So it’s one week today since the big day! The swelling and bruising around my eyes is going down and the wounds are healing well. The stitches are coming out tomorrow and I can’t wait to get my hair washed.

It’s amazing if you think about what has been done and what I am already able to do. I can now smile again and can chew soft items.

Today I have some tongue depressors arriving so that I can start doing some stretches for the joint, I don’t want the joint to seize up. My mouth movement range is already good and is improving daily as the swelling reduces.

This morning I have reduced the dose of oramorph from 10mls to 7.5mls. It is still rather sore but I want to be on as little pain relief as possible. I can now also get my back teeth together however this causes pain in the joint but it can be done which I couldn’t do yesterday.

I’m continually impressed by my improvement and how much I am able to do so quickly.

Yesterday and today has been difficult. Last night I ended up going to the out of hours gp due to the pain I was in. When she saw my face she just said ‘you poor thing’. Anyway To cut it short I ended up leaving with some anti sickness tablets and instructions to increase my oramorph from 5mls 3x a day to 10mls 4x a day. Having that extra dose of pain relief really helped as I was able to get some sleep last night and the higher dose has helped today with just getting some rest and sleeping on and off all afternoon.

The pain is by no means gone completely with the pain relief but I think it is as much as I can hope for. Considering the procedure and the amount they had to mess around with in the joint I’m bound to have swelling and pain. Last night and this morning it did look like I had been in a fight but with me listening to the advice given to just rest the swelling has reduced a bit this evening.

For tea I have had angel delight, antibiotics and an anti sickness tablet. Chewing my lunch was enough chewing for today (soft vegetables and a couple of Yorkshire puddings) I still have 1 more dose of antibiotics to take tonight and another dose of both cocodamol and oramorph which I am trying to save until just before bed so I can have a good few hours sleep.

Yesterday I had an appointment in the evening for some tests and as we were walking out I heard my name being shouted. It was my surgeon. We had a mini consultation in the corridor where he asked how I was post op and he told me he had looked at the x-rays I had after the operation and it is now all completely smooth so surgery has been successful, it is now impossible for me to dislocate again.

I’m now going to prop myself up in bed and watch a film, if I drift off to sleep whilst watching it, it doesn’t really matter. The benefit of having Netflix means I can just pick it up where I left off and watch the rest if I do drop off to sleep.

This is how bad the swelling got last night and this morning. One eye I was struggling to see anything out of. I still wouldn’t have done anything differently and not had the surgery though. This operation was life changing in a good way.

Well it’s now been 2 days since the eminectomy. I’m not going to lie, the pain is bad. I am on 2x 30/500 cocodamol 4 times a day plus 5ml oramorph 3 times a day. The oramorph has only been added today after a trip to the GP as I had been awake since 3am with the pain I was experiencing.

The antibiotics I am on are called flucloxacillin (4x a day) and Metronidazole (3x a day). I find I am getting muddled with when to take what medications at what time due to the pain relief I am on. I think tomorrow I am going to write down a chart so I can keep track of what medications I have taken and when.

Realistically I need to be laid up in bed recovering but I don’t like to be laid up doing nothing. Tomorrow I have a appointment at the hospital for something unrelated so I will be going out for that. I may also go to a pharmacy to get a syringe so I can get out the correct dose of oramorph from the bottle without spilling it all.

The swelling has really come out now and I discovered this evening that what I thought was numbness in my ear making it feel blocked was actually down to blood in my ears. I have cleaned them out as best as I can, I will have another go tomorrow with a damp cotton bud to get some of the dried blood out.

I think on Sunday and Monday I will have a couple days just to rest as that is what I need more than anything.

The pain of eating is becoming worse as the swelling has increased. I am taking the cocodamol every 6 hours so 4.30am/pm and 10.30am/pm. Today the amount I can open my mouth has reduced which is making it difficult to do simple things like brush my teeth so I’m relying on mouthwash more for my back teeth as it hurts too much to open my mouth enough to reach those teeth.

I will attach a photo that shows how much swelling I now have around the joints that were operated on. I really want to wash my hair but it’s still going to be a while until I can do that.

Sorry if I am quiet for a couple of days now, I think it is important that I get some rest.

Well I have been home for 6 hours, the results of the anaesthetic and the morphine I had this morning is wearing off. I am now in a lot of pain so have taken 2x 30/500 cocodamol. I took that almost an hour ago and am still in a lot of pain. Depending on how tonight goes and the pain I am in tomorrow morning I may try to see the gp to see if they can offer some different pain relief.

I have managed to brush the matted hair I had after the operation and put it up so it’s not making my neck all hot. Now I have got the knots out you can now see how high up the incisions go. The right side of my face has swollen considerably in the last few hours but unfortunately I’m not able to take any anti inflammatory medication as it affects my asthma.

I have a pillow wedge ready for me to sleep a bit more upright tonight to try help some of the inflammation to drain away. Last night I only had about 4 hours sleep so hopefully I will sleep well tonight.

I will attach the photos of each side now so you can see how far up the incisions go. I do have a small portion of hair that covers it but you will still be able to see the incisions. If I try to itch the inside of my ear I get a lot of pain in the joint. I have to keep the joint mobilised so that it doesn’t seize up but at the moment that is causing a lot of pain but that is to be expected as it was a big operation.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a less painful day! I will let you know how I get on.

Good morning!

I ended up going to theatre at 4pm yesterday evening meaning I didn’t get up to the ward until almost 9pm. I was awake with pain until about 2 when they increased my morphine dose.

8 hours later I am off the morphine and managing on just cocodamol. I have very fetching stitches and 2 drains coming off my ears.

I will be going home sometime today after 2pm. I was expecting a 3 day stay! I’m very glad that I brought in summer pj’s as it’s very very warm in the hospital.

My only jobs for today is to get home and to ring the GP to organise having my stitches out.

Here are some current pictures of how things are today- I did wash and brush my hair yesterday, honestly!

So, it’s the night before surgery. Although I’m apprehensive I’m also looking forward to having it done and sorted.

My overnight bag is packed as that is the one bag that can be packed before the day. Tomorrow morning it will be time to pack my medication bag once I have taken my morning medications and my CPAP machine after using it overnight.

Yes I am filled with worry and ‘what if’s’ but that just comes with operations. I have had my last meal before weeks of a liquid diet. I could eat a light breakfast before 7am but I’m not getting up 2 hours earlier than usual just to have a bit of dry toast.

I’m looking forward to my phone call with mum tonight and having some time with Will before I go in. We have decided he won’t visit tomorrow evening as the operation is 4 hours long then at least 1 hour in recovery before going to a ward. As I’m not going in until 12.30 I’m not expecting to go up to surgery until 2 at the earliest as I have to see the surgeons and the anaesthetist before the operation.

I will have the last chance to ask any questions in the morning – the main one is what pain relief will I have afterwards, I just want to know I will be comfortable once the operation is done.

The next time you will hear from me is once I have had the operation and I have recovered from the anaesthetic which may be in 2 days time so don’t expect anything tomorrow evening. I plan on sleeping after the operation and having a bit of a relax to get over the big shock to the system that the operation will be. Fingers crossed that the anaesthetist will be able to find a good vein in my spidery veins and it isn’t in a place that is too uncomfortable.

Fingers crossed for tomorrow and talk to you in a couple of days.

Well it has been 1 week and 3 days since the last dislocation that has required medical intervention.

The anxiety over the surgery has started, I’m not overly anxious about the operation itself it’s the concern of the pain afterwards and if it will be controlled with the usual medications as I have been on opioid medications for the previous 3 years so I’m worrying that the morphine they give you won’t have much of an effect.

My other anxiety is how long recovery will be. I’m expecting a liquid only diet for 6 weeks but I’m worrying that it will go on longer than that. I have also been given no ideas on what to expect from physiotherapy afterwards.

The research I have done has also only made me concerned about needing further operations. I hope that this is not the case and the eminectomy will do the job and sort it out for good and I will have no complications afterwards.

The complications of the eminectomy itself I have been told about is bruising, swelling, infection, nerve damage to the nerves that control facial expressions, new TMJ pain and further operations due to TMJ pain. I’m sure that the surgeon will go over these again on the day of surgery.

Well today at 9.15am my jaw dislocated when I coughed. I went straight to the hospital and checked in at a&e. I was seen by the triage nurse who has dealt with this issue multiple times for me so he sorted out entonox and a room for me straight away. At roughly 12.30pm a lady from the maxilliofacial team arrived and she tried to reduce it with just entonox. After having no success with that she tried putting local anaesthetic into the joint and muscles surrounding it. This led to a completely numb lower lip and tongue. At 1.15pm I was taken up to a ward as my 4 hours in a&e was up.

Whilst on the ward I was told I would have to wait until at least 3pm before they could take me to theatre to sedate me to reduce it as I had eaten at 9am. During this time I had no pain relief. I was eventually taken to theatre at 4pm and after a battle to get a cannula inserted they sedated me with propofol. I came to about an hour later in the recovery department. During this time I tried to explain that the bandage they had put on my head was too tight, I couldn’t put my tongue back to sit behind my teeth as there was no space in the back of my jaw to move it backwards. The pressure of the bandage also caused me a lot of TMJ pain so I was given liquid codeine and a drip of paracetamol. After many tears and eventually telling them that they either loosen it or I take it off they finally called maxfax to come and loosen the bandage. They loosened it enough to a state that I could cope with the TMJ pain and they were happy that it was tight enough to stop my jaw from dislocating again.

Once I had fully recovered I was taken back on to the ward, by this time it was 6.30pm. The nurse did my observations and I asked how long until I could go home. This didn’t go down well with the nurse and she was trying to convince me to stay in overnight. I waited until the change over of staff to ask the new nurse when I could go home, she said all my medications and discharge letter was complete she just needed to check with the doctors that they were happy for me to go home. The doctors were happy as long as my blood pressure was fine, which it was, so then it was a text to my husband to tell him I needed picking up from the ward as they don’t allow you to leave after sedation on your own. By this time it was 8.15pm and my husband arrived at 8.30pm. I was sent home with liquid codeine and paracetamol as I am to not open my mouth far. Unfortunately they were unable to get liquid versions of my other medications. I am to have a liquid diet for the next few days however, I have decided to continue this until my operation to reduce the chance my jaw can have to dislocate whilst eating.

I was very glad to get home, the ward was very hot and stuffy. The dogs were also very pleased to see me! It has been a very long day of waiting around and being in pain, I am hoping that I don’t need to attend a&e again before my operation so I’m going to do everything I can to avoid my jaw from dislocating.

An eminectomy is used to treat a wide selection of TMJ disorders. For me it is to stop my jaw from dislocating and getting stuck. The eminence is a boney lump that keeps your jaw in place when opening and closing your mouth. When you open your mouth your lower jaw bone slides down the eminence and then slides up when you close it. In my case when I open my mouth my lower jaw bone slides down the eminence and goes over the bump and then gets stuck the wrong side of the eminence.

The way they are going to ‘correct’ this is by removing the boney lump, the eminence, on both sides as my jaw dislocates bilaterally. This will mean my jaw can still dislocate however it won’t get stuck as the eminence has been taken away, therefore it will just slide in and out of place. It is unknown if the TMJ pain I have will continue after the operation or not. As my muscles will still be over stretched by dislocating but they won’t have the chance to spasm. I believe the pain comes from when the muscles spasm rather than the mechanical movement of the jaw bone.

Hey! I’m Charlie, a 29 year old housewife, I look after my 2 Malamutes, Ariel and Kai. I have a TMJ condition where my jaw dislocates and goes over the eminence bilaterally. Once over the eminence the muscles go into spasm and make it impossible for me to close my mouth on my own. This means a trip to accident and emergency is needed to relocate the jaw, this was originally done by just using entonox but the condition has worsened and it now has to be relocated with the use of Propofol to sedate me. On 2 occasions the use of Propofol alone has not been enough and a full general anaesthetic has been needed.

Im doing this blog as I have found nothing on the internet documenting the journey through surgery and recovery from this operation. My surgeon herself does not know how long recovery will take as this is the first time this operation has been done in this county, however she has given me details about the surgery and how long it is expected to take.