Day 20: Back to Work

I'm not going to lie to you, I was pretty apprehensive about returning to work today. I mean, I still talk funny, I smile weird, I feel like I don't look like myself, and I have very low endurance to activity. Also important to consider is my job typical involves being on my feet 8-9 hrs, doing actual sports exercises, and talking to kids and their parents. I absolutely love my job and today was the very first time I was dreading going in.
 

Day 20: Left side still swollen.

But I made it through!  I did take advantage of our hot packs every chance I had and I tried to rest a few minutes whenever I could. I am grateful that I have a supportive work team that did their best to mitigate my workload today, but it was still a hard and exhausting day.  The good news is that most of the kids understood me, but I did feel bad for my one evaluation today, normally I do a lot more talking and explaining, but today I kept it as short as possible. Despite trying to keep my talking to a minimum, this was probably the most conversation I've had since my surgery and my jaw is screaming at me right now. I walked in my door tonight and immediately took a muscle relaxer pill, hopefully it kicks in soon and I'll drift off to sleep.  I suspect, as exhausted as I feel through my whole body, that I am going to have my first great night's sleep tonight in 3 weeks!

As a side note: I am so grateful to Dr. M for making me take that 3rd week off. I can't imagine doing all that I did today with where I was at health-wise a week ago.  If anyone out there is having this surgery, seriously consider taking off as much time as your surgeon recommends!