10 Days Post-Op

This is a late post from Thursday, but oh well. Better late then never.

On Thursday I had my follow-up appointment with my surgeon. It went pretty well. He just asked if I was eating okay, brushing a lot, etc. He told me that my swelling looks good (as in how far it's gone down) but according to him it will still go down further and that I should notice quiet a bit of a different between now and Monday. And he explained again to my Mom and I why he decided against surgery on my upper jaw. Basically he wanted to get the most "bang for your buck". If he were to move my upper jaw to fix the slight open bite that I have, he would have not been able to move my lower jaw as far forward as he did. And moving my lower jaw as far forward was what he was worried about the most. He was also afraid that if he did surgery on both of my jaws I would have a higher chance of a relapse. So just doing my lower jaw made complete sense. Although he did tell me that my orthodontist might yell at him for doing this. I guess he changed his plans without consulting with her.

The last thing he did before I left was change my elastics. And he showed me how to put them on myself and gave me a bag with a bunch of elastics. So now I need to change them every morning. And I am allowed to take the elastics out to eat and brush my teeth if I want to, which is so nice. I've just been taking them out to eat and it makes it so easier. I am actually able to eat somewhat normal food now.

It feels so weird not having them in though. It almost feels like my jaw is still being pulled together even when the elastics aren't on. And my teeth themselves are pretty sensitive right now from being pulled by the elastics.

But all in all, I am starting to feel so much better. I barely have any pain from my jaw itself (except when I'm trying to sleep I get sore from leaning my head back). My chin is still partially numb though, and it is starting to get a weird tingling feeling now too. And my stitches are still bothering me a bit, but not as much. Some of them are actually starting to come out already. Most of my bruising is gone. And a lot of my swelling has gone down- If a stranger saw me they wouldn't be able to tell at all. But I can still see a bit of swelling around my jaw bone and chin, and my face still feels like it's fat. Hopefully the rest of the swelling should be gone in a few days now though. I feel like I've been really lucky with that.

One thing I haven't been too lucky with is eating though. Now I am able to eat mostly normal food. But the first few days were horrible for me. I figured out that I lost about 9lbs in my 10 days since surgery. So now it is time to try to gain back that weight since eating has gotten way better.

Now time for some pictures.