Day 35: 5 Weeks!

5 weeks ago I had a surgery that has dominated a large portion of my life for the last few years. Today is then one step closer to putting it all behind me as I am officially off my weight lifting precautions!  I had planned to head straight to the gym after work today and (starting back at square one) start strengthening again.  Unfortunately the weather had other plans and Virginia is in a state-of-emergency as of yesterday, which shut down the gym, (but did give me a snow day! :) So for exercise I shoveled off the porch...exhausting!

Overall I am not seeing much day-to-day changes, but...  The muscle spasms really only happen now toward the end of my day after I've done a lot of talking. I do still have a steady 4/10 ache along my mandible and under my nose, but it is now mostly relieved with Aleve. I feel more swollen and stiff in the morning particularly around my mouth and nose, but I think it goes down somewhat as I move my face muscles throughout the day. I'm still trying not to really judge my facial appearance until I reach the 3 month mark to let some more of the lymphedema go away.  Hmmm..what else?  Not much change in the numbness, but nerves regenerate at 1mm/day so I may have awhile yet, before I feel a change.
I think that's it for my update.  I'm still working on food (no chew diet still) and vertical mouth opening (I'm up to 1.5mm) and I'm still really hoping the surgeon takes the splint out next week!!

Definitely dressed for a day-off :)  You can see the the left side is still more
swollen when compared to the right side.