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!