the

worse pain that I have ever felt. I remember thinking when the

therapist was trying to manipulate the knee that once I was able to

bend it I was going to kick the therapist right in the rear for all

that pain...(haha)

I really wish you luck tonight upon your return back to work.

Hopefully tonight will not be a busy one for you & all your coworkers

will give you some T.L.C. Maybe you can just hop into one of those

hospital beds and take a nap..(haha) I am sure you will be okay.

Just give all your patients tonight some extra painkillers which will

make them think they are seeing Quasimodo..(haha) Everyone has

nicknamed me now the Smurf..Go figure!!

88.5 pounds? You were wasting away to nothing. Well at least you

are doing better today! Maybe that limbo chain is getting ready to

break for good. I will keep my fingers crossed that this happens.

I will be thinking about you tonight!

--Caboose

> Hi!

> How are my June buddies doing? Out of limbo, I hope. Yesterday, I

> needed an entire fleet of bulldozers but I couldn't even get out of

> bed to get to the computer.I had an appointment with my OS and he

> literally tried to yank and pull me out of limbo. I was concerned

> because my opening was decreasing instead of increasing. I went

from

> a 23 mm opening after PT to a 19 mm opening after aggressive

> stretching. My lower jaw was also shifted over to the left by

almost

> an entire tooth width. My OS took one look at me and said " muscle

> spasm " . First he tried stretching me to break the spasm without any

> pain meds. After much screaming and kicking on my part, he decided

> to numb me up. I don't know how many times he stuck me but he

> injected four vials of numbing medicine and steroids both on the

> outside and from the inside. Ouch, but when he was done, I felt so

> much better because the entire left side of my face was numb and

> pain-free! He then stretched me some more, still with me kicking

and

> screaming, and got me to 27 mm! The pain was so bad I almost threw

> up on him. I have not been able to open wide for three years now so

> my muscles have shortened and atrophied. It's going to take a lot

> more work to get to a somewhat normal opening. Afterwards, I felt

> really dizzy and the 35 minute drive home felt like hours. As soon

> as I got home, I started throwing up and couldn't keep anything

down

> including my meds. Eventually it took Zofran, Phenergan, Dramamine

> and hydrocodone to get the nausea under control. Then I weighed

> myself - I had gone from 91 lb that morning to 88.5 a few hours

> later. I had thrown up literally 2.5 lb of fluids. I actually

> contemplated going to the ER (which my surgeon recommended when I

> called him) but luckily I was able to avoid that. I have a friend

> who is a former ER nurse so she came over and gave me some IV

> fluids. I felt much better after that.

>

> Other than the muscle spasm, my OS was very pleased with my

> progress. The new joints are in good position and are functioning

> smoothly. My bite is a little off but bands and orthodontics and

> some dental work will be able to fix it. He has me back in bands

> again to pull my jaw back over to the midline. I actually feel

> better with the bands in because everything feels more stable and

my

> teeth come together a little better.

>

> Today, I'm sore but I feel a lot better than yesterday. No more

> nausea so I was able to keep down plenty of fluids today and got

> back to my normal weight. I had PT again today but because I'm

still

> sore and very swollen from yesterday, we only got to 23 mm. Still,

> it's better than last week! My PT also suggested that I get some

> speech therapy. After speaking through clenched teeth for the last

> three years, I need some help to learn to speak normally again. I

> tend to mumble.

>

> Tomorrow I'm going back to work for the first time. That should be

> interesting. I'm quite scary looking with my left side all swollen,

> Bell's palsy (facial paralysis, also left-sided), enstein

scars

> on my face and neck and to top it off, I missed my hair appointment

> yesterday so my gray roots are about an inch long. I'm working the

> night shift so hopefully my patients will be too sleepy to notice.

> I'm only scheduled for two shifts and then I have another week off.

>

> I hope everyone is doing well.

> minirascal-