Illness Update

Just a quick update about Matt and I and our ridiculous ailments.

I am doing pretty well! My face looks almost normal, as you can see. There's just a little swelling left, and I don't feel like it's visible when I'm out and around.

There is a definite improvement from last week, though I still have a very hard lump on my jaw, still can't open my mouth very wide, and still have a numb spot in my chin and lower lip. I finished up antibiotics #s 2 and 3 Mondayday, but the oral surgeon refilled one of them for an additional 7 days. Still 4x a day, which means I still have to wake up in the night to take a pill. Not as big of a deal as it sounds, since I'm still not sleeping all that well.

I made myself a night gaurd last week to keep me from grinding my teeth. My bruxism has got to be contributing to the lock jaw. If I ever want to be able to eat a big, fat hamburger again (and I do!) I need to stop. The gaurd isn't terribly comfortable to sleep in, and I usually only keep it in about 1/2 the night, but I do think it's helping. Plus, it was kind of fun to make.

Matt's burns are looking awful and in the last 2 days have begun itching like crazy. He's up a lot of the night, too. Bedtime is kind of a joke around here lately, actually! LOL

Itching, of course, means he's healing - though that doesn't make it any less irritating.

The skin is peeling away and revealing some very red, angry looking skin underneath.

He's been walking with a VERY pronounced limp, mostly because he's keeping his leg straight so the skin doesn't rub as he bends his knee, but also because the bottom of his foot hurts.

Asher was walking after him Monday, imitating his limp - it was hysterical.

He saw the Nurse Practitioner at his doctors office yesterday morning, just to be sure everything is healing correctly. She said it all looked good and put a call into a personal friend of hers who works at the outpatient burn center at the University of Utah Hospital. She told Matt a few things to watch for - swollen glands, fever, and spreading. If those things happen, it's getting worse.

Last night, on his way home from work, he started to feel awful. By the time he got home his calf was visibly swollen, the glands in his groin were swollen and painful, and red, upraised bumps had begun to spread out from the burn accross his leg. Perfect timing, right?

We put a call into the NP who was VERY helpful. She already had all the information as to what to do from talking to her burn center buddy, and took great care of us. BIG difference from the dentist debaucle.

Anyway, she said it was probably an infection combined with a reaction to one of the topical agents we'd been using on it. She called in a perscription for antibiotics and told me a different ointment to buy.

So last night it was my turn to run out for supplies. Target for drugs and Artic Circle for a shake, and Matt actually slept pretty well last night. It's already looking better this morning, so hopefully this medicine will do the trick.

I think we're both on the mend. In a week or two, we won't even remember all this...right? For now I have a middle-of-the-night drug buddy! Matt has to take his every 6 hours, too :)