The Joys of being wired shut

What a week its been. Last week at this time I was in the middle of a run on the treadmill now I am wired shut for the next four to six weeks. So how did it all happen and what has gotten me to this point.

Saturday June 11th started out just like any other...Brent went for his morning run and I went to the treadmill for my morning run. Feeling just fine and doing what I normally do on the machine. I remember looking up at the time and then looking down at my feet. The next thing I remember is being on the ground with my knees bloody and my face hurting like crazy. I got cleaned up and dressed thinking I am going to very sore tomorrow. Well then looking at my teeth a little more I saw that they were off and my bite was very off. So once Brent got home we went to the doc in a box and got checked out. The doctor gave me some pain meds and told me I have two choices, going to the ER and get an x-ray or wait until Monday and get one at my dentist. I chose the dentist only because the ER would have been an arm and a leg and not what I wanted. I think I was in denial about it being broken. Saturday was the Boise Iron man do Brent and Casey spent the rest of the afternoon at that. I stayed home and took my meds and iced my face and slept.

Sunday June 12th we went to church and then just stayed around the house not doing much. I was still on the pain meds and not in to much pain. Not feeling good but able to function.

Monday June 13th I called the dentist and got an appointment to have it checked out. Even before the x-ray came out my dentist said you have a broken jaw, just from looking at me he could tell. Once he saw the x-ray it was confirmed, broken in two placed. One in back and one in front. The back break was two breaks and he was shocked I did not feel any numbness since there is a nerve right there. He called the ortho surgeon and got me a consultation for the afternoon. After picking up Casey we got a couple of errors done and then went to see him. After the exam he gave me three options. Option one, let it heal on its own and hope its not to painful and it goes back like it should. Option two, I could have full surgery, in which they would admit me to the hospital and they would put in metal plates where the breaks are. I would have to stay over night at the hospital and the cost would be about four times more. I would have movement of my jaw but it would be very soft foods and the recovery time would be about 4-6 weeks. My third option, be wired for 4-6 weeks. It would be an in office job and require me to only be on a liquid diet for the recovery time. I chose option three for a couple of reasons. Number one, the over night hospital stay and having them place plates in my mouth just didn't work for me. Number two, the cost. Yes the recovery from the hospital might be a little easier, I would have mouth movement but I still felt the lock jaw would be better. So I made the appointment for Thursday June 16 at 10:00.

Tuesday and Wednesday went just like any other day...took Casey to school, ran errors and just tried to get a few things in the house for me to start on after the big day. I was told I could not have anything to eat or drink after 12:00 on Wednesday night.

Thursday June 16 I took Casey to school and then came home and got ready for the big day. Brent drove me to the office and I went back for the procedure. I don't remember much after going back into the exam room and the doctor coming in and asking me a few mundane questions. The next clear thing I remember is waking up at home on the couch and Brent telling me Casey was going over to a friends house to play for the afternoon. I then went back to sleep for a while. Woke up had a protein drink and went right back to sleep. That was pretty much the rest of the day for me. As far as the pain on that first day it wasn't to awful about a 5 on a scale of one to ten.

Friday June 17, Brent to Casey to school for me which was a wonderful thing. I think the biggest thing I did on Friday was pick strawberries and do a load of laundry. Other than that it was a lot of drinking and sleeping. I have found a couple of really good drinks and a very good soup out of all of this. Brent went to get Casey from school and then the two of them left for the rest of the day to go fishing with a friend. It was nice to have the peace and quite but very lonely to have them gone that long.

Now today is Saturday June 18. A day that I was not looking forward to but with all of this going on I have kind of pushed the past to the past. Good/bad I am not really sure but I am not able to dwell on it. I have been trying to look at this experience with a positive twist and here are a few that I have come up with.
1. I could have broken something (worst than my jaw) - leg, arm, both legs, both arms, my neck
2. I woke up from the fall. I could have been killed from the whole thing
3. I am finding many new things that are very good - soups, drinks
4. I am having fun finding new recipes for my different meals
5. I am being forced to relax for a while - something I am not good at
6. I am able to get things organized more
I know these are just a few of the many positives that are coming out of this situation. I will list more then I think of them.

I have my first doctor visit on Thursday June 23 so we will see how things are looking. Hopefully he will say everything is looking wonderful. I will try and keep this blog up today on my journey though being wired shut. Everyone enjoy your crunchy, yummy food and think of me when eat it.