Two months later…

I suppose if it falls under the “no news is good news” scenario, that’s what everyone back home should be taking from this. That and I’m generally lazy when it comes to typing up blog posts, so a month without a post really shouldn’t surprise anyone.

The good news is that I think my jaw’s somewhere around 90% back to normal. There’s no pain at all outside of the occasional popping and the flexibility is nearly all the way there. I’ve been testing the jaw more and more, and so far it’s passed everything I’ve thrown at it. That being said, I’m not being stupid about it generally. The one time I was offered some beef jerky I tried it and then had to decide that this wasn’t a good idea. That was about a week and a half ago, and chances are if I had stayed with it, I’d probably have gotten through it no problem.

As far as the guy who did it is concerned… well here’s hoping that he’ll get his someday. He’s in deep hiding according to the police, who from what we’re being told are working hard to catch him. The good news is that supposedly this dude is flagged until 2017, so there’s time. I hesitate to go into detail here just in case, but hope’s not completely dead.

In other news, GEPIK is effectively cutting my job. Some serious mixed feelings about that. Truth is that my job requires way too much time where I get to sit by myself and do pretty much nothing. On the other hand, those kids have been all sorts of awesome lately. I’m seeing progress from the young ones that I’m really proud of and the older ones have been doing really well lately too. And now, thanks to the changes in GEPIK, there’s not even an option to stay.

The biggest problem that’s going to pose could come from finding another job here. My contract ends in August, which means that I’ll be home around then (date TBA). Now I would like my new contract to start in September, which is when GEPIK is doing all of it’s hiring for the next year. At least that’s what they say they are doing. Because of that, I’ll be competing for jobs with a ton of people. So yeah, not sure what to think there. I’ve got a handful of advantages in that I’m on the ground here and have a ton of connections, so with any luck things should shake out pretty easily. But I’m not sure if I want another six week forced vacation, so I’m a little concerned.

Either way that’ll get worked out and it won’t matter eventually. Once I get married, Seung Hee owns me instead of faceless corporation #342. That’ll make things a lot easier.

Tomorrow…

So here we are… nearly one month after the surgery and it’s almost over. Tomorrow I go in to get all the screws and wires taken out of my mouth (under local anesthetic thank God). And man, it’s not a day too soon. I’ve been able to be on a soft food diet for the past two weeks or so, which has done wonders for my sanity. The fruit shakes and blended stews and everything else that I’ve had to subsist on will be a thing of the past. Well maybe not the fruit shakes. Those are delicious.

Either way, I was able to polish off a cheap cheese pizza from a place about a five-minute walk from here. Covered it in hot sauce and chewed through it without too much difficulty and pretty much no pain. The only problem came from things getting stuck underneath the wires and making it hard to close my mouth completely. Hey, the doc said I could have bread. Pizza is just bread with cheese on it, so no problem there.

I’m also making a lot of progress on being able to open my mouth. About a week ago, I was barely able to get one finger in without a lot of effort. Now I’m able to fit two in with a little bit of work. I figure I’m still a good two weeks away from normal flexibility, but right now I’m able to eat without any real pain to speak off. Breakfasts are a little more difficult, but that’s to be expected since I can’t really open my jaw while I’m sleeping. Haven’t learned that trick yet.

So tomorrow I’m asking the doc two big questions… 1) When can I run again? 2) When can I eat real food? The first one will tell me when I can get back to hockey. I had to watch my team’s games this weekend from the sidelines. Safe to say I don’t want to do that again. The first one is just for my sanity… The things I’d do right now to eat a burrito or a plate of chicken wings without any issues are numerous. Anyway, I’m probably another two days at least from that. When I asked the doc if this would hurt come Wednesday (when I have to teach), she said, “Yes, it will hurt.” Least it’s a straight answer…

One week to go…

Today was the three week check-up at the doctor’s office. For once, I’m not going to be in any pain afterward! That’s a nice change of pace. I’m on a soft food diet and have been for the past week. I haven’t really noticed a whole lot of change in my bite, so that’s a good thing. If anything, with this metal crap in my mouth I really haven’t wanted to test it yet. Because of all the metal, my lips and cheeks have kind of formed around it so sometimes when I start to chew, sometimes I’ll catch a piece of skin there as well. It’s a small thing, but it’s enough to keep me from chewing too much. Although, I’m about to tuck into a big plate of spaghetti (got clearance from the doc) so I’m pretty happy there…

But the best news is that I’ve got one more week before they take out the metal. I cannot wait to get this stuff out. Good news is that if I want it, I can get anesthetic. For five screws in my gums and metal wire wound around my teeth, I’m probably going to take that option.

Right now, I’m working on getting my mouth open. At the moment I can fit one finger into my mouth, and the hope is that I’ll be able to get it the rest of the way open here soon. I’ve got a few exercises that I need to do in order to get help improve it. With any luck, I’m hoping that by the next week I’ll be able to have a semi-normal bite. Just one more step until I’m back to being a normal human being.

Recovery time…

I CAN OPEN MY MOUTH AGAIN!!!

DEAR GOD IS THAT PAINFUL!!!

It’s now 24 hours after they released the bands holding my mouth shut and about all I can say is I want to talk much less than I did yesterday. I’m starting to get a lot more movement in my jaw, but dear freakin’ God, that hurts like a **** (insert expletive here). See, I knew this was coming, but very little can prepare you for when the pain comes. When it comes, it’s completely unexpected and extremely painful. What’s worst is at the moment I can’t put my finger on exactly what sets off the pain.

Only problem with healing fast is that you get the all the recovery pains that much more quickly as well. The good news is that as long as my bite stays normal, I won’t need to have my mouth forced shut again. The bad news is that I haven’t used those muscles in two weeks and they are about as stiff as a redwood. The doctor says that I have to work on my flexibility, which means talking and opening and closing my jaw. Although when I do that, I never know when my muscles on either side of my jaw will seize up hard. When that happens, I have an involuntary reflex where I immediately move my hand up to support my jaw.

The other problem comes when I try to sleep. I pretty much can only get a good night’s sleep when I’m laying on my side. When I do that, my jaw slides just a little, which stretches the muscle holding it, and then if I move at all, I wake up to a massive amount a pain and a jaw that takes a good 10 minutes to relax and go back into place. Only problem is that this happens every 2 hours… so I’m back to trying to sleep on my back which as of yet hasn’t particularly worked.

Anyway, on with the rest:

Diet: Feels like I’m eating a ton of mashed potatoes, probably because I am. Still going through a ton of smoothies and other good stuff, so the weight has stabilized for now. Energy is doing pretty well as well. I’m tired now, but that has much more to do with an awful night’s sleep last night.

Mood: Determined… There’s no other way to put it. After 24 hours I’m able to see a little bit of space in between my front top and bottom teeth, so that’s a heck of a lot of improvement. On the other hand, there’s no way for me to know when exactly the pain will come, which is a bit scary. All I know is that if when I’m talking, it’s gonna come. Not sure when, but I know it’s gonna come and it’s gonna be pretty damn painful.

Justice: Well, I’ve sent an email to the embassy asking for assistance, and as of yet haven’t heard anything. Seung Hee talked to the officer in charge today, and he said that the guy is really trying his best to escape. Which in my mind means that if they know that much about him, how come they haven’t been able to pick him up? They’re asking me to be patient… well that’s a lot easier on a full night’s sleep and a jaw that doesn’t feel like it’s trying to separate itself from the rest of my face.

Oh and if you’re wondering if they’ve given me any painkillers for my jaw… well take a wild guess. I kind of feel like Korea subscribes to the “cold turkey” method of recovery. I know it supposedly works for quitting smoking and I know it’ll work for me, but man, it’s not a whole lot of fun. As long as I can make it through the next couple of days, the pain will subside and talking will get easier. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel… it’s just that the way out requires a fair amount of pain.

Two weeks in and…

I CAN OPEN MY MOUTH AGAIN!!!

Since last weeks debacle, I’ve been dreading the idea of going to the doctor. Craziest thing happened this week though, I went over there and they took a look at my bite. First, the doc in training took a look. She got this really quizzical look on her face and told me to hold on a second. She ran and got the actual surgeon…

He spent a couple of minutes looking at my jaw, checking my bite and such, before he up and declared that I didn’t need to be banded shut anymore and they wanted me to start trying to open my mouth more and more to stretch out my jaw muscles. Also told me that if I start feeling my bite go wonky at all I need to head back there immediately, but here’s hoping that won’t be necessary. I need to leave the metal pieces in for the next two weeks, but as for now…

I CAN OPEN MY MOUTH AGAIN!!!

Only way this day is getting better is if we get a call from the police saying they caught the guy…

Back to work…

Time for me to shake up the format a little. The Pain heading is gone now, because I’m not in any noticeable pain anymore. Also going the way of the dodo is the sleep heading, because I’m sleeping without any problem as of late. If anything, sleep is too easy. Only big news is that tomorrow after work is the two-week check-up. Now as I’ve said before, any time that I have to head to the doctors here, I’m gonna get a little nervous because they don’t exactly treat me gently. Luckily I think all they’re going to do is replace the bands holding me shut. I think. I hope. Who knows, I might come home in unbearable pain again. Beats me.

Anyway, here’s the rest of the update…

Diet: Looks like I’ve gotten my weight to stabilize finally. Looks like learning how to make delicious, delicious shakes and smoothies along with decent soups in a blender has got my calorie intake at a pretty good level. Add it some oatmeal and mashed potatoes and we’re doing just fine. It’s not as good as actual food, but it’s much better than tasteless rice porridge and cream soup everyday. Now if I eat cream soup, it’s almost a nice change.

Mood: This is a little iffy… now I’m completely fine in most scenarios, but the other night we went out with some friends to the local bar around here. When we were in there, I saw someone who vaguely resembled the guy who hit me. I was immediately taken with the urge to go over there and just start swinging away. The problem was that it wasn’t the guy. That guy had nothing to do with it… he just sort of vaguely resembled the guy. All that ends up happening is I let all the anger and rage come bubbling up to the surface and kind of ruin my night. Nothing happened… it just surprised me that all those emotions came up at that time.

Justice: So we’ve heard nothing lately. At this point, it’s time for another round of discussions with the embassy trying to get them to put some pressure on the police around here. At this point, I kind of assume that they’re not looking for him. I have absolutely nothing to back that up with, but that’s my feeling. The last conversation with the detective in charge came about a week ago at this point. Since then… silence. I bet if I let this drop, there’s a good chance that nothing will ever come of it. Although I bet if I kicked at couple hundred bucks at the cop, he could pick him up within minutes. But to hell with that…

Bring on the weekend…

Pain: Negligible unless I do something stupid. The main thing for me is to not do too much too fast. Yesterday, I made an absolutely delicious milkshake that was maybe a little bit too thick. I compensated by being stubborn and trying to fit in through the straw anyway. It worked, but immediately after I realized that my jaw hurt bloody murder. That ended my day at work… not a problem since I didn’t have to be there anyway. Came home and iced my jaw and had a little talk with myself.

Sleep: Much much much improved. I’ve got a habit of waking up at 4:30 am for some reason, but then there’s no problem going back to sleep. So I think we’re good there.

Diet: Yesterday was the first time that I ran out of energy in the middle of the day. It started early in the morning, as I just couldn’t get the engine to turn over so to speak. I was able to get up and moving, but actually getting things working was a struggle. I ended up eating as much as humanly possible yesterday. Surprisingly, a Kimchi jjigae smoothie is absolutely delicious. Oatmeal shakes work… today I’m going to experiment with mashed potatoes, cream cheese and Parmesan. Should be an interesting time.

Mood: I’ve got the Wii up and running again. Outside of that, I’m going to see some friends this weekend. So things are definitely starting to look up.

Justice: Face it Matt, it’s Koreatown.

The road so far…

Well it’s officially been one week since they wired me shut. Since then I’ve endured a fair amount of pain, learned how to make a few interesting smoothies, and started to get back to my normal life. Guess it’s time for the update…

Pain: Still some occasional sharp stabbing pain around my ear, but it’s a lot less frequent and I’m getting used to blocking it out. With my increased ability to speak, I’m getting some soreness and swelling in my jaw. I think it’s me just trying to do too much too fast. Came home from my Korean class and saw that my cheeks had a slight chipmunk look to them.

Sleep: Had the best sleep I’ve had in ages last night. At least 6 hours uninterrupted made me feel like a new man.

Diet: Surprise, surprise, if something is good normally as a hot food, then in smoothie form it should still be hot. Ended up cooking ramen to see how it would turn out. When it was hot, it tasted just like it does in its normal form. But when it was cold, let’s just say I won’t be letting that happen again. A run to Costco has me stocked up on Oatmeal and mashed potatoes mix so I’ll be able to get a little fiber in the diet as well. I almost picked up a drum of protein powder that I figured I could start throwing into my milkshakes and stuff, but I decided against it. I might go back for it later.

Mood: I’m feeling good about everything at the moment. I ended up going back to Korean class for the first time after missing the past 3 classes. Shocked the hell out of everyone that I showed up, but I was able to muddle through the best I can. I think I’ll have to be a little more thrifty with speaking here in the next couple of days, but it’s nice to see I can do adequate with conversation.

Unless I’m on the phone that is. I got a call today from someone I know through my hockey league. Now I knew that there were two options, either he’s calling about something related to the league or he’s got the wrong number. I debated for a brief second whether I should pick the phone up or not, but then did anyway. Sure enough he’d selected the wrong Matt in the list… but it took him a minute to realize it. He couldn’t understand a word I said. So yeah, as of right now phone conversations are a no go.

Also shaved my face for the first time since I got out of the hospital. This was a bit of an adventure because when they fixed my jaw, they had to do it in a way that made the area from the bottom left half of my lip down to my chin completely numb. I can’t feel a thing there and what’s more, I don’t think I have a lot of muscle control there either. So when I tried to shave there, I felt the razor getting caught on the hair because I didn’t have the same tension in my face that I normally would have. Managed not to nick myself though, so everything worked out alright. Might end up growing some fur in that area because it’s not a pleasant feeling to shave there at the moment.

Justice: Nothing new. We’re still hoping this has a speedy resolution, but I’d say there’s less and less of a chance that will happen. It’s good to see that extra tax money I had to pay the Korean government this year is being spent well…

Gray skies are gonna clear up…

Let’s run through the list…

Pain: Well, the doctor’s visit was hell, but now that it’s over things have improved measurably. My gums have rebounded pretty fast from the doctor’s prodding, and the new bands are making my jaw feel more in place before. There’s still some pain in my ear, but if I’m to believe the docs, that’s more to do with the residual effects of the punch than anything else. Either way, the pain is quite a bit less.

Sleep: With that in mind, last night was the best night of sleep that I’ve gotten in ages. The crazy thing was that it was a bit counter-intuitive… For the past two weeks or so, I’ve been unable to sleep on my side because of the swelling in my face, so I’ve been trying to sleep sitting up stacked on a group of pillows. Last night, I tried pretty much the opposite to a resounding success. Flat, prone with one pillow= best night’s sleep in two weeks. No pain, no coughing… Just goodness all around.

Diet: Learned how to make a pretty decent mixed fruit smoothie yesterday. Had a fair amount of calories to it, so hopefully I won’t be losing too much more weight. And for dinner, Seung Hee made this absolutely heavenly chicken soup loaded with pepper and spices… mmm, that was good drinking. I’ve now poked under the 80kg mark for the first time in only God knows. Truth is I had been meaning to lose weight for ages, and honestly… I’m looking pretty hot right now.

Mood: As you can tell, I’m feeling much much better. With the stitches removed, I’ve got a ton more movement in my lips. I can talk so much better. I don’t sound so much like Donald Duck with a clothes pin on his beak anymore. My speech is still muffled, but I think that I as I practice a little more it’ll get easier and easier. With that in mind, I’m heading back to Korean class tonight… Also, I’ve decided to sign up for hockey this season. I need that carrot on a string for when I finally get back to normal. I probably can’t legitimately play until April, but even then it’ll feel so good to finally get back out there.

Justice: Nothing too much new to report. Seung Hee received a text from the police earlier with a recommendation that we try to settle out of court because the guy who hit me will be going to jail for something completely different, and from the way he made it sound, something much worse than what happened to me. It looks like the wheels are turning… slowly, but turning is better than nothing at all.

IS IT SAFE?!?!?

You know that if I’m starting a post with a quote from Marathon Man, things have not started well.

The best that I can tell, you do not want to end up in a hospital in Korea. There seems to be a fundamental cultural shift in the way that they treat their patients. Now this might be a little more influenced by their treatment of me as a someone who can’t speak the language, but I can only go by my experience.

The biggest difference that I can see is their treatment of pain. Back home after jaw surgery, I really doubt that they’d send you home with some liquid Tylenol and say you’ll be fine. But in Korea that’s a perfectly acceptable alternative, no matter if the patient is in agony for a couple of days. I also ran into this in the hospital when I was complaining that the IV felt like I was being stung by one hundred wasps. They told me that I needed to leave it in for it to finish, something that was going to take a good 12 hours. I made it 9 before I just couldn’t take it anymore, and sure enough, that’s when they pulled a Tetris block shaped needle out of my arm.

Fast forward to today. Today was supposed to be a simple stitch removal. I say simple even though my mouth is rightly a tad tender at the moment. No problem then, one or two shots of Novocaine or something to numb the area where you’ll be doing the pulling and we’re good. Take a guess what actually happened…

I even started asking them, “Do you mind numbing the area up a little? It’s been a little tender lately.” This is probably due to the cough that I have which forces my lips to mimic a horse’s. They didn’t obviously, so for the next half an hour my mouth is being pulled and pushed in all sorts of ways while I’m being jabbed with scissors and tugged on with pliers… If it sounds bad, well, it was probably worse than you think.

What was the real topping on the cake was when they finally got 90% of the stitches out, they realized that there was no way for them to reach the back ones without me being able to open my mouth. So sure enough, off came the bands holding my mouth shut and then they started asking me to open my mouth as wide as I could. Anyone who’s had their wisdom teeth out knows that you can’t open your mouth very wide for quite a while afterward, and this case was no different. So they decided to assist me. Grabbing my (hopefully) still healing jaw so they could get at the stitches in the back. OW.

This leads to the cruel irony of the whole thing… at the end, after all the pain is over, they have to band my jaw shut again. Only then do they bring out this solution that numbs my gums a little. I wanted to punch the dentist in the face right about then…

So yeah, do your best not to end up in a Korean hospital. It’s not pleasant in the least.