Thursday, March 08, 2007

Tempro Mandibular Joint

I have this annoying pain in my left cheek. I went to my ear, nose, and throat doc and she thinks its TMJ or lockjaw. But I think not. It does NOT feel like my jaw in any way. I can open and close my mouth and there is no clicking or popping sounds and chewing and talking doesn't hurt. What makes the pain worse is when I put food in my mouth and saliva starts coming out. It feels like the gland right in front of my ear, over my jaw, and the gland right under my earlobe, are going to explode. And then if I manage to eat more than three bites, I get a very salty taste in my mouth about an hour later.

I am afraid that my cancer has spread to my salivary glands or maybe its just a blocked saliva duct or whatever you call it. In no way do I think its TMJ cause I had no precursors of this disorder, like a blow to the jaw or grinding or clenching of teeth. It just doesn't FEEL like that to me. I can clearly feel the difference in the glands on the left and right. The left feels swollen and hard. I am just aggravated that I paid to go see this doc cause I thought she would listen to me, but she just felt my neck and said, oh, its TMJ, here's a muscle relaxer.

The muscle relaxer she gave me doesn't even work. It makes my lower back feel better after a night of standing at the front desk at the hotel, but if I put a piece of candy in my mouth and don't even chew. It frickin hurts like the devil.

Plus side is that I have lost 5 lbs since Thursday when the pain started. Less than pre baby weight! Woo Hoo!

Anyway, I have an appointment with my endocrinologist Thursday (I guess thats today) at 3, so I will mention it to him and see what he thinks. The purpose of the visit to him is to schedule my next thyroid scan and see if we killed all the little buggers.
Why do you have to schedule and appointment to schedule a scan? Goodbye money....LOL

OK well everyone hope for no more cancer!!
And sorry for the complaining post!
Here is your consolation prize for putting up with it.....
Kiss my Bass. Get it?

1 comments from beautiful people!:

genderist said...

I get it! (and what a innocent-looking Spiderman over your shoulder!)

Sounds like you've been frustrated. Make sure you let your endocrinologist know your concerns (and that you're losing weight too fast). They may have no way of knowing what it is... but I know I would feel better if my endo palpated my neck and told me he didn't feel a lymph node. They might draw a thyroglobulin to see how your numbers are doing (if they've not shot up, it's probably not cancer).

On the plus side, if what you're feeling is thyroid cancer, it will show up on the scan. And if it is cancer, the treatment will be RAI, which depending on the scan you might have to have again anyways.

Keep us posted on what everybody says. We'll be praying for you!