Broken jaw

So Christmas went well, I'd just about recovered from flu, managed to get the kids present made (I'll share the video in my next post) and we'd spent lots of time with friends and family. Then on the night after boxing day I'd cooked a turkey curry for tea and sat down to eat it with the wife and kids.

I'd been struggling to get rid of a cough that I picked up with the flu, during the meal I got up during a coughing fit to get some water. This coughing, coupled with the getting up quickly made me back out and faint.

Turns out I hit the floor hard, face first. When I came round a couple of minutes later my wife and kids were crouched down my me, I was lay in a pool of blood. I had no idea what was going on, I thought I had my ear buds in and was working! I managed to get up and go lie down, my ears was hurting like mad, I'd broken a couple of teeth and cut my chin pretty bad.

My wife phoned 111 and we waited for a call back that never came. In the end we rang again and decided to go to A&E, my friend came over and picked up the kids to look after them.

Got to A&E about 9 and had to wait until 1 in the morning to get seen. Then things got moving pretty fast when they saw blood had come out of my ear. They wouldn't let me be on my own then! I was taken to have a CT scan and then three x-rays of my head and one of my chest. 

Turns out when I hit the floor my jaw hit first. It got pushed up into my skull. Breaking the joint at the top of my jaw on the right hand side, fracturing my skull a bit as well and fracturing one of the bones in my ear. We got discharged at 5.00 in the morning and crawled into bed. 

Turns out I'm not going to be eating solid food for a while. The doctor wants the swelling to go down on my face before they decide what they're going to do, which boils down to three options. First (and most hopeful) is it heals naturally and after about a month I can chew again. Second is they wire my jaw shut for 6 to 8 weeks. Thirdly they operate and put a plate and screws to my jaw to make a new joint, this is the riskiest as there's a nerve in my face that if they damage will cause a lot of trouble. 

So in the meantime I'm on food that doesn't need chewing! I've been making overnights oats that have been blended, lots of soups and an apple crumble that I also blended down - the kids called that a "apple soggle" 

Although it seems bad I'm pretty thankful I fell forwards and not back. It could have been a whole lot worse. And I'm not really in any pain, just my face being a bit sore and the fact I can't chew.

So going to be a different few months ahead for me. I'm up beat about it though and have lots of fun things planned in the new year and a really exciting commission work wise which I'll share with you all later.