7. Weeks 9 - 10. Lots of good news

I met with Dr. Viozzi on August 20th and it was a great visit. I had been fully expecting that I would have the arch bars removed at this appointment, but I forgot that we would be deciding that at this appointment and it was possible they would be staying on. This was Dr. Viozzi's first week back after a two-week vacation, so he was very busy. My wife and 2 1/2 year old daughter were with me and we arrived at the Mayo Clinic about 50 minutes early. While we were showing our daughter the view from the 12th floor, Dr. Viozzi walked around the corner. After some happy hello's, Dr. Viozzi asked us to come right in because it would actually work out better for him if we did. I had no problem with that because I was planning on getting the hardware removed. Dr. Viozzi's nurse came in within a couple of minutes and she told me that she had read my blog and has also forwarded it on to Dr. Viozzi. He hadn't had a chance to read it yet, but I suspect that the main reason they removed the arch bars that day is because the nurse read my blog and the expectation that I had for their removal. They usually remove the arch bars in a procedure room in another building, but they decided it would work out fine in the room we were in. I don't think it was planned that way, but it worked out just fine (at least for me).

A spray was used on my gums to reduce any pain I might feel and it was supposed to taste like Pina Colada or something like that. It didn't really taste like that to me, but I can't begin to describe what it did taste like. But the taste was more pleasant than arch bars, so I won't complain. I think it took less than 10 minutes for them to take out the arch bars and there was very little pain. A couple of the wires hurt when they were removed, but it wasn't too bad. It felt great to finally have those things out. It also meant the Dr. Viozzi agreed with my assumption that I was doing well enough to have them out. He ordered a panoramic x-ray to make sure all the bits of wires were gone and to make sure there weren't any surprises in there. When he came back, he had some good news I wasn't expecting to hear that day. If you remember from my earlier posts about the unplanned fractures I had on my right side, we were taking a 'wait-and-see' approach to see how the bone fragments would heal on their own. I was expecting to go back in November or so to see how that area was doing. Dr. Viozzi came back in and said that he could see bone forming in the fractures and the pieces were healing together just fine. I figured I'd have to wait 6 months to hear anything definitive on this, but I got the good word in just over 2 months. Based on that and the fact that I didn't have any real bite issues, Dr. Viozzi basically took off any eating restrictions for me. I could start working my way up to foods that were harder to chew at whatever pace was comfortable for me.

All that good news coupled with the progress I have made with sleep made me pretty happy. Prior to my latest visit, I had stopped taking any medication to help me sleep and had started setting an alarm again. I had tried Ambien CR, but I always had a hangover from that. I even stopped the trusty temazapam. I still had been wearing ear plugs as I would wake up at the slightest noise for some reason. I figure it's just because I had to wear ear plugs for the past 1.5 years while on CPAP and dealing with other problems. This seems strange to me because I used to snore so loud. We also started locking our cats in the basement at night. They weren't too bad to have in there, but it seemed like any slight movement would wake me up. It doesn't help that one of them is a bed hog. We may try letting them out at night after a while, but we should probably wait until things stabilize a little more.

Today, about a week after arch bar removal, sleep is still getting better. I slept without ear plugs for the first time last night. I only remember waking up once and was able to fall asleep fairly quickly. I woke up before the alarm, but decided to lay there for a while. I dozed a little until the alarm went off and then got up. I still feel tired during the day, but not like I did while on CPAP. If things didn't improve at all from where they are now as far as sleep goes, I'd have to consider the operation a success. I finally took the CPAP back yesterday and haven't had to use it since that little episode a few weeks back. I have more feeling coming back in all areas that were affected. It took about 6 weeks before I started getting any feeling in my chin, but now I even have some feeling in my lower lip. I still have numbness in my gums, mostly on top. There is still some residual swelling on the front of my face below my eyes and under my nose. I'm told that this will take 6-12 more months to go down, but it's not enough to bother me at this point. Basically, wherever there is any screw or plate, there is a little swelling. The only other place is on my right side where those fractures occurred. Some of these things tend to make my face look slightly lopsided, but I don't think anyone other than I can tell. I'm not that picky about my appearance, so I'm not bothered by it. It will go away in due time.

As far as eating goes...I ate pizza last night and was actually able to take fairly normal bites off the slice instead of using a fork. My biggest limitation is that I can't open nearly as wide as I had before, but that is getting better, too. It will be a little while before I can eat a burger or brat, but I can deal with it.

I have also been able to shoot trap again since week 6, and that has gone well. My scores picked up right where I left off, so I was really happy with that. I did notice that if I shot more than one round, I would have a little soreness, usually on the opposite side I held the gun. I think it was just that my jaw wasn't used to being in that position. We had our end-of-season shoot-offs last weekend and I shot a total of 7 rounds (175 shots) and I only had a little jaw soreness on the opposite side. It was all gone the next morning, so no problems there.

About the only lingering issue I have is one I forgot to ask Dr. Viozzi about. I have some add feelings in my left ear that seem to be persisting. It's rather hard to describe, but it's like my inner ear feels hot from time to time. Kind of like the feeling you get in a finger if the circulation was cut off and then returned. It's not getting worse, so I'll probably wait to see if it gets better.