Prelude

We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth... For my part, I am willing
to know the whole truth; to know the worst; and to provide for it. -- Patrick
Henry

In Nov 2003, while doing marketing on a Sunday morning at NTUC, I found part of my left ear blocked with a gush of the aircon. I could hear the whiff of the air through my ears. I went to a GP and he gave me eardrops. it did not help and a second GP gave me medicine for reducing of phelgm.. It helped a little and I was on the medicine for over a year.

In July 2004, I had a bad flu and my left ear remain blocked after that. My second GP referred me to a specialist.
Several specialists and a life-awakening experience - MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) later, in Aug 2004, I was diagnosed as having temporomanibular joint dysfunction.

The jaw joints, or temporomandibular (TMJ) joints, connect the lower jawbone (mandible) to the skull. These flexible joints are used more than any other joint in the body. I was glad that the truth was finally out. Though it was not good news, at least I can prepare for it. I was also tired of being referred to and there, not knowing what the problem was.

According to my good doctor, I could have some trauma when I was young, which led to joint degeneration now. He said I had jaw joints of a "fifty-year-old". I wonder what I will be experiencing in ten or twenty years time - "extinct jaw muscles" by then.

TMJ is not as uncommon as I had thought and it is not life-threatening. I had to made some adjustments to my life and have a new companion - a spleen which I wear at night and during the day when no one is around (as I look bucked-teeth). With the spleen, on good days, I can hear with a "full" ear once again.

I am keeping this blog to help me remember that :
1) everyone lives but once => make good use of my time
2) preserve what I have now => no more chewing gum/hard stuff regardless of how I feel like it
3) enjoy good manageable food while I can without getting fat => it is a challenge
4) live for myself while striking a balance with what the society expects => another challenge
5) endure the pain, it will be worse next time => face it, this is the truth
6) not to take life & my condition serious, though I often do that (can't help it - its the genes. :P)

So, if you know of friends with the same condition, post me a comment. Maybe we can exchange notes.