3 Months Post-Op

Wow.  It feels weird to even type 3 months post-op, but that's what it is.  I feel like I've missed so much in the jaw surgery blogosphere!  It's been fun catching up on all your progress.  Congratulations to everyone with surgery dates!  I remember how good it felt to just know the date. 

Like many other bloggers, updating you guys months into recovery becomes harder and harder to do, because ... Well, because you're simply not as obsessed with jaw surgery as much as you were before you had it.  Life goes on, and with it come all the other things that you're left to obsess about.  For me, that's been work.  I didn't really tell my new boss or fellow co-workers that I had just had jaw surgery either--- the HR department knew, but I didn't want to be "that girl" at my new workplace.  Not being able to talk about jaw surgery 24/7 made not think about it either. So, I've been ridiculously busy trying to keep up pace with the new job, and in the interim, had to stop paying attention to my face, and thus stop blogging--- for a bit!

So, how is my face doing these days?  Well, my swelling has really gone down.  I can still feel it when I hold my hands up to my cheeks, but most people (including me) can barely see it anymore.  Also, I can now open and close my mouth without that horrible, jarring, TMJ clicking and popping pain.  It used to freak me the hell out, but I don't even have the slightest sensation of that anymore.

I can also open wide enough for most foods now (pretty much 3 fingers--I'm about half a finger away from 3).  I still have to smush down sandwiches a bit in order to fit the whole thing in my mouth, but they get in there!  I also still chew kind've slowly--- or at least, I mean I can't chew as fast or as much food as I used to in one bite, but I think it's a matter of time before I can chew like I used to. 

I went in for my 2nd to last braces adjustment 2 weeks ago, and my orthodontist continues to be impressed with the results, and most especially my recovery (he digs how wide my mouth opens).  At the moment, he's closing all remaining gaps in my teeth.  My next adjustment is July 3rd, and he said I'd only need the braces for 3 more weeks after that, and then be done.  I'm just a LITTLE bit bummed that I won't be out of braces before July because my birthday is on the 9th, but I'm seriously not stressing it. I've waited this long, what's a few more weeks?

As far as my appearance before and after; there's a definite noticeable difference.  My parents think I look really different--- they love the results, but they're still adjusting to the changes.  Friends think I look younger and that my face looks more "angular."  I guess that makes sense.  My surgeon did work to make my lower jaws and chin much more symmetrical, and coupled with the fact that she pulled my lower jaw "out" to address my recessed chin, I could see how my face looks more angular to people. I can see it myself in some recent photos I've taken with friends and family.

Speaking of which, having my picture taken is weird. Old habits die hard because I still find myself angling my face to the camera to "hide" what used to be my lower jaw asymmetry, and I still find myself wanting to "control" how I smile, so that my gums don't make a glaring show of themselves, but then I remember I've had surgery, and that it's okay to just let loose and SMILE!  I'm loving even some candid shots people have taken of me.  Yet, I feel like I have to practice "picture smiling" all over again--- like I need to learn what my "new" best angles are and how wide to smile depending on what look I want to give the camera.  I try doing this in the mirror sometimes, but I think I'm only going to relearn my "picture face" by taking lots and lots of pictures with friends, family, and even some selfies! This is something I would've dreaded before, but now I'm pretty excited about creating tons of new memories that don't include how self conscious I felt WHILE having the picture taken.

Lastly, I've attached a video for you guys.  I don't know if it's just my laptop or if the video's audio really is out of sync, so let me know if you wouldn't mind,  and I can try to fix it.  I'm sorry I haven't posted pictures in forever either!  I promise to do a time-line post of pictures.  I find these illustrations fascinating on other blogs! Might as well see what mine looks like.

xoxo!
A.

6.5 Weeks: Lovin' My Grill

I'm starting to like this VLOG thing.  :)  Hope you enjoy the video.  I reveal the BEST news!

Week 6: "Allowed" to Chew Again!

Yesterday was my 6 week mark, and I'm now, theoretically, allowed to chew most foods.  My doc asked me to slowly ease in to chewing "chewier" and/or crunchy foods.  This won't be hard.  The fear of more headaches has been keeping me in pretty good control of this.  The headaches themselves have really gotten a lot better in the last few days.  In fact, I don't think I've had one in the last 24 hours, so I'm optimistic that my muscles are even more comfortable with all the light chewing and stretching exercises that I've been doing.  Which means they're getting stronger, too.  I had an acupuncture appointment today, and had him focus on the the right side of my face and head (where I get the headaches, and the side on which I have the weaker muscles in my face), and I feel it made my brunch after the appointment a whole lot more enjoyable.  I decided to go "all out" and have a ham and gruyere on a croissant.  The ham was a bit chewy, but cut into small pieces it was easy to get down without much chewing necessary.  Normally, I'd be prepared for a headache afterwards, but it's been a couple hours and still no pain. 

Also, at the 6 week mark I'm still able to open 2 fingers wide into my mouth, and three if I physically pull my jaws apart. It's still definitely a little hard to open wide enough for the 2 fingers because I can feel my TMJ muscles really stretching and pulling on the other muscles in my face, but I feel like this gets better everyday.  Each day, I feel I can open (just a lil bit) wider than the day before with less and less discomfort.

I have my first orthodontist visit next Tuesday, and I'm looking forward to it because I've noticed my teeth have started to move!  I pointed this out to the doctor, and she said that this is very common, and is mostly due to the pressure of the pulling on the bands.  I can't wait to see what my orthodontist thinks of everything when he sees me.  My surgeon has told me that once I see my OD, I'm to follow his instructions regarding bands, and I'm off the hook with her own orders.  I'm looking forward to getting some of these hooks off and getting back on track with orthodontic treatment. 

Between weeks 5 and 6 I've ventured out to see some friends.  I really wasn't expecting the surprised looks I got, but I guess I should've.  I think that as I get used to my "new face," I forget that for people that haven't seen me, it's quite different from when they last saw me.  However, they've all been very supportive and remind me that despite the swelling I still see, they think I look great.  I'm looking forward to getting out even more to socialize.  I've been cooped up long enough! 

Swelling remains in my cheeks, my upper lip and around my chin/jaw line, but my friends and others barely notice.  They swear there's none, but as you'll see in the profile pics below ... it's still there.  I guess, I haven't been helping.  I ran out of supplements last week.  I have TOTALLY indulged in a few cocktails a few times over the last few weeks, AND I've stuffed myself with sugary foods (Hello, my old friend, Red Velvet cake).  All of which, I'm sure have not aided in my swelling recovery.  I'm trying to get back on track, but I'll admit, it's exhausting to try so hard to get well. 

Anyway, now for the update photos.  :)

5.5 Weeks: Back to Life!

It's been 42 days since my surgery.  I still feel very aware of the fact that I recently had major surgery because I can still "feel" my face healing, but I'm otherwise feeling great.  My energy is definitely back, and I think it has to do with how much I've been eating. 

I was cleared for soft/mushy foods at week 3, and I really went at it.  I found that I was able to "eat" so many different kinds of foods without really much of a problem, and even caught myself chewing a few times.  After a while of accidentally chewing down on food, and not really feeling any pain or discomfort, I kind've "graduated" myself into a soft CHEW diet after week 4.  I also broke my vegan streak in order to have some Cuban beef filled potato balls from Porto's.  They barely needed chewing.  It was a melt in your mouth and swallow kind've meal.  I've also had fish tacos (with very mushy cut up tortilla), grilled (VERY soft) veggies, pasta, potatoes, beans, rice, and my favorite, avocados.  I told my Doctor all of this at my appointment yesterday, and she wasn't exactly thrilled.  But, after that, she looked in my mouth, asked me to open, and was shocked at how wide I could open.  I'm able to fit 2 fingers in without me pulling my jaws apart, but when I use my hands to pull them apart for exercises I can get them to open wide enough for room for 3.  She asked if I was still doing weekly acupuncture, and I am, and she's wondering (like I am) if that's helping my cheek muscles along, thus allowing me to open so wide. 

My midlines are still nice and straight, and I am now allowed to wear my bands only at night to sleep.  This is a great relief because the bands make my teeth soooo sensitive, and now that they're not banded all the time, I can feel their sensitivity calming down a bit.  It's still weird that I can't feel my top gums, but my doc told me that I could go as long as a year without feeling them.  Hmmm... I hear people get used to it, so we'll see.  However, I am getting feeling back on that small portion of my top lip.  It's probably at 25-30% right now.  My doc seemed pretty pleased that I had 100% feeling everywhere else.  I certainly am too, but I still wish I could feel my gums even a little.

I still have swelling on both sides of my nose, my upper lip, and chin area.  My cheeks also remain a little swollen, but not too much any more.  I've gone out a couple times to see a couple of friends, and they saw the difference right away.  They think I look pretty different and stared at my mouth a lot while I talked--- they were fascinated.  They didn't see the swelling that I do, but I know it's there.  I can feel it, AND I know what my face looks like when it's not swollen.  My doctor agrees that I'm still swollen in all the same places I stated earlier. 

The only pain I've been getting recently are muscle aches in my right cheeks and up onto my head--- like all the way at the top of my head on the right side.  They're not headaches in the traditional sense.  I can actually feel that what hurts are the muscles on my skull and not my brain.  I think this is from all the stretching and "soft chewing" I was allowing myself.  Sometimes, the pain is stronger than tolerable so I take a couple Ibuprofen and it calms down.

Finally, today was the day that I was supposed to return to work, but there's been a change of plans.  Last week, during my week 4 of recovery, I got called in for a final interview in what had been a long application process for an amazing job opportunity that I had been coveting.  And on Friday of last week, I was informed the job was mine!  In case you're wondering, I kept my bands off for the interview, and just hoped that they wouldn't notice anything "off" about me, and I don't think that they did.  I decided that the right thing to do would be to go into the office early on Monday to give my boss a face to face resignation (after all, they had been so kind to give me 6 weeks off for recovery!! I didn't have that much vacation or sick time).  I now have an extra 2 weeks to add to my at-home recovery since I don't start the new job for another couple of weeks.  I'm soooo glad that I'll have had 2 months of recovery time before having to start this new adventure. I already feel pretty great lately, I can only imagine how much stronger I'll feel almost 9 weeks into recovery. 

Speaking of strength, I forgot to mention that my Doc also cleared me for exercise!  She asked me to take it easy at first, yoga, LIGHT jogging, but that if I felt like I could handle it, I could gradually increase the intensity.  Believe it or not, I actually really look forward to working out again.  I was feeling so good from all the working out before surgery, that I actually miss it.  Weird to say, weirder to actually mean it.  ;) 

Pictures/Video coming soon! 

Week 4: Surprise! VLOG Update

Hey Everyone,

So yesterday was my 1 month mark, and I'm finally beginning to see the real results of the surgery.  While I could post more pictures, I figured the best way to illustrate some of the progress I've made would be with a video. That, and I got super lazy and didn't feel like organizing my thoughts into a proper blog entry----shhh!  I'll let the video speak for itself, and my apologies in advance for the 12 minute length.  I'm new to making vlog's and I didn't realize how easy it is to go off on a tangent, and then forget your original point.  If I make another vlog, I'll do my best to keep them under 5 minutes.  I also forgot to include a close-up of my bite, and profile shots, but I'll upload some new pics to illustrate those in a future blog post.  Hope you enjoy my vlog update!

The Nitty Gritty of Recovery

I just wanted to create a quick post to let you guys know about some of the "smaller," yet annoying issues/problems/consequences as a result of surgery.  I'm now a little over 3 weeks post-op, and so I may update this particular post as more time goes by and I notice some more issues pop up throughout my recovery, but for now I figured I should type these out before I forget them as they slowly go away.  :)

Holy Pimples, Batman!

So, about a week post-op, when the majority of my swelling went down, I began to notice TONS of whiteheads begin to pop up along my upper lip, the edges of my nostrils, my chin, and even my cheeks.  Before surgery, I'd get the occasional pimple or two (about once or twice a month).  However, when I went vegan in January (2 months before surgery) I noticed that I wasn't even getting the occasional pimple anymore.  So, imagine my surprise when I woke up one day (about 8/9 days post-op) and I saw them all over my face.  I knew this was normal, so instead of fretting, I simply bought some really good acne toner and ointment, and began to apply it at night before bed.  It's worked quite well.  I still have zits popping up every couple of days (almost 3 days in), BUT the ointment and toner help keep them small and under control.  I have this horrible habit of picking at my blemishes (yes, that's an embarrassing thing to admit), but I knew this time that simply wasn't an option.  First because there were too many.  Secondly because I'm not keen on itty bitty scars all over my face, and third because it hurts too damn much to put that kind of pressure on my healing flesh and bones.  

Ear Popping

I noticed this around days 4-10 the most.  It was off and on, and usually when I'd get out of the shower in the morning.  I kept thinking I was getting water in my ears somehow, even though I wasn't allowing my head to get wet in the shower those first 7 days.  This was particularly annoying, as it was already difficult to communicate through clenched teeth and a swollen face, and not being able to hear clearly (and instead hear my own echoed mumbles) made me particularly uncomfortable.  It never lasted all day.  Like I said, it was on and off again.  Now that I'm 3 weeks post-op I've noticed it hasn't happened in the last  5 or 6 days.  I'm hoping that's the end of it.

 

Bloody Nose

So, this only happened once and it was only for about a minute, but it was my own fault.  You know how the Doc says don't blow your nose for 3-4 weeks?  Well, the reason they say that is because your sinuses usually still have a lot of blood in them post-surgery for those few weeks, thus the breathing issues that many patients have after surgery.  I have been fortunate enough not to have had ANY breathing problems during my recovery.  I know that this is a common issue for most people, but I swear I never felt the need to blow my nose.  My doctor warned that if I did blow my nose it would cause an excessive (and maybe even projectile) nose bleed.  However, sometime a little after my two week mark, I had had enough of the ear popping. All I wanted to do was pinch my nostrils together and blow in order to pop my ears open.  So I did; VERY gently, and yes, my ears "popped open."  At first, nothing happened, but then about 2 minutes later I felt the drip drip on my upper lip.  CRAP!  I was afraid I'd opened the flood gates.  Luckily, this wasn't the case.  I had a very minor nose bleed for about 5 minutes (I didn't even need more than a tissue to stop the drips).  BUT, my lesson was learned.  I didn't want to risk having a worse nose bleed if I kept trying to pop open my ears, so I haven't tried that again.  As a side note, I really think that the reason I haven't had sinus/breathing issues is because of the Bromelain/Quercetin that I took before and after surgery.  Ask your doctors about taking these supplements if you're interested in taking them.  Some docs are very strict about what you can and can't take before and after surgery.  Mine was completely fine with it. At my 3 week post-op visit, I was officially given the okay to blow my nose if I need to, but happily, I haven't needed to.

 

Sneezing/Yawning

I started yawning about a week into recovery.  At first it was REALLY weird. My mouth was trying to pull itself open, and of course, couldn't because of the bands that were tightly holding my jaws together.  I got a great tip from a fellow blogger about leaning my chin into my chest to help with this, but unfortunately I couldn't really do this much because I had a chin implant put in, and it still hurt to have my chin make contact with anything.  So, I had to learn to yawn slowly and carefully.  My mouth still fights the bands when I try to open, but I can "control" the yawns much better now.

Sneezing was another weird and uncomfortable feeling.  I had my first sneeze on day 7.  I completely freaked out.  I normally sneeze between 5-6 times in a row (sometimes more).  Believe me, if I could get them all out in one big sneeze I would, but I can't.  I've been this way since I was a baby, and so I've just gotten used to the weird stares (and gazillion "bless you's") I get from people when it happens.  That first sneeze on Day 7 came when my tight bands had already been removed and replaced with 2 loose bands on either side of my mouth, so I was able to open my mouth a bit when the sneeze came.  It came out sounding like a dog bark because I instinctively sneezed from my throat more than my nose.  I freaked out because I thought for sure 5 more sneezes were to follow, but only the one sneeze came. Before week 3, while I was still in tight bands, I learned to pinch my nose to kinda make the sneeze "go away."  Now, that I'm in loose bands, I can let the sneezes come, and while they're still a bit uncomfortable, they're easy and come out more naturally.

 

Sore Cheek Muscles

Part of the reason for my chin implant was to help balance out my asymmetric lower jaw.  While I was in tight bands the first week, and as my swelling decreased, I got more feeling back in my cheek muscles, and my goodness were they sore.  The muscles were fighting the position that the bands were forcing them into.  This is why when I got put in looser bands for week 2 my midlines started to shift-- my stubborn cheek muscles wanted to go back into pre-surgery position.  The Doc's solution was to put me back in tight bands for another 2 weeks in order to give my cheek muscles more time to adjust to their new position.  THIS has been the most painful, annoying, and uncomfortable thing for me to deal with.  Imagine having to make a muscle with your bicep and holding it 24/7. I took pain meds a couple times just to get some relief for a few hours. Then I switched to Children's Tylenol because I really didn't want to keep reaching for the pain meds prescribed to me.  It helped a little.  Then, I decided to start rubbing arnica cream on my cheeks 2-3x a day, and I noticed better than usual relief in the soreness.  It got even better when my mom came home from some grocery shopping with something called Traumeel.  It wasn't cheap (about $20 for a tube of cream), but hot damn, that stuff is like miracle cream.  Traumeel is arnica based, but it has other stuff in it too that I swear made the difference.  It literally provided relief from the soreness within 10 minutes of rubbing it on.  I haven't had to take pain meds or Children's Tylenol since.  I rubbed it on 3x a day all during week 2.  It does leave my face even more oily than it already is, but I don't care.  I'll gladly deal with the resulting acne in order to keep my muscles from screaming at me.  As of a couple days before week 3 I felt my muscles "easing" into calming down.  In fact, since being put in my loose bands this past Friday (my 3 week post-op), my cheek muscles haven't hurt at all--- not in the constantly-sore-angry-cheek-muscle kind of way.  I was only applying the Traumeel as needed for pain, but I haven't used it since being put in looser bands. 

 

Can You Feel the Hardware?

This seems to be a common question, and the truth is that yes, sometimes I can feel it.  Not all of it, but I can definitely sometimes feel the hardware on both sides of my nose.  I started to really feel it around week 2 and it intensified everyday until just about the 3 week mark.  This tends to happen at night, and it's not painful.  I can feel the long pieces when I'm rubbing cream (and acne medication) on face with my fingers.  But I can also feel them from the inside of my face.  I get these light pulses of feeling that kinda "flash" up and down the sides of my nose.  Again, not uncomfortable, just a feeling that makes me aware of something foreign in my face.  I haven't had this feeling in the last 2 days, but I bet it's not the last of it. 

Tooth Sensitivity

As the feeling on the "inside of my face" has started to return, so too has it to my teeth.  My bottom teeth are particularly sensitive to either very hot or very cold liquids.  This was really intense during week 2, and it did get painful sometimes.  I stopped drinking/eating very hot or cold liquids, and I tried really hard to  keep my teeth from accidentally "bumping" against my top teeth.  Now, before you wonder how this can happen if my mouth was still banded shut, let me explain that as the days go by and my jaw got stronger and more accustomed to opening thanks to the yawning and some "talking" (even through clenched teeth my jaw SLIGHTLY pried open if I got too excited while talking), sometimes my bottom teeth would bump or rub against my top teeth.  This is a short, intense sensation of pain.  It's always enough to immediately shut me up, and hold my hand over my mouth for a minute or two.  At my 3 week post-op I told my doctor about the tooth sensitivity and she explained that most of it had to do with the fact that my teeth had been banded shut for so long. Now that I've been in loose bands for a couple days into week 3, I've noticed the tooth sensitivity decrease dramatically.  They're still sensitive, but not nearly as much as during week 2.

Sleeping and Waking up

Surprisingly enough sleeping hasn't been too bad since surgery.  I've definitely had a few nights that weren't easy.  The first week it was because of nausea.  The second week was because on a couple nights I had trouble getting and staying comfortable.  Now, in my 3rd week, I'm noticing that I have trouble sleeping because of pain.  I've always talked in my sleep, and that hasn't changed since surgery.  On a couple of occasions I've woken up to pain in my jaw from my mouth actively trying to open to talk (even in tight bands).  Usually it would only wake me up for a second and then I was able to get right back to sleep, but now that I'm in looser bands, my mouth is able to open for talking much more while I'm asleep, and it doesn't seem to know when wide enough is enough because this time I wake up with a sharp, shooting pain through my jaws all the way up to my TMJs.  This is agony when it happens.  I've woken my mom up for the last 2 nights at least 3 or 4 times yelping in the middle of the night because I've just woken myself up from trying to talk in my sleep, or even from my lower jaw "dropping" open while my head lolls back onto my pillows.  Each time I wake up in pain, my mom immediately asks if I want to take some Tylenol. I didn't take any the first 2 nights after the 3 week mark, but I did finally take some on the 3rd night, and it really helped.  I only woke up once, and it was more because I was getting that "swelling" feeling again, not so much because of pain.  

Mornings have been hard the whole way through, and are only now getting better (in the last 3 or 4 days).  I generally woke up in some level of pain everyday, extra swollen, and with my braces/brackets/hooks PLASTERED to my upper and lower inner lips (ouch).  3 days into week 3 and I'm still waking up with some extra swelling (but definitely not as much as earlier), and mostly soreness now from the pain I've been having in the middle of the night from trying to talk in my sleep.  BUT, I'm able to get out of bed much more quickly, "hop" in the shower, and get dressed for the day.

Alright folks, this post is long enough, but I made it because I thought it would be nice to have ONE entry that discusses some of the more noticeable issues I've been facing while in recovery.  That way future jaw surgery patients checking this blog out don't necessarily have to read every single post if they don't want to.  After all, I'm realistic, I know most people just want the facts, the nitty gritty of it all.  I can't speak for others, but the above info has been my nitty gritty so far.

-A

 

3 Weeks and 3 Days (Day 24)

I'm so sorry folks! I must've hit "update" instead of "save draft," on this particular post.  I wasn't finished typing it up, or adding the pictures.  I just noticed.  Here is the finished post along with pictures. I've changed the title of the post to account for the extra day it took me to post (and because I made progress with sleeping on night #3 and thought you should know about it).

3 Days Into Week 3

Some quick highlights about week 3 so far:

• I can open wide enough to fit a real, adult spoon and fork into my mouth, and I've managed to use both just fine in the last 72 hours.  (I've used a baby spoon and/or sipped my meals out of  a dixie cup since day 1).
• I ate huevos rancheros for breakfast today!! At least, I ate the jaw surgery patient version of huevos rancheros.   My mom warmed a tortilla for me, then topped it with scrambled egg, refried beans, and salsa (sans chunks, she only really sprinkled the "juice" of the salsa over the beans so that I could get the flavor).  The tortilla was just for decoration, we knew I couldn't eat it.  HOWEVER, I was able to eat every other last bite of that meal WITH a fork, and in under 10 minutes.  I simply cut the scrambled egg into smaller pieces, then dipped them through the refried beans and salsa mixture, and "popped" them into my mouth with a fork.  I was able to mash most of it up against the roof of my mouth, but I was also pleasantly surprised to find that I could use my back teeth to chew even a little bit more than I could yesterday!  Again I didn't try to overdo it, I mostly just wanted to "test" the feeling out.  So far, it's really only difficult because my teeth are still pretty sensitive, but there is also some discomfort in pushing food back there because the back sides of my cheeks are still healing and bits of food find their way back there.  Normally, the instinct is to use your tongue to get at these bits, but my cheeks are  still sore, and rubbing my tongue back there hurts (and feels weird because I can actually feel some of the scar tissue!).  So, I kept the "chewing" to a minimum.  But this was an amazing MEAL, and I was really pleased with my progress in how far I can open my mouth, how easily I can use real utensils, and with how quickly I was able to get the food down. Success all around! 
• I've gotten really quick with removing and putting my bands back on to eat, brush, and exercise
• Exercising my jaws HURTS.  I like being able to take my bands off because it feels great, but actually trying to practice opening my jaws little by little a few times of day is quite painful.  I never imagined that muscles were capable of such stiffness, but my cheeks are so stiff they feel "broken."  I just can't believe how much it hurts to open wider than I can--- it borderline feels physically impossible to open any wider, but I suppose I am seeing some progress even in just the last 72 hours.
• My energy levels are almost completely back.  I was able to help my mom paint my kitchen, cook a delicious brunch (hence the huevos rancheros), and even enjoy a mimosa (or two), and I wasn't EXHAUSTED afterwards.  It was a busy day, so I was tired at the end of it, but I was happy to not feel like I needed a nap.  
• Sleeping gets easier every night in week 3.  During the first 2 nights, I couldn't get comfortable on my sides because I could literally feel whichever side of my face I was resting on begin to swell pretty quickly.  Last night (Night 23) I took a couple Tylenol to help with the minor discomfort while sleeping, and it worked pretty well.  I only woke up once because of the discomfort/pain of being in one position for too long (my right side).  
 

Finally, some pictures! I had completely forgotten that my mom took some quick pictures of me with her phone while at my 3 Week post-op doctor visit.  So, here you go folks... Week 3 Pics!  I think the swelling decrease is coming along nicely.  I can feel my face muscles beginning to really loosen up.  The most stubborn muscles are the ones above my upper lip, below my nose.  The kissing/lip exercises are really helping, so I'm able to smile wider and wider everyday.  My cheeks are starting to deflate a bit more quickly these days.  For the record, it FEELS like my right side is more swollen than the left about 70% of the time, but it's actually my left side that's usually more swollen.  This makes sense since this is the side that my implant was put in, and it's also the side where I had my cant (thus where I had more of my upper jaw removed to even out my smile).  As always, feel free to ask any questions you might have.  Thanks for following.  It's my hope you're finding all this info useful.

3 Weeks!

Yes, 3 whole weeks! And I'm feeling GREAT!  I had my 3 week post-op visit with my Doctor, and she thinks my healing is coming along splendidly!  As she checked on the stitches on the inside of my mouth she was stoked about how fast they were healing.  I chalked it up to the Vitamin C (it's a great vitamin for healing) that I've been taking, and my diet of liquid vegetables and fruit smoothies.  "Whatever it is, it's working" is what I got in response.

Also my swelling is looking MUCH better.  I kept feeling like it stalled or went really slowly week 2 in comparison to week 1, and I kinda thought maybe I'd reached the peak of my rate of decrease in swelling.  To be honest, though, I had gotten very bad at taking my anti-inflammatory supplements in week 2.  I was really distraught about my mid-lines, and being back in tight bands for another two weeks.  I was also in a lot of pain and discomfort because of the bands.  None of that made me look forward to having to grind my nasty tasting vitamins and forcing myself to drink them.  That gagging thing was real! EVERYTIME.  (Note: now I know it was the turmeric that was making everything taste so bad!  I eventually just decided to stop taking that one in week 2).  I think I only took them 3  or 4 times that week.

Some quick bullets on how the rest of the visit went:

• My mid-lines are straight again.  So, funny thing is, when the Doc initially took the bands off, everything was super in line.  After I was allowed to brush my teeth and practice opening and closing for a few minutes, I noticed they were slightly more off than just 5 minutes before.  The Doc showed me the molds of my teeth before surgery and explained that my mid-lines were always just a little bit off and that this would also be addressed with more bands and braces when I go back to the orthodontist.  Picture to come.   
• I now wear 2 rubber bands on only my right side.  I'm to take them off to eat, brush and "exercise" my jaw.  I can open wide enough to fit all my supplement and vitamin pills in though! Yay, no more grinding!
• I exercise my jaw by opening and closing my jaw and trying to slowly keeping pulling my jaws apart from one another. I am to exercise 10 minutes in the mornings and evenings.   
• I've lost 10lbs since surgery.  I know it's not lack of nutrition.  My energy levels were pretty high for week 2.  I was able to do get out of the house quite a bit to run day long errands with my mom.  I did feel exhausted by the time we got back home, but I had made it through the busy days.  I feel like I burned way more calories than what I was taking in.
• I can begin a "soft/mushy food" diet.  
• I no longer have to sleep propped up AND I can even sleep on my sides.  She let me know that I'll probably wake up a bit swollen in the mornings for a bit, but that it would go down quickly as I walked around.  This was great news.  The last 2 nights had been really hard on me.  I just couldn't get comfortable.  So I wasn't getting much sleep.  My body was aching to lie down, but I swear I could feel my face swelling up if I slept with my head turned for too long.  

After my visit with the Doc, I went to see my herbal Doc for my weekly acupuncture appointment.  The acupuncture has been wonderful for relaxing the muscles in my face.  If you're in pain from being in tight bands, ask your Doc about trying acupuncture.  I also got a refill on my herbal tea concoction for the swelling (I drink it 3x a day).

After that I took my mom out to lunch to one of my favorite L.A. fish taco joints (I watched).  And then we decided we needed some retail therapy and went shopping.  While I was trying on a dress that I was pulling up my body rather than over my head, it got stuck, so I pulled harder, when, all of a sudden--- BAM!  I pulled too hard on the dress, it slipped out of my fingers and the back of my hand (with that extra force) went straight into my jaw!  I. ALMOST. DIED.  I immediately broke out into a sweat, and even kinda screamed in the dressing room.  I couldn't decide if I was just more terrified by what I'd done, than I was in pain or the other way around.  I immediately cupped my poor jaw and frantically looked myself over in the mirror-- had I messed up my implant? Were my mid-lines okay? Could I have "moved" my jaw out of place?  I was damn near hysterical for about 2 minutes.  But, as I realized I was okay, and surprisingly not in TOO much pain, I calmed down.  I didn't even finish trying on the dress.  I just got dressed and went to tell my mom it was time to go.  The only pain I felt was very quick upon immediate impact.  I felt it shoot up through the right side of my lower jaw and into my right TMJ.  It was intense on impact, but then it only lingered lightly for another 10 minutes or so.

When it was time for bed, I didn't sleep propped up, but I did sleep with 3 pillows underneath my head.  It was NOT a fun night.  I still kept getting that "swelling" feeling in my face just from not being propped up, let alone being on my sides. I eventually put my airplane/donut shaped pillow back around my head, and that seemed to help a little.  But then I felt some pain coming back into my jaws and TMJ.  There was one moment in particular when I was turning my head, and I felt a sharp pain shoot through my TMJs.  I think, because when I was turning my head my jaw kinda opened wider than it should/could and the pain came as would be expected, but I can't be sure.  All in all, I really didn't get much sleep.

I'm currently at the end of Day 22 (the very next day after my 3 week Doc appointment).  I had another busy, but successful day.  I woke up late from not having slept much, but once I was up, I got dressed (nicely), did my hair and makeup, and had some VERY watery, but very delicious oatmeal for breakfast.  Then, I went out to the movies with my brother, his girlfriend, and my mom.  Afterwards, I indulged in some frozen yogurt (yes, I ate dairy-- haha!), and it was flipping DELICIOUS.  I was able to open wide enough to use the spoon, but not necessarily my top lip (it's still a little numb and my upper lip is still swollen).  For dinner my mom made some "Sopa de Fideo."

It's a traditional Mexican comfort-food dish, and we decided to see if I could get any of it IN my mouth and then down my throat comfortably.  First, I was excited I could use a REAL spoon (I've been using a baby spoon since the beginning).  This was mega cool to me.  Then, I found I was actually able to KINDA crush some of the noodles inbetween some (not all) of my back teeth (my left back molars, not my right).  I still ate most of the noodles whole, but I was pretty pleased with being able to crush down even a few. 

I can also now VERY carefully fit the whole baby toothbrush into my mouth.  I can now brush the insides of my teeth and even in between the top and bottom.  I stress, I do all this very carefully, letting my jaws VERY slowly pry apart from each other in order to allow the brush between them, and then some back and forth movement to brush.  This was my FIRST time being able to brush back there and although it kinda hurt, it was still awesome.  I'm looking forward to improving how much I can open my mouth every day!  All this progress has got me seeing the light at the end of the tunnel!

Tonight will be my second attempt at sleeping in a semi-flat position.  I think I'll still keep my donut pillow and 2 standard pillows underneath my head to help.

I'm sorry, but no pictures in this post!  I honestly haven't taken one in the last few days or so, and I want the pic to be current.  I'll post one tomorrow!  Thanks folks!  

Something Is Not Right (Day 9, 10, 11)

Days 9 and 10: Uh-Oh Something is NOT right

The pain was still off/on on day 9.  I felt it both on both sides of my face.  It was honestly like my right and left cheek muscles were battling over which one wanted to be in worse pain.  I kept controlling the pain with the Children's Tylenol, and took the Hydrocodone on the evening of Day 9 to help me sleep.  At this point, I could feel that part of the pain in my cheeks had to be coming from the fact that I could only feel my back molars touching down on my left side NOT on my right side.  I worried, but I decide this might be one of those orthodontic issues that has to be fixed after surgery. 

On day 10, I was checking on my teeth in the mirror when I noticed that my mid-lines were no longer lining up!  This is how I knew something was DEFINITELY NOT RIGHT with my bite!  I immediately panicked and e-mailed my doctor (at this point, my doctor had actually shared her PERSONAL e-mail address with me in the event I needed to reach her immediately).  I sent her a picture of my teeth to show her my mid-lines, and I explained to her that the TMJ pain on my right side was still a intense, and that I couldn't feel my back molars touching on that side.  She emailed me back within 10 minutes, and asked me to come in the next day.

Mid-lines no longer matching up

On an emotional note, I did cry after noticing this thing with my mid lines.  It was my first real "big cry," and I'll try not to do this again as it aggravated my sinuses, gave me a headache (even worse than I already had), and worried my poor mother to tears too (she hates seeing me in such pain).  I cried out of fear that something had gone wrong with my surgery, and most especially, fear that I'd have to "redo" this surgery.  I just can't imagine going through this all over again.

Day 11:  Post-Op Visit Redux

The Doc didn't even let the nurse take the obligatory pre-Doctor visit vitals, she was so anxious to see me.  She had them wait until after she was done examining me.  Funny enough, her first comment was about how much more my swelling had gone down just in the 4 days since she'd last seen me.  At this point, my swelling was the last thing on my mind, I just wanted an explanation for the mid-lines and pain!

She apologized in advance for what she was about to do as she peered into my mouth, and then proceeded to gently, but definitely firmly, push my jaws into place.  This was automatically painful, but not intolerable.  Again, I was most afraid my jaws weren't ready to handle this kind of "touching," but as many of you have commented in your own recovery blogs, it's amazing to see how fast our bodies are want to recover from trauma.  I winced and wimpered as she pushed my lower and top jaws "into place" so that the mid-lines lined up and then she showed me with a hand mirror, how when she does this my teeth line up correctly.  She explained that what was happening was that my muscles are forcing my lower jaws back into an asymmetric position.  She said that this is common in recovery amongst asymmetric jaw patients.  My muscles need to create new muscle memory and the only way to encourage this is to put me back into tight bands that hold my teeth into the correct alignment.  When she did this, oddly enough my bite (even though it doesn't touch down on the right side) automatically felt "more right."  She even asked me if I felt better in the tighter bands, and when I said yes she said this was another solid signal to her that it was indeed my muscles fighting back.  As an added precaution she sent me for another X-ray, just to be sure that there wasn't a problem with the actual surgery and/or movement of any bones.  We got them back right away, and as she expected, everything looks beautiful.  She explained that I can't feel my back molars on my right side touching because this is an orthodontic issue.  Once I'm able to go back to my ortho Doc, he'll align my back right teeth into position.

Mid-lines correctly line up in tight bands. Notice my back right molars don't touch; very stress/painful on my cheek muscles on my right and left sides because of this.

I cannot explain the mixed emotions I felt coming out of that Doc's office well enough.  On the one hand I was more than ecstatic I wouldn't be needing surgery again, and that this was just a "muscle memory" thing.  On the other hand, I was getting put back into tight bands (and misery) for 2 more weeks (making it a total of 3 weeks of being TIGHTLY banded).  I had just gotten used to my loose bands and the ability to speak and not SLURP back saliva after every sentence.  I had been looking forward to practicing opening my mouth wider and wider every day to get on with this healing, and to move on to a mushy food diet (at least), but all of that was now going to have to wait another 2 weeks.  My mom was the one who had to remind me that I knew going into this that it wouldn't be easy, and that I would have good and bad days, and that to her, today was a good day.  She was right.  And with that, we headed off to the farmers market for fresh veggies that we could puree into soups--- my new diet.

Speaking of diet, at my Day 7 and Day 11 Doctor visits, I showed a total of 6lbs (2 kg) lost.  Doc was pleased with this, and said that it means I've kept up with my nutrition.  She asked what I've been eating, and I rattled off some of the various kinds of liquids I "eat."  At some point, I'd like to devote an entire post to some of the liquid diet items and recipes I've been eating for all of you to look into.  The first 3 days were the most "boring," but my mom and I have gotten REALLY creative, and have managed to make some incredibly yummy soup-meals.  I've kept up a vegan diet throughout this, so all of my smoothies and soups are made from fresh vegetables, fruits, and non-dairy milks.  I highly recommend investing (or maybe borrowing from a friend) in a VitaMix.  This thing is simply incredible, and so much more than a blender.  They're expensive, but honestly, if I had to do this surgery all over again, I'd throw down the $300-$400 bucks for this machine again in a heartbeat.

So far I've updated you to Day 11.  I'm currently on Day 17 and there have been improvements to my overall pain, energy, and comfort levels.  But I'll leave that for yet another blog entry to come.  Until then, be well fellow jaw surgery adventurers.

Day 11.  Back to tight bands, but making the most of it with some delicious soup.  See pic below.

 

Roasted Beet & Potato Soup.  I don't normally like root vegetables (like broccoli or beets), but this soup was AMAZING! I was so pleasantly surprised by how nicely the flavors blended together, garnished with just a bit of lemon zest. Yum!  Recipe to follow in subsequent post. PS: Beets are amazing food for healing.

1st Post-Op: OUCH! (Day 7 & 8)

Hello Everyone!

First, my apologies for the delay in updating! I know I left you guys on a bit of a cliff hanger on day 6, right before my first post-op appointment.  Honestly, at first the off/on pain I was experiencing this past week (week 2) really made it difficult for me to focus enough on updating the blog, but I tried to keep a (written) list of things I wanted to include once I felt more up to blogging.  So, for now let me backtrack a little to get you guys up to speed.  I'm going to split this VERY long update into separate posts in an effort to not make this blog a novel every time you read it.  :)  Thanks for all your support, cheers, and check-in's on me.  I haven't told any friends or family about this blog (except my Mom and Doctor), but I already feel like I have an extended family of friends in all of you out there.  I'm rooting for all of you too! 

Day 7: 1st Post-Op Doc Update

I was practically dying of anticipation to get to the Doc.  I wanted to know the details of how the surgery went, what she thought of my healing and swelling, but most especially I wanted her to cut my bands off and let my jaw open.  By late evening on day 6, I had noticed that my cheek muscles on both sides, but especially my right side were getting really sore.  It was like they were screaming at me to exercise, or move or something, anything to "stretch" them.  Imagine my surprise then, when the Doc cut the bands, and I immediately felt my whole body tense up in fear, anticipation of the worst, and, uh-oh, PAIN!  Immediate sharp pain in my right TMJ.  I also noticed that I instinctively (and comically) reached up to "support" by bottom jaw from "falling off" my face.  The minute I did that, I didn't know whether to laugh or keep taking deep fearful breaths because, of course, my jaw wasn't going to fall off!  I just got scared that without the bands holding my mouth tightly shut, my bottom jaw wouldn't know how to stay in place.  Even my mom kinda laughed when she saw me do this.  Even more distracting was that sudden pain though.  The Doc let me know my initial panic and pain was normal, and soothingly rubbed an ice pack (that she already had prepared before she cut the bands) over my forehead (I had actually broken out in a cold sweat).

This was before I saw the Doc.  I have swelling in my nose, cheeks and upper and lower lips. You can kinda see the yellow bruising on my neck too, but this was gone by Day 12 or so. 

Swelling is way more evident from the side, but check out that new chin! Also the red mark on my cheek is the stitch the Doc made on either side of my face. And the stuff on my chin is the glue from the chin guard thing I had to wear all week.

She took a look in my mouth and marveled at how fast everything was healing.  The stitches on my top jaw were already beginning to fall out (not so much on the bottom).  She was pleased with how "clean" I had kept my mouth (thank you water pik and baby tooth brush), and announced I could stop taking the antibiotic I had been prescribed.  On days 5, 6, and 7 I seemed to be taking my Hydrocodone only as needed, which happened to be at night, and very first thing in the mornings.  If I didn't take it at night, I usually woke up in AGONY (and I mean tears and everything) either in the middle of the night or very early in the morning.  Because of this the Doc gave me a refill for the next week, but was otherwise pleased with my healing thus far.  I reiterated to her that I was still feeling that sharp TMJ pain before I left, but she attributed this to having worked on my right side for longer than she did on my left.

She then said that I wouldn't be in tight bands anymore, but instead two "loose" bands on either side of my mouth, and encouraged me to do lip exercises to help my muscles loosen up around my lips.  This involves making kissy and smiley faces. 

It was GLORIOUS to be in looser bands and actually able to speak clearly.  I asked if I could try "mushy" foods now, as opposed to ONLY liquids, and she seemed to be okay with me trying, but not "overdoing" it. 

Day 8:  PAIN

After I got home from the previous day's post-op visit, I couldn't get any relief from that TMJ pain so I took Hydrocodone to help and slept until Day 8.  I woke up, still in pain, but this time it was a general pain (7/10) ALL OVER my face.  I really didn't want to take Hydrocodone all day long to control the pain, so instead I changed an appointment I had already set for the day with my herbal doctor (to get my herbs for the swelling) to also make it an acupuncture appointment (for the pain).

This was my very first acupuncture appointment, and I am pleased to report to you all that I felt IMMEDIATE relief afterward.  It wasn't 100% relief, but initially it was at least 50% better, and only got better throughout the day.  Don't know what they put in those needles, but I'm officially a believer. I managed to go the rest of the day and night without needing the Hydrocodone.  I took Children's Tylenol instead. 

Eating:  Uh, so I can't eat ANYTHING. I couldn't even get mashed potatoes into my mouth.  I'm back to liquids.  The only upside to being able to open my mouth even a little is that I can speak clearly, and that I can now VERY slowly and VERY gently push my vitamins/supplements into my mouth.  Crushing/Blending them into juice is SO DISGUSTING.  No, really. I'm not exaggerating.  I gagged every time.

Day 6: I can almost see my face again!

Hello Bloggers!


Just a quick update and photo with my progress on day 6.  I gotta say, I'm starting to feel pretty good about all the prep I've done in order to deal with the recovery of this surgery. 

I woke up ravenous today, and just about gulped down a protein smoothie the minute I woke up.  Again, this is a BAD idea for me.  I really must get better at being patient with the amount of fluids I chug down at a time, because about 1minute after drinking it, it just came right back up (if you must know, it didn't look any different than it did going down).  Oddly enough, I felt better after that anyway, and just rehydrated with coconut and watermelon water.  I ate some more more pureed and strained soups (I'm really liking the Tomato Bisque variety), and then the headaches started.

I'm almost certain that I'm getting headaches because of the pressure on my jaws to stay shut.  I won't really know till I can ask the Doc tomorrow, but I'm pretty sure that's it.  However,  I didn't think a headache warranted pain meds, so I took some Children's Tylenol.  I made up a dosage, since there doesn't seem to be a "big baby" dosage on the label.  :) But other than that, today is the first day I haven't needed to take pain meds, and I'm super happy about that. 

Also, at this point, my "bed buddy" is really coming in handy.  After freezing it for a couple of hours it feels better than wonderful to let it rest over my eyes and just fall asleep and let the coldness of it and the Tylenol work its magic.  I woke up feeling MUCH better, and immediately went for a 20 minute walk (my longest walk yet).  When I came back, I looked in the mirror and realized that I think my swelling has gone down even more today!  My mom absolutely agrees, and is beyond freaked out at how fast the swelling is going down.  We're both looking forward to seeing what the Doc has to say tomorrow. 

Thank you for your comments and questions!  Keep 'em coming!!  As I said before, I was happy to be your guinea pig, and now I'm happy to follow through to the end.  I'll be sure to update you guys after the doc appointment when I get a chance, but in the meantime, here are some photos for you guys to compare. PS: the tape on my chin is just barely hanging on at this point.  Hoping I won't need it anymore after tomorrow's appointment.

Day 1 (1st day after surgery)

Day 4

Day 6

Thanks again for all the support and commiseration, guys!  Wishing everyone else currently recovering a speedy and healthy one!

Day 5: The Up & Down Rollercoaster Ride Begins

Hello again Everyone. 

I would have created this post yesterday, as yesterday was my Day 5, but I just didn't have the energy, and so many weird things started to happen that I figured, I wanted to let the day play out to see what else I might experience, and then update on Day 6.   

Let me start with that constant "pressure feeling" we recent jaw surgery patients keep talking about.  Day 5 was the first day that I didn't have this feeling.  Well, I did, but in a different kind of way.  I woke up feeling fine. I had made it through another night semi-comfortably and having slept most of the night, with the exception of waking up  a couple times due to nightmares and night-sweats.  I kept dreaming I was falling or tripping over something, and then would wake up startled because my body would manifest the falling feeling by "jumping" in my sleep.  This was really annoying, but mostly because I found myself drowned in sweat when I would wake up.  When morning came, I took a long shower (w/o getting my head wet), and realized in the shower that I felt like my face had gotten smaller.  I was only feeling that pressure feeling in certain parts of my face: my nose, right under my nose, the corners of my mouth,  my chin, and a bit in my jowls.  I looked in the mirror, but I couldn't see much difference in my face between day 4 and day 5, even though my face actually felt different.  I kept icing on and off, and later realized the other major change, I could feel the inside of my teeth with my tongue.  I hadn't realized that I couldn't feel my teeth before.  So, feeling them all of a sudden was a (welcome) surprise.  I also realized that I couldn't feel the roof of my mouth so much.  I guess I hadn't realized that I couldn't feel that either in the earlier days.  I can feel my tongue run across it lightly, but not like before surgery.  Having this new feeling in my mouth, made me sensitive to very hot or very cold things toward the end of the evening. Up until this, I kept asking to be served water, and some of my protein meals as cold as possible, but I realized that the cold feeling in my mouth it really hurt my teeth.

Also, I realized I could move and "strectch" my lips a whole lot more than before.  I can now kinda smile.  I was able to look under my top lip, and saw that it's raw with callouses and cuts, I think from the hooks and wires rubbing against my lips while they were swollen.  I managed to brush lightly, and use my water pik very gently to help my mouth feel a bit cleaner. 

I ran out of pain meds, and was inbetween doses when I started to get really uncomfortable in the late afternoon.  I was uncomfortable because while the I could feel more of my face, I'm not sure I wanted to.  The pain was getting more real and not so much just "discomfort."  This may sound weird, but I started to feel the incision points, and the parts where I have screws in my face more and more as the day went on.  This was especially the case right below my nose because I have screws on each side that the Doc put in to help even out my top teeth/gums.  I could also feel the screws in my lower face start to tingle.  In fact, I think all that tingling from the days before was my face starting to feel all of the screws and hardware in my face (and of course the swelling going down).  I kept icing my face, this along with the pain meds, was the only thing that seemed to provide comfort. 

I also noticed some light bruising begin to show up particularly on the left side of my face (where she took my maxilla up 4mm to even out my cant).  I also noticed streaky yellow marks down my neck for the first time.

Also, right before bed, I started to get the urge to yawn.  I can't begin to describe how weird and uncomfortable this is.  I had feared the day when I would want to yawn (or sneeze),  and didn't expect it to come so soon.  I did my best to take deep breaths in through my nose and then just try to let it out through my nose, but this is so hard!! I could actually feel my lower jaw fighting against the bands to open my mouth to let out the yawn! And the more I held it in, the more the yawns kept trying to come.  Along with this, my left nostril decided it was time to get stuffy, so I reached for some Afrin (I think my 3rd or 4th time only) and inhaled only in that nostril.  I felt much better after a few minutes and then decided to take some pain meds and try to get some sleep.

Day 5 was definitely not my favorite day.  I was happy to "feel" improvement, but it was uncomfortable, and really made me think back to when other jaw surgery bloggers talk about good days and bad days.  While day 5 wasn't a really bad day, it definitely wasn't one my best days either.  Which is disappointing because I want to believe that this gets easier with each passing day, and not harder.  I guess it's more complicated than that.

Another blogger asked me about whether I felt much hunger as a result of the liquid only diet.  At the time, my hunger really wasn't that bad.  I managed to feel comfortably "full" from the liquids I was consuming, but on the evening of Day 5, my appetite seemed to come back with a vengeance. I was sooo hungry, and ate drank lots of pureed soup.  I also had my first bowel movement yesterday  (sorry if that's TMI for you, but when you go through this, your docs will tell you how important it is to get this going asap after surgery).

Here are some comparison pics.  I have an added bonus for you guys!  A day 3 photo.  :)  Turns out my sister actually took one of me while we were out on a daily walk, and I had forgotten about it.  She emailed it to me last night, and I figured I'd put the pics up together for your comparison.  I feel like like I look a bit more swollen on Day 5 than Day 4, but I THINK it's because I don't have as much "overall" swelling in the face anymore. The swelling seems to be focused on my jowls/cheeks, and under my nose.  I really can't wait to go see my surgeon tomorrow.  I want her to tell me that I'll be allowed to open my mouth more often now.  I'm sooo over this being banded shut thing.  Also:  I'm not sure I've ever looked more unattractive than in these shots.  I'm REALLY looking forward to when I can put up some "normal" recovery pics, in which I can at least have clean hair.

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

 

Days 2, 3, and 4 Post-Op

I figured I would combine days 2, 3, and 4 together, just to make it a bit easier on me.  Hope you don't mind.  :)

Day 2 saw some more swelling and pressure.  Definitely more swollen than day 1! Breathing was still okay.  Pain was mostly due to this constant pressure feeling.  I don't know how else to describe this pressure other than to say it feels like someone is trying to inflate my head the same way they would inflate a flat basketball.  Sometimes, I swear I can feel the pressure actively making my face bigger, but when I look in the mirror it's never as bad I actually FEEL it to be.  I slept through the night just fine with the exception of waking up once due to the pressure feeling again.

Day 3 I really expected to wake up to a balloon for a head, but I gotta say, I think the swelling was worse on day 2.  Let me take this moment to apologize to you guys because I actually don't have a day 3 photo.  Somehow, I completely forgot to take a pic of myself on day 3.  But, I'll post a pic from today (day 4) instead.

I got A LOT of tingling and itchiness all over of my face on day 3 too.  Which was really frustrating because I wanted to so badly to scratch my face or do something to help alleviate all the tingling, but I obviously couldn't.  At this point, I could still feel 100% of my face, so I'm wondering if all the tingling and itchiness was a result of some of the swelling subsiding? Another reason I thought the swelling was going down was because the straps of my jaw bra were able to get further around my head than before.  Even my chin bandages seemed to be "crinkling" up because the tape wasn't holding as much of my face back.

In order to help with the tingling/itchy feeling though, I decided to gently rub some Arnica cream on my face to see if it might help, and I found that after about 10 minutes, a lot of the itchiness/tingling went away.  Arnica is a very gentle natural remedy for swelling, and lots of athletes use arnica cream on sore muscles and bruises.  I also made sure to stay vigilant with the icing as it also seemed to help some of the tingling.

On the evening of Day 3, I overdid it with fluids again, and puked, AGAIN.  Only this time, it was really hard not to panic.  I went to bed feeling nauseous, and worried that I might've had too much tea, too much water, and too much of other liquids too.  I fell asleep, but woke up about an hour later gagging, and desperately trying to reach my puke bin so that I wouldn't make a mess of the bed.  Luckily my mom and sister both woke up when they heard me and were able to reach me just in the nick of time to save the bed.  I was so scared by the suddenness of this vomiting spell, as it didn't seem to to want to end.  The more I puked, the more I panicked, and the more I wanted to desperately to open my mouth.  After it was over, my jaws were in so much pain.  This was definitely the most pain I had felt up to that point.  I immediately took some pain meds, and a steamy shower to help relax me.  I rinsed my mouth the best I could with my alcohol free mouthwash, and was able to go back to sleep without any further problems.  My take-away?  Easy on the liquids.  Take breaks inbetween the different liquids you're consuming, so as not to upset your stomach.

Day 2

Day 4

Judging from these pictures, I think it's fair to say that I may have peaked in swelling on day 2.  Even I was a little surprised by how much better I look today--- Day 4.   The morning of day 4 was kinda rough though.  The puking from the night before really took a lot out of me, so I stayed in bed most of the morning.  I also had my sister go to Bed Bath & Beyond to pick up a "bed buddy" for my face.  The bed buddy is like a sinus/eye mask that you can heat or cool and apply to your face.  On day 4 the tingling and itchy feeling was even stronger than on day 3, and the only thing that I could think of that might help was ice, so I froze the bed buddy up and then slapped it over my eyes/sinuses (along with my jaw bra) and slept until noon.  I woke up feeling much better, and then took the picture above.  I also went for a longer walk (about 20 minutes), and was able to get around the house without needing much help from mom or sis.  I'm still feeling okay.  I haven't had much pain, just more of that pressure feeling, and this annoying tingling/itchy feeling.  My jaws, however, are starting to get pretty achy from being banded shut.  I really really really want to open my mouth, but I'm trying to not think about it (because it really does start to hurt if I focus on the frustration of not being able to open my mouth).  I have my first post-op appointment on Friday, day 7.  I know she'll loosen the bands, and I'm hoping that will bring some relief--- I'm starting to feel trapped by my own mouth!

Alright, blogger friends,  I hope the updates are helpful.  As always, please feel free to ask me any questions you might have about this jaw surgery and the recovery.  I'm looking forward to getting past this first week, as everyone says it's the toughest.  I guess I agree.  I'd be absolutely miserable if it's any worse than what I've felt so far, so I'm hopeful I'm almost through with the worst of it.

Until next time, friends!

Day 1: Hello Fat Monica!

 


Okay, so was I bummed that I was more swollen the next day?  Of course!  I would've loved to have kept it to a minimum like day zero.  But did I know I would get more swollen?  Of course I did.  It's gotta get worse before it gets better.   My sister, comic that she is, immediately pointed out that I didn't look so much swollen, as I did "fat."  Her exact words were, "You look like you if you were 100lbs heavier---- like Fat Monica, from friends."  Um, thanks?  But when I looked in the mirror, I thought her description was pretty accurate. 

I gotta be honest, I don't remember much of Day 1 because I spent most of it in and out of sleep.  I was feeling very uncomfortable with the swelling because it made me feel like there was so much pressure on my face, and I didn't know what to do about it.  I took pain meds to help relieve the pressure feeling, and that seemed to help.  I also kept up with my ice-packs.  I did my best to keep my jaw bra on for 15 minutes, and then 5 minutes off, rotating between frozen gel packs, and taking longer (20-30 minute) breaks without ice after about every 2 hours of constant 15 minute rotations.  During the night, I fell asleep with the jaw bra on, and either my mom or sister would change the gel packs every couple of hours depending on who woke up to my grunts about the pressure.

I had a constant dripping/runny nose of mostly blood, but this didn't impair my breathing too much.  It wasn't until late in the evening that I started to have trouble breathing, so I decided to take 1 dose of my Afrin spray to see if it helped, and it did!  I was breathing normally within minutes.

My eyes and sinuses were also achy on this day.  It's not like my sinuses necessarily "hurt," (more just sensitive) but if I put any pressure on my face near my sinuses it immediately made my eyes hurt, so I tried to keep my glasses off my face, since even the light weight of the frame was too much on my sinuses.  But, I must say, that I really think all the bromelain I took before the surgery really helped with my ability to breathe so comfortably out of my nose after surgery.  In case you haven't looked it up yet, bromelain is a miracle worker on the sinuses, and I'm here to tell you that I definitely think it made a difference for me.  I was able to sleep through the night fairly comfortably. Any discomfort I felt was really more from having to sleep upright, and from the pressure that I could begin to feel building again in my cheeks and lower jaws.  My sister and mom were good about giving me my antibiotics, pain meds (to alleviate the pressure), and re-icing me throughout the night, and I would fall back to sleep within minutes. 

I had plenty of water, coconut water, veggie broth, a couple of protein shake "meals," and my Chinese herbal tea-- which by the way, tastes pretty gross.  I also tried to go on a "long walk" with my dad.  I got about 20 minutes in when I started to feel really nauseous, so he helped get me home ASAP.  When I got home I made the mistake of taking in way too much water at once, and puked it all back up 5 minutes after drinking it.  This put me in a bad mood for the rest of day (vomiting with your teeth banded shut is the most frustrating thing), and I spent most of the rest of the day in bed/on the couch half asleep. 

Pain throughout the day was again mostly due to pressure, which I'm not sure constitutes pain as much as it does discomfort.  However, I did try to tough it out a couple of times by skipping pain med doses, and quickly learned that this is a BAD idea.  The pressure gets worse, and then I get unbearably uncomfortable, and can't sleep or sit still, so no more skipping doses.

I was happy to have day 1 be over, and to move onto the next few days to let the "worst of it" come, so I can start to feel normal again.   

Day Zero: Humpty Dumpty Day

Okay, fellow jaw surgery patients, I finally feel well enough to post another entry.  It has been hard for me to find the energy to start a post, but mostly because the back-light on my computer/phone/iPad really was bothering my eyes those first few days after surgery--- all I wanted to do was keep my eyes closed behind an eye mask.  In fact, it hurts even if I keep my glasses on too long.  The weight of my glasses on my face really adds to the balloon like pressure I feel in my face, so I take them off every hour or so to relax my eyes and face.


But for now, let's travel back in time to Friday, my day zero.  Here are some bullet points of what I think were the most notable parts of those 24 hours in the hospital.

Day 0

• Surgery was 5.5 hours long.  My surgeon was very pleased with the surgery, and the assistant Doctor assured me that she thought the surgeon had really outdone herself with my surgery.  I guess that means that the Doc was extra meticulous?  No nerves were cut, so I had 
• 100% feeling in my face immediately after surgery.  It was the first thing I tested for when I woke up.  I reached up to my face and realized I could feel my lips, my cheeks, my chin, everything!  This immediately made me feel better, as I had worried about losing feeling in my face (even temporarily).  
• I woke up to astonishing thirst.  I mean I was more than just parched--- it felt like I had just spent an entire day in the desert without water.  So I immediately grunted for water, and was happy to see that I could drink out of styrofoam cup with virtually no problem.  I dripped very little, and if I did, I could FEEL it, which was again, reassuring.  
• My jaws were obviously banded shut, but I felt no pain, just discomfort.
• My family came into my room about 20 minutes after I woke up, and all of them were super impressed with how little swelling I had.  I immediately reached for the hand mirror and realized they were right.  Here's what we saw:

• All was well, until I sat up a little more and then the floodgates in my nose opened up.  I could not stop the flow of blood coming out of my nostrils.  It wasn't exactly a steady stream, but I did have to hold tissues against my nose for most of the rest of the night.  Surprisingly though, inbetween nosebleeds,
• it wasn't very hard for me to breathe.  It was really (mostly) my right nostril that kept dripping blood, but I was still able to breathe out of the other nostril just fine.  Sometime in the middle of the night when I felt the bleeding had calmed down I took in some Ocean Nasal spray to help break up the blood clots in my nose so that I could continue breathing through my nose semi-comfortably.
• My thirst was hard to quench, so I kept drinking water and coconut water, until my stomach decided to revolt.  I puked up a lot of the water mixed in with some blood.  I didn't panic (as I kind've expected to throw up a little), but man was it weird to not be able to open your mouth to throw up.  
• I drank a lot of fluids, and the nurse kept coming in every few hours to see if I could pee, but I really couldn't.  I didn't even have the urge.  At around 4am the nurse took an ultrasound of my bladder and said that it was way too full.  She called the doctor, who then told her to put in a catheter to help me.  This was a particularly embarrassing situation as the nurse was having trouble getting the catheter in for some reason, and I was REALLY uncomfortable with how long she was taking down there, so I asked her to stop, and let me try to pee on my own again
• and voila!  It was like my brain finally woke my bladder up and said, "Pee!! Otherwise this nurse is going to keep trying to stick that tube in us!"  Sorry if that's TMI, guys, but apparently, the hospital won't release you until you can pee on your own, and so finally being able to go, meant I was one step closer to recovery. 
• The nurses were very attentive to my pain, and if I asked for more pain relief they simply asked me on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the worst) how bad my pain was, and then dispensed the appropriate amount of meds into my IV.  It was heaven when I felt it begin to work.
• I was released the next day, after the doc came in to check on me.  She was still so pleased (and looked it) with how the surgery had gone.  She took a quick peek in my mouth, and then after praising me for how much fluid I was taking in, said I was good to go home.  
• Once we left the hospital we stopped by my Chinese herbal Doctor's office to pick up my concoction of herbal teas (don't worry, none of which are blood thinners) to help manage the swelling that was sure to come and get worse.  He also let me know that it was important that I try to encourage a bowel movement ASAP, as the body needs to release toxins this way in order to move the recovery along.  Okay, Doc... I'll do what I can.  

And there you have it folks, my day zero.  Overall, I was pleased with my hospital experience.  The staff were all kind and attentive.  I had my own room that had an extra sofa-bed in it for my mom.  I'm so glad she stayed with me the whole night.  If you can, I would really encourage you to find someone to stay with you the whole night.  It's kind've a rough night of waking up and falling back to sleep every couple of hours, and having someone there to call the nurse or to quickly give you something to throw up in when you feel it coming suddenly is really helpful.  Not to mention, the words of encouragement and kisses on the head that really help... :)




Tune in for day's 1, 2, 3, and 4.  The saga continues....