Today is my last day of leave from work. I took more time off this time for surgery. I needed more time off this time since I was in a splint, banded shut longer, and in general with it being a more complicated and invasive surgery, recovery was slower as well. I took 12 days off ahead of surgery, and holy crap did I need that. I was barely functioning at work. If I was not a federal employee and could get disability, I would have been out probably two months before. I was barely sleeping, I was in a ton of pain, headaches were awful, and I was super irritable for all of it. By the end right before I went out, I felt like I was just so done that I was delirious. So, I needed the 12 days to rest and get my wits about me before going in to a surgery that was going to just deplete me again, and then I had to prep like mad too. My ortho is 45 mins away, my surgeon is up to an hour away, and all the other pre op appointments in between. Running around like a chicken with my head cut off and doing a ton of food prep on top of it. It's all a blur at this point. I went back to work at 4 weeks post op last time, but I was also unwired at 2 weeks and had 2 weeks to get more calories in, get stretching my jaw and talking and eating better again, etc. This time I was splinted and banded tight until almost 4 weeks, so now I've taken this extra week to adjust before going back. Could I have made it back last week? Probably, but I am still exhausted and really want to make sure I can get every ounce of energy back and get my immune system back up before returning.
So, what now? I'm prepping soft foods to take in with me. I've got some boosts left to use. I'm bringing in my ice and heat packs again since I'm still doing either/or depending on how I feel 3-4 times a day (especially that nagging hematoma up under my eye!). Making sure I have extra elastics and elastic tools in my purse. I'll make sure I have plenty of advil too. I'm still sore under my jaw in my lymph node area down my neck, a little sore in the joints, and sore across my cheeks and nose. It goes up and down, and just like the swelling, there are good days and bad days. The last two days have been not so great, waking up more puffy and in pain under my jaw in the lymph area and across where I believe the fracture line of the top jaw break is. I think maybe I've been clenching in my sleep the last two nights with some anxiety of getting back to work and life as normal again. It could also be the elastics yanking down on my front and right side to close my bite up. Just the last few days I feel like my teeth started touching more on that side, so makes sense I have some discomfort there. Speaking of that, I am not supposed to see my ortho for another 3 weeks, but I head up to see my surgeon for a check up in a week. My ortho did say to feel free to drop by and get a quick looksie, and I may take him up on that. I am pretty sure my bite is changing in the way that he wants, but it will be nice just for him to look at it and assure me so. I think he knew I was going to want the assurance, which is why he invited me to stop in.
Speaking of my surgeon, I got an email from them today letting me know that insurance approved my surgery and will pay in full!! WWaaaaaahhhhoooo!!! This is huge. So many people have issues getting their jaw surgery covered, and I was really hoping that I wouldn't fall in that crowd. I didn't think I would because I knew 1.) my plan covered it, and 2.) I was well past their minimum measurements in terms of what discrepancy they considered severe enough to require to be fixed medically and get covered. But, you always think "what if it doesn't go that way?!" I was a little worried about it. I think it was mentally eating me up because if I was stuck with the bill, that would be around $30,000 that I would have to pay out of pocket to cover what Kaiser did to me. Pay for somebody else's negligent error. That would eat me up so bad!! So, I am glad I am covered fully. Phew!
So, that's that. Back to the real world tomorrow. Not looking forward to having to find time to sneak away for breaks to ice/heat my face during my shifts. I'm in a career environment where you'd think I could get breaks for something like that, but some days my job doesn't work like that. Ironically enough, those are the days that I talk the most and end up the most sore and want the heat on my face bad and then I am not able to do it. Go figure. Oh well. I see Dr. Karas a week from today, and I'll probably stop by my ortho's office to say hi too. At that point I'll be just a few days short of 6 weeks post op. Time flies!
So, what now? I'm prepping soft foods to take in with me. I've got some boosts left to use. I'm bringing in my ice and heat packs again since I'm still doing either/or depending on how I feel 3-4 times a day (especially that nagging hematoma up under my eye!). Making sure I have extra elastics and elastic tools in my purse. I'll make sure I have plenty of advil too. I'm still sore under my jaw in my lymph node area down my neck, a little sore in the joints, and sore across my cheeks and nose. It goes up and down, and just like the swelling, there are good days and bad days. The last two days have been not so great, waking up more puffy and in pain under my jaw in the lymph area and across where I believe the fracture line of the top jaw break is. I think maybe I've been clenching in my sleep the last two nights with some anxiety of getting back to work and life as normal again. It could also be the elastics yanking down on my front and right side to close my bite up. Just the last few days I feel like my teeth started touching more on that side, so makes sense I have some discomfort there. Speaking of that, I am not supposed to see my ortho for another 3 weeks, but I head up to see my surgeon for a check up in a week. My ortho did say to feel free to drop by and get a quick looksie, and I may take him up on that. I am pretty sure my bite is changing in the way that he wants, but it will be nice just for him to look at it and assure me so. I think he knew I was going to want the assurance, which is why he invited me to stop in.
Speaking of my surgeon, I got an email from them today letting me know that insurance approved my surgery and will pay in full!! WWaaaaaahhhhoooo!!! This is huge. So many people have issues getting their jaw surgery covered, and I was really hoping that I wouldn't fall in that crowd. I didn't think I would because I knew 1.) my plan covered it, and 2.) I was well past their minimum measurements in terms of what discrepancy they considered severe enough to require to be fixed medically and get covered. But, you always think "what if it doesn't go that way?!" I was a little worried about it. I think it was mentally eating me up because if I was stuck with the bill, that would be around $30,000 that I would have to pay out of pocket to cover what Kaiser did to me. Pay for somebody else's negligent error. That would eat me up so bad!! So, I am glad I am covered fully. Phew!
So, that's that. Back to the real world tomorrow. Not looking forward to having to find time to sneak away for breaks to ice/heat my face during my shifts. I'm in a career environment where you'd think I could get breaks for something like that, but some days my job doesn't work like that. Ironically enough, those are the days that I talk the most and end up the most sore and want the heat on my face bad and then I am not able to do it. Go figure. Oh well. I see Dr. Karas a week from today, and I'll probably stop by my ortho's office to say hi too. At that point I'll be just a few days short of 6 weeks post op. Time flies!
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