pain. sucks.

i'm about to whine...but just a little.

i've mentioned before (i think) that i've been seeing a doctor about jaw pain. so i ate my soft foods and i got a mouth guard and i did everything that was asked of me. i got an MRI, but (thankfully) i do not need surgery.

that is where physical therapy comes in.

as luck would have it, the best physical therapist for jaw pain in this area is located in the upstairs office of the building where i work. the next closest therapists who specialize in this stuff are in the neighboring counties - that would require nearly a half day off of work each week. so i am very happy that this will require missing as little work as possible.

so today i went in with a positive attitude, fully prepared to do whatever this doctor said needed to be done to alleviate this annoying and somewhat constant pain.

it's amazing what you can learn about yourself from a physical therapist...even after having only known the guy for 15 minutes. apparently my jaw pain is related to my posture and lower back. does my lower back hurt? no. but something somewhere is throwing my spine out of whack and your spine ends at the base of your neck...which is pretty much sharing a duplex with your jaw. posture, teeth grinding and stress. big surprise there.

so now how do i feel post pt? like crap. my entire head hurts...my eyes, my sinuses, in the back by my neck, my jaw, my teeth. if it's above my shoulders, it hurts.

i thought that dull, numb pain located in my jaw and sometimes in my temples and eyes was bad. but it was dull and numb. this is neither of those things. it's sharp and stabby.

i have another appointment monday morning because the doctor said "you will have questions." that most certainly is true. here are my questions:

1. is it going to hurt like this every time while my body is getting used to all the corrections being made?

2. can i have drugs please?

"Anyone can *read* the news *to* you. What I plan to do is *feel* the news *at* you."

First of all, I like that Mike and Miri have discovered the awesomeness of one Mr. Stephen T. Colbert. He really is funny. I promise.

You just have to rememeber it is a character and admire the amazing job Colbert does in staying in character so seamlessly. He rarely cracks - and when he does it's hilarious. I can't even imagine saying some of the things he says with such conviction and maintaining a straight face. Wow.

Also, I wholeheartedly agree with the following statement made on The Colbert Report: Equations are the devil's sentences!
It's like he knows my inner most thoughts...from high school at least.




Secondly, I had to have an MRI for some jaw problems I've been having. Have you had one of those? Not fun. You can't move a muscle for like 30 minutes. That is hard! AND it is tiny in there. I think I am a little claustrophobic. I didn't think it would bug me, but I had to sing hymns in my head to keep my mind off the small space and loud noises. ick.

That's what the machine looks like. Only the one I was in wasn't as new or nice looking and the room wasn't as inviting. It was kind of dark and, honestly, a little disorganized. The nurse was nice though so that was a plus. Anyway, avoid MRIs...they suck.

pain

I will try to describe this without being too specific...but I am "sick" yet again. This time, it's a virus and it's wreaking havoc on my throat...the right side specifically. This means all the glands on the right side of my face/head are swollen which is causing pain in my ear. I've been to the doctor twice in three days and he's given me what he can. It's a virus that generally lasts 10-14 days. That means I treat the symptoms and pray it runs its course quickly.

also. No kissing.

That last part would be more difficult and torturous if I were to, say, have a boyfriend, but thank goodness I dodged that bullet.**

So my days of making out with random strangers are put on hold for now. Instead I am praying that today is the worst of it and counting down the hours till I can reasonably call it a day and drift off to painless sleep with the aid of the unfortunately large pain pill my blessed doctor prescribed for me.


**I could not possibly be more sarcastic than this.

More food updates

Cottage cheese is amazing. haha. Some cottage cheese and a nutri-grain bar filled me up much better than just the eggs. I might need to make more eggs and add more cheese next time I have that for breakfast since that's all I'll eat. Or maybe I'll have eggs and cottage cheese but that sounds like an icky combination. The nutri-grain bar was crumbly and soft with only slightly more chewing than a soft potato so that is good.

Lunch today will be mashed potatoes and creamed corn. I love creamed corn so that is exciting. Then tonight for dinner I'm trying corned beef hash and eggs. Should be filling and mushy. Hopefully the can stuff doesn't taste too bad.

Here's the most annoying part. All I'm hungry for is stuff I can't eat. Things like jerky (which seem to be everywhere I go) and peanut butter crackers and hard crust bread. Boo.

I also slept with that mouth guard and it's only annoying when I'm awake or partially awake. Blech.

So, it's day two and I am noticing a slight difference, although relaxing my jaw still takes some focus - Next up on the therapy list - warm, damp compress.

Isn't my life just so amazingly exciting?! This play by play is keeping you on the edge of your seats I'm sure.

soft food update

thanks for the suggestions! my outlook is more positive now.

after a day of feeling like I was starving approximately every hour and a half, I went to Wal Mart and picked up the following:

creamed corn
nutra grain bars (should be soft enough - at least I'm hoping)
cottage cheese
snack packs
apple sauce

in addition to eggs, potatoes (mashed, which i ate tonight thanks to my amazing sister), soup, and whatever else I can find that's soft enough, these things should give me some energy/snacking options throughout the day.

And, Annie, I chew eggs, don't you worry. haha. They are just really soft and I'm eating them scrambled which makes them into small, manageable pieces. Appetizing, no?

P.S. I also got a mouth guard to sleep in. It is not comfortable and I am afraid I'm going to wake up drenched. Yuck. Hopefully this therapy will correct whatever is going on with my jaw so I don't have to do this often...or ever again.

I need YOUR help!

Today starts my amazing soft food/liquid diet as part of my TMJ therapy. I'm not supposed to chew anything harder than mashed potatoes...which basically means no chewing for an entire week.

Having said that, what, pray tell, do I eat?

This is what I have had so far on day 1:

eggs
jello
milkshake
eggdrop soup

I'm going out to the movies tonight and have no idea what I will eat for dinner. The easiest option is another egg meal - but that's far too many eggs in one day. I'd like to continue to enjoy eggs after this week. Also, with such limited choices, I'm really hungry - I need a more filling breakfast option (will have to stop and buy some oatmeal) and some more snacks so I can just eat a little here and there throughout the day (maybe some yogurt and cottage cheese). But, as it is with eggs, if those are the only things I'm eating for an entire week, chances are I will never want to eat those things again.

On top of everything else, I am a carb-o-holic. I want bread and pasta. Those eggs this morning would have been perfect IF I was allowed toast. That eggdrop soup I just finished (which was pretty filling, just not an option for everyday) would have tasted delish IF I could have eaten the crunchies that came with it.

But I'm strong. I can do this for one lousy week.

So, now I'm asking you, any ideas for soft foods and/or filling liquids - keeping in mind that I work in Dunkirk (which has two grocery stores, a McDs, Arby's, a pizza place and a Subway) and I can be a picky eater.

Although I did just think that I should make some loaded mashed potatoes - get some more cheese in the diet.

Well, wish me luck. This should be a "fun" week.

Everybody has to have a body. A body is the only way to go.

That's from My Turn on Earth. Miri knows what I'm talking about. Nothing like old school Mormon tapes/books/plays to teach us about how to live our lives! With gems like "it isn't good to be alone, it isn't good. so if you find someone to love you really should join hands and be together..." and "if the cat were you and you were the cat, would you like that to be smashed flat, flat as a mat? the golden rule says no." Amazing. But that's not what this post is about.

This post is about my health. I've documented some struggles with my sinuses and after lots of new stuff and seeing a specialist, I have a way to maintain the general health of my sinuses. Of course that means I still get sinus pressure, my ears and throat bug me, my eyes water incessantly and my nose is stuffy a lot, but actual sinus infections are fewer and further between. So that's happy.

Well, I went to the doctor recently because my ears (especially my left) were bothering me. I wanted to catch an ear infection before it got too bad and also figure out what the pain was from. I hate just walking around with additional pain, especially in my ears because it hurts my eyes and my teeth and I HATE when my teeth hurt. It drives me nuts. So my ears were fine on the inside and I was referred to an oral surgeon to check out my jaw for TMJ.

So yesterday I went to the oral surgeon. It was good to hear that there is actually something going on with my jaw, but the therapy for it is somewhat inconvenient. I will do what I have to do, but you know, I just hope it gets better and is not something I will always have to deal with. Basically my jaw pops and clicks but does not effect movement - I can still open my mouth wide without pain. But the muscles in my jaw (especially on the left) are too tight, causing the pressure and pain near my ears. I have to apply a warm, wet heat to my jaw when I can, take 4 Motrin to alleviate pain, wear a mouth guard at night, and (here's the kicker) go on a soft food/liquid diet for a week. That's right, nothing harder than mashed potatoes. Basically, no chewing for a week. The plus side is maybe I'll shed a few pounds, the down side is, what on earth is softer than mashed potatoes. Soup, oatmeal, eggs, yogurt, jello and milkshakes. I can't even eat chunky ice cream - just plain stuff. It is only a week, but talk about a boring diet. No salad, no cucumbers, no chicken, no chips. Fun.

The other plus side to all this jaw stuff is that my headaches should decrease. I pretty much have constant headaches for one reason or another. They've decreased slightly with the new stuff I do for my sinuses, so a possible further decline after this therapy will be welcome. I also have to make an eye appointment, that should help as well.

I'm determined to have some of these things under control. I let a lot of my sinus stuff go on unchecked because I didn't have insurance, but now I have great insurance so down with germs! I'm going to get my teeth taken care of (I need a bridge and a crown), the sinuses manageable, my jaw back to fine working order, and my eyes in correctly prescribed lenses. By Christmas, I should be like Wonder Woman, minus the invisible jet. Although an invisible jet would be awesome.