Two-week post-op visit: Everything is Different

Well, it was 2 weeks since the surgery this past Tuesday and I have slowly, but steadily, gotten better, and had my first post-op visit Wednesday.  There is really no time frame, just as long as continue to get better.  Everything is going well so far.  It should be a month or two before I am completely out of the surgical pain.  It is a different pain.  Everything is different, in fact.  

As for my inner ears, the ringing and chirping is still there, generally better, but different, it should get better as my spasming muscles loosen up with physical therapy which I will be starting a week from the follow-up visit.  I will start out at 3 times a week and go from there.  I am hoping this time, it will not be all for naught, rather it will be a catalyst to being closer to chewing.  Also, the synovial fluid still needs time to balance out in the joints.  Improving the mobility of my jaw will move that along.

Again, everything is different.  Yes, I am going to the same great physical therapist who can feel where my pain is without asking, but this time, I have a different jaw to work with, one that has the possibility to get better, to open, to close, to move side to side, to one day chew a taco.  Everything is different, every visit will not be just another shot in the dark.  Everything is different, I will not futilely hope that she will somehow act as a magician and somehow release a muscle to get rid of the then unbearable noise in my ears.  This time my ears will improve with each visit.  If they do not, I will hope they will not be volatile when I start chewing again.  Everything is different.  I really don't think that I will go deaf momentarily when I chew a few times during my first meal in about 9 months.

Speaking of 9 months no-chew/6 months soft-chew/9 more months very careful-chew,  I will say that I am sometimes overwhelmed by the scope of the recovery and find it daunting, but I tell myself instead of painfully plummeting into the valley getting worse and worse every day, I have finally made it to the bottom, drank the healing water of the cool mountain stream of the valley and am now heading up the other healing side of the valley.  Of course, panic, is sometimes unavoidable, but I get through it, I've gotten through almost a year and a half of constant panic.  Again, everything is different.  I only have panic sometimes.