Surgery recap

So, here’s how the actual procedure went:

The first part of it was pure torture. It was called an arthrogram, and I had to be awake for this part. It is, supposedly, the best diagnostic tool for TMJ, and involves the doctor injecting dye into your jaws and then doing a CAT scan, which apparently allows him to see exactly what is going on in there so he knows the best way to proceed. It also hurts like hell. They strapped me into a chair, restraining my head, arms, and legs, and then the doctor started jamming a big needle into my jaws while his nurse grabbed my chin and manhandled my jaw into various positions as directed by the doctor. Then they did the CAT scan. Apparently, he didn’t get enough dye in there the first time around and the pictures didn’t turn out well, so we had to do this TWICE. It was really awful. I very nearly cried the second time around, but managed to control myself.

Mercifully, they knocked me out after that. The whole procedure took about two hours. My face was very swollen when I got home, but the swelling went down pretty quickly and it doesn’t look too bad any more. Instead of a hospital gown, this doctor always has you change into a t-shirt that has his office logo on it, and you just wear that home afterwards. When I looked in the mirror, I realized the t-shirt had blood spattered all over it. Then my ears started itching and I realized they were full of dried blood. Blech. You’d think they could have cleaned that out for me before they woke me up.

But, awful as the whole thing sounds, the post-op pain really hasn’t been very bad at all. He sent me home with prescriptions for Percocet and Valium, but I’ve barely touched them so far. As long as I don’t try to chew anything, it doesn’t hurt too much. Talking is a bit difficult because I can barely open my mouth. It’s supposed to take about two weeks for everything to settle into place and then I should be able to open my mouth normally again and chew without discomfort.

I’m just glad it’s over!