14 Days Post-Op (Late)

So this is a day late, opsie.

IT'S BEEN TWO WEEKS SINCE SURGERY!!

I'm happy to be where I am now. I'm obviously still not 100%, but I have been feeling better and better every day now. Eating is also so much better and I am starting to gain back the weight that I lost.

The first few days of recovery completely sucked, but to be where I am now, I'm happy that I went through with the surgery.

I had my first orthodontist appointment since surgery yesterday. And not much went one.. my orthodontist just looked at the bite and asked how I was feeling. She told me to follow what my surgeon says about my elastics. And then in 4 weeks I will be seeing here again, and at that time I should be ready to get my surgical wire off and a regular wire put back in. I also got a new x-ray taken.

With all of this change going on, I've been thinking that I wanted more change. So today I went out and got my hair cut. And it is now short... I knew I wanted to go shorter- like shoulder length. But the hair dressed did it a bit shorter and did a lot of short layers. I can't decide if I like it or not. It's for sure a big change though. I also dyed it a bit more red.

Here's pictures from yesterday:

And here's a picture today- with my now very short hair:

Broken Bracket?

I have no idea why I had not noticed this before. But I just realized that I am missing two brackets on my braces- my top left molar, and my bottom right molar. Would they have fallen off during surgery? Or maybe my surgeon had to remove them? I guess that could make sense for when he took my wisdom teeth out, as the brackets would have been very close to the incision area. I just find it weird that he never mentioned anything to be about it. And I hope it isn't that much of an issue for my orthodontist. Because I don't think she'll even be able to put them back on for a while as I can hardly open my mouth wide enough to reach to my back molars.

12 Days Post-Op

I don't have much new things to say, but I thought I should do a short little post anyways.

It's now been 12 days since surgery, and I am starting to feel really good. My chin numbness is starting to go away, and my stitches aren't bothering me as much anymore. Almost all of my swelling is gone. My jaw itself isn't really in any pain, although it gets very sore after I eat. And I am able to eat so much better now. Two days in a row I have had a full normal dinner! I just have to make sure that I cut up whatever I eat into really small pieces so that I don't have to chew a lot. And I also need it to be in small pieces so that it can even fit into my mouth. I still can't open it very far due to the elastics and due to my jaw muscles being weak.

I'm still so happy to be eating normal food though! I've already gained back 3lbs.

On Wednesday I have an appointment with my orthodontist so that she can see how the surgery went. And I believe she will be taking new x-rays of my jaw and teeth as well. I will probably make a post after that appointment to let you all know what she says. And since it's Wednesday, it will also be my 2 weeks post-op post! I'll try to take some new pictures to upload as well then.

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.

7 Days Post-Op (Second Post)

I thought I would put up a new post with more stuff in it since I'm feeling a bit better tonight then I did earlier today.

My Grandma came over to have dinner with my boyfriend and I tonight as she's moving away on Saturday. And she brought pizza, which I was a bit iffy about. But I was told by my surgeon that I had no restrictions on chewing or what I ate.

I think I'm one of the few with no food restrictions- lucky me.

But I was almost scared of trying to eat something like that because I don't want to mess anything up by over-working my jaw. I attempted and managed to eat almost two pieces of pizza by cutting it up very small and by mainly chewing with my front teeth. It was very yummy. I noticed after eating that one of my stitches managed to fall out though. But there was no blood or anything, so I guess that it fell out of an area that was pretty healed already. And now my jaw is so sore. I have a heat pack on it hoping that it will help my muscles relax. And it's almost time that I can take more pain medicine in a little while which will help a bit as well. I'm done taking my T3s though. The first few days I was so afraid of feeling pain that I took them religiously every 4 hours even if I wasn't in pain that at moment. I went through 30 T3s in about 5 days... Which I know is not good for you. So now I am just taking some regular Extra Strength Tylenol when I feel pain.

I'm also happy to say that a lot of my swelling has gone done. There is still a bit left there (it feels like there's more then it looks), but I look mostly normal now. Except for the fact that my bruising got pretty bad a few days ago. My facial bruising is starting to face. But I have some major yellow bruising along the front of my neck and the top of my collar bone now. I hope it goes away soon. I also have a lo of numbness. The whole front of my chin underneath my bottom lip is numb. And my lips themselves are partially numb. My mouth looks weird right now and I can barely even partially smile because it just feels numb and stiff. The whole bottom of my face just feels and looks stiff. It's weird trying to get used to how I look right now.

7 Days Post-Op

So a week has gone by already. And I don't really have much to say..

I've been feeling okay I guess. I mean, I haven't had much actual pain. I do have a lot of irritation though. Whether it's from being stiff or swollen, or the stitches starting to sting and itch. And the numbness of my chin is really starting to bug me now as well. But the worst part it that I've just been feeling completely drained- emotionally and physically.

I am already so sick of just sitting at home with not much to do. I feel like a hermit, and like I need more human contact. But at the same time I feel like I'm constantly weak, like I wouldn't be able to go out and do anything. Even when I get a lot of sleep and try to eat a lot, and not do much of anything, I still feel that way.

I guess that's just how it is though?

I just hope that it doesn't last forever. I know it's only been a week, but a week of sitting at home feels like a long time.

3 Days Post-Op

I don't really have much to update on right now.

I'm still not having very much pain, but I kind of have this... stinging/tingling feeling where my stitches are below my bottom teeth? It's hard to describe. It doesn't really hurt, it is just very annoying and bothersome. Also, my stiffness and numbness is starting to get worse. I have been trying to use heat quite often to help with the stiffness, but it honestly doesn't feel like it has been doing anything. And I don't think my swelling has gone down at all yet. I feel like I'm going to be stuck like this for a while.