Three Years Later

Its my 3 year anniversary of jaw surgery!  and I'm still alive!  Life is good; I even recently got a pet hedgehog named Toula.

I'm still super happy I got my jaw surgery and I never regret it for even one second - one of the best decisions I've ever made.    For those of you who ask - and i do still answer all of your emails and comments! - I never have any pain or weird clicking in my jaw.  The numbness is all gone except for one spot in my chin thats a little ticklish, but thats it.  My bite has shifted slightly since I got the surgery, but its still fine and I don't have any problems with it.  I definitely still wear my retainer from the orthodontist every single night, and that helps keeps my teeth nice and straight. :)    And for those of you who wonder,  I got my jaw surgery done at the Mayo Clinic by the amazing Dr. Rieck.  I definitely recommend the hospital and him!

As always,  feel free to email and comment! I love talking to other people who need/have/had jaw surgery. :)  Thanks for reading!

Rebecca

the hundred thousand dollar smile

I lied. The last post wasn't my last post.    I have a very important announcement to make that requires a new post.  So.  Here we are.

I GOT MY BRACES OFF TODAY!

HALLELUJAH!

We realized today that a smile this amazing is quite expensive.  Almost 100k to be vaguely exact.  We're talking 10+ years of orthodontic treatment, wisdom teeth removal, jaw surgery plus a few tubes of toothpaste along the way gets us to just about $100,000.  Thank goodness for insurance.  But from what came out of pocket (talking about my parents' pockets here)  I think it was worth every penny.  Right, Dad? :)

Day 365 - I Survived Jaw Surgery

ONE YEAR!  That's how long its been since I had my double jaw surgery.  Its kind of hard to believe so much time has already gone by.... but thats how time always is.  Right now, as I'm writing, I'm enjoying a Biggby Orange Creme Freeze....I thought it was appropriate that i get a smoothie to honor the 6+ weeks that I was on a liquid/soft food only diet.  Anyway.  This will probably be the last post on this blog... which is actually really sad. There's really nothing new to say anymore - but i love all of the emails and messages i get from other jaw surgery victims so please keep them coming!!!  I think it is SO COOL that i have readers from all over the world! From the US to Canada...to the UK to Australia...Singapore, Aruba, Sweden, Turkey, Venezuela, France, Argentina, Cyprus, Indonesia, Dennmark, Mexico, India, South Korea, Vietnam, and JUST TODAY i've had hits from Canada, Israel, Pakistan and Poland.  Thats pretty awesome.

Some frequently asked questions.....

Was your mouth wired shut?   - nope. I just wore really tight rubberbands that held my jaw shut, but as i recovered i could take them off to brush my teeth or open my mouth a little bit.

How long before you can go back to work/school? - Depends.  I took 3 weeks off of work & spent those 3 weeks mainly in bed.  When i did go back to work, the first week I only went for 2 hour shifts at a time and after that I would practically collapse from exhaustion. I think it was about 5 weeks before I could completely handle a full day of work. Also, this will depend on how much talking your job requires.  I essentially had a phone/customer service job  - so its a LOT of talking and it wore my poor jaw out. :(

How long before you get feeling back in your chin/lips?  This is really tough to answer and i think it definitely depends on how good your surgeon is and how extensive your surgery is.  I had absolutely no feeling in pretty much my entire face after surgery....then it gradually started coming back after a week or 2.  For over a month my entire chin and lips were numb and the tingling was horrible!!!  After a couple of months, I got feeling back in the right side of my chin/lips but the left side was still numb.... and honestly its its still mostly numb.  I usually know when something is touching my chin...but it doesn't feel the way it normally feels when something touches your skin. If i brush my finger against the left side of my lower lip/chin - it feels all tingly and weird. If i'm brushing my teeth and some water or toothpaste drips onto my chin, i can't feel it at all.  I'm not really a fan. They say whatever it feels like at the 1 year point will probably how it'll feel for the rest of your life.... so I just deal with it.

Does the surgery drastically alter your appearance?  Depends on the surgery... I definitely look different, but i wouldn't say drastically. My smile is definitely different - but I'd say for the better. [no one coulda believed it was possible!!! :P]

I would recommend you go back through my blog archive (on the right)  if you have any other questions or just wondering what jaw surgery recovery is like....i have documented the entire experience!!!

Based my google blog stats the most popular posts are:

Day 185 - 6 monthss! Before and After  Pictures!!

Day 52  - Atkins? South Beach? Jaw Surgery?  - how much weight do you lose after jaw surgery?

Day 32 - 1 month photos!

Day 29 - The Cost of Jaw Surgery

Day 20 - Life is What You Make It

Day 9 - a photo of my puffy face!

Day 1 - Where It All Begins!

Also don't forget to check out  my "About" page!!! :)

So. I guess this is goodbye. I'm supposed to get my braces off in October or November. Thats pretty exciting. So exciting, in fact, that I might come back to tell you about it. :) We'll see.   But i suppose i should leave everyone with some final words:

To those thinking about having jaw surgery: If you need it, do it. You won't regret it. Just make sure you have a good surgeon. I can't say enough good about my surgeon, Dr. Rieck, at the Mayo Clinic. Tell him i sent you.

To those who just had jaw surgery and are recovering:  I'm sorry. I really am. You're going through the worst experience of your entire life and none of your friends understand.  Read my blog and know that someone else has suffered too.  Keep a funny looking smile on your face (it does look weird, doesn't it?) and  feel free to email me if you have any questions or want to complain. :)

To those who have finished recovering: CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!! Life is good.


One year.  My mouth and I have come so far.  I survived jaw surgery.


=D

Day 185 - SIX MONTHS - Before and Afters

6 months later. amazing.   I don't really have much to say other than the left side of my chin still isn't back to normal and I've come to the conclusion that its going to be this way for the rest of my life.   I'll keep you posted though because I'm sure tons of you are checking back regularly wondering "I wonder what Rebecca's chin is feeling like today!!!!"  Yeah. Anyway.  My orthodontist still has me wearing annoying rubberbands - currently on my very back molars to pull the top and bottom ones closer together.  Its amazing how many things my orthodontist finds that are wrong with my mouth.  Its incredible really.  I figure, hey, I can chew food, I can talk okay, and my smile is pretty normal - what more could a girl ask for, so please take these braces off!   SOOOO on to much more exciting things....likeeeeee BEFORE AND AFTER XRAYS! woohooo  Its actually kind of embarrassing that I'm posting these now because they were taken back in September and i had prints made of the them even - but i don't have a decent scanner and its taken me this long to call my surgeon's office and have them emailed to me.  Who knows how long it will be before I get around to getting the actually photos of my face.  While you're checking back on the status of my chin, you can see whether i've gotten them yet.

incredible, right??????  

You can see the shape of my face changed kind of dramatically 

(click photos to enlarge)

As you can see, my mouth is quite bionic at this point.  Pretty sure there's about a million screws in there.  I'm just a little nervous for the next time I have to go through an airport thanks to all these new regulations....  Anyway... I'm planning on a new post or new in the semi-near future, so don't give up on my blog yet! :)

Rebeccca

Day 151 - Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone!  I can't believe its 2011!  Time sure goes by fast.  Anyway.... I don't have to say at this point about my mouth since there haven't been any changes in chin numbness since last time i updated.... However,  I haven't posted any pictures in a while so I figured now was as good a time as any to upload some.  It really took a long time for the swelling to go down 100% and for my face and expressions to feel comfortable and natural.  But at this point I can say that i really love my new smile!  I don't want to say that i was self-conscious or unhappy with how I looked before because I really have always been pretty confident about myself.. But pre-jaw surgery I definitely was kind of careful of what angle my face was at in pictures to minimize my underbite showing. However, now I'm totally free of that and am free to smile as big as i want whenever i want and at whatever angle to the camera i want.  Smiling is pretty fun. :)

happy happy happy!

And to all my readers from around the world - thanks so much for your emails and comments! I really appreciate hearing from people who've gone through the same thing as me - jaw surgery really is a very unique experience that's hard for other people to understand so its good to connect with you guys.  So feel free to keep emailing with comments and questions!  Happy New Year!

-Rebecca

Day 127 - Its still there

Oh..... and there's still smoothie on my ceiling.  My ceiling has never been painted so if you take a wet rag to wipe off the smoothie, the drywall stuff comes off with it.  No one has had the time to repaint the ceiling since then....so I get to regularly enjoy a nice little reminder of those dark fun days.  :)

Day 121??? - an explanation

I had another ortho appointment yesterday and they gave me an explanation for the rubberband issue that i discussed in my last post. Apparently after surgery your jaw muscles really really want to go back to their old position so they pull on your bones to go back the way things were before. So it wasn't the rubberbands fault that my teeth were clashing... it just that they weren't strong enough to hold everything in place as my jaw muscles were fighting to return to their old position (they got pretty used to the way things were before after 18 years). I'm glad to say that those painful rubberbands i got last month did pull everything back into the correct position now and my jaw muscles are learning to face the fact that this is the way things are gonna be from now on. I think its pretty cool though how your muscles want to go back to the way they were... What if i didn't have jaw surgery, but rather was punched in the face by some unsavory individual and my face was messed up?  My awesome jaw muscles would be working hard to put everything back together! Anyway. I'm really hoping everything will stabilize soon because i want these braces OFF!  So far no idea when the estimated removal day is going to be.....  And for those just dying to know the condition of the nerves in the left side of my chin and lower lip - no improvements recently.  I have slight feeling but its incredibly annoying.If i touch my chin, I know I'm touching it - but i get a very tingly sensation.  If water is dripping down my chin i definitely don't feel it at all.  If my sheets rub against my face while i'm in bed i feel like sand paper is scraping across my face.  Its quite horrible.  Occasionally, I get random tingles in my chin, and sometimes some pain shoots through - luckily this is rare though.  I sometimes get pain along my jaw line... but according to my orthodontist all of this is to be expected up to a year after surgery as the nerves are healing and reconnecting.  Fun stuff.

Day 93 - Three Month Anniversary!

THREE MONTHS! all right! =D     I'm not quite sure what to say...Things aren't really much different than at the two month point.  As of the last 2 or 3 days I can feel a little bit of feeling coming back [finally!] in the left side of my chin. Or its thinking about coming back... I'm not really sure.  Its still a little weird and tingly but I'm sensing improvement... I can still poke myself with a needle in some spots though and not feel it.  Very annoying.  But anyway... I think the swelling is down all the way now.  I can finally see my cheek bones again instead of just round cheeks. Thats a good thing I think. =P  I'm still wearing really annoying rubberbands from the orthodontist. blechhhh  I'm actually a little confused on their current procedures.  When they took my surgical wires off they had me wear these rubberbands that pulled my top jaw back a little...Not sure why they'd do that since I just went through *ahem* jaw surgery to bring it forward. So that really messed things up and my top and bottom front teeth were clashing together....not ideal.  So now they have me wearing rubberbands that pulled my top jaw back forward to exactly the way things were right after surgery.  Now, I don't have a degree in orthodontics or dentistry or anything, so if anyone who does would like to explain all of this to me, I'm all ears.  [see new info in dec 2nd post] These rubberbands hurt! Sheesh. I enjoy seeing all the different animals on my little rubberbands baggies though.. Each size and strength of rubberbands has a different animal... So far I've had tortoises,  sea lions and rams.  Who knows what I'll get this month!!

 

Anyway....  I've finally reached a point where I can definitely say it was all worth it.  Yes, it was the most miserable experience of my entire life... But I love my new smile!  And i can chew normally! Yep. Life is good and I wouldn't change a thing.  Have pre-jaw surgery questions?  Or maybe you just had surgery and you have recovery questions? Ask away! - I consider myself an expert at this point. =]

Day 70 - CRUNCH

Enough said.

Day 62 - TWO Month Anniversary!

Hello! Its been a while since I've updated you all!  Miss me?  Of course you did. :)   Anyway, I suppose the reason for not updating everyday is because there just isn't much to tell....and for those of you still in your first few weeks, I know that's a wonderful thing to hear. There is light at the end of the tunnel!  Life really has gone completely back to normal.  There are things that I notice are different or strange because of my surgery, but they don't affect my everyday things anymore.  When I went to Mayo for my 6 week follow-up appointment I had a blood test, and the results said my hemoglobin was a little low, so that explained my tiredness...But that was a few weeks ago now, and already I'm feeling better.  My hemoglobin was reaaallly low right after surgery, which was one of the reasons why walking up a set of stairs was an impossible thing...But blood is an amazing thing and now its back to normal.  All I have to say here is we have an amazing God who knew what He was doing when He designed the human body.  Everything works together to completely perfectly!  The healing process is one of the most incredible things you'll ever see....don't even try to tell me its the result of random chance, unless its part of some sort of comedy routine or something.  :)  Anyway.... I'm pretty much eating everything now.  I haven't bit into an apple or anything yet....But you're not supposed to do that with braces on anyway.  I did chew my first piece of gum a few days ago, though.  I was so proud of myself.  It was a little awkward though.  Chewing is a kind of weird thing right now and I'm going through a re-learning process.  Who'd have thought at 18 years old I'd be learning how to chew? Crazy! =P  As far as numbness goes......the left half of my chin & lower lip are still 100% numb with absolutely no apparent signs of up and coming life. I'm not sure at what point I should start worrying about it.  The right half feels a little weird, but feeling has been back a couple weeks...Whats going on with the left? hmm?  I still get those annoying tingles every now and then too.....And you can't scratch them because you have no feeling! Torture!  But anyway.  Thats life.   95% normal, 5% weird.

Day 52 - Atkins? South Beach? Jaw Surgery?

A lot of people ask if I lost a lot of weight the first month when my diet was slightly drastically limited.  Before the surgery lots of people like my grandmothers were insisting that I over eat and gain lots of weight so I would come out in the end okay.  Actually, now that I think about it, my Greek grandmother/yaya has always been a big food pusher...so not too much of a change there.  However, its really not healthy for your weight to drastically fluctuate so I chose not to go down that road and instead go with the maintenance thing.  And, believe it or not, I didn't lose very much weight at all - only 5 pounds.  I've lost just as much weight with having the stomach flu for a few days... So considering I barely ate for a month, I think I did pretty well.  I've read a lot of jaw surgery blogs though, I don't think most people lose much more than 5 pounds either unless they had some extra weight already.  One guy said he lost 30 pounds and I thought, "oh my goodness! I'm already pretty slim.. I'll die if I lose 30 pounds!", but I read further and discovered that he had intentionally gained the weight pre-surgery and at the end came out around 5 pounds less than he was originally.  The trick to maintaining your weight while recovering from jaw surgery is very simple.  Its the same secret that applies to your weight at any other point in your life.  Ready?  All you have to do is.....make sure you're getting good nutrition and count your calories!  It can be tricky to get enough calories in, but its not impossible.  I recommend investing in a good protein powder and adding it to your shakes and smoothies. (trust me, you'll be drinking a lot of these).  I used vanilla Muscle Milk.  It has tons of vitamins in it, even more calories, and you don't taste it when mixed in your smoothie.

So while we're on the topic, I'll give you a good smoothie recipe.  This is the smoothie that kept me alive. I had it almost every single day and I think its safe to say I'm a little sick of it now...but it was good for the first couple weeks..

The 500 Calorie Smoothie

1/2 cup frozen strawberries - 50 calories
1/2 frozen banana (slice it up, then freeze) - 50 calories
1/2 cup whole milk - 75 calories
1/2 cup GREEK GODS plain yogurt - 130 calories
1 Tbs - strawberry jam - 100 calories
3 Tbs - MUSCLE MILK (vanilla) protein powder - 100 calories
_____________________________________
One really good smoothie   - 505 calories

Enjoy!

Day 49 - Goodbye Surgical Wires

I had an orthodontist appointment today.  It involved a handful of people looking and poking at my mouth.  Pretty fun.  Actually, I was scared that after everything my poor mouth went through during that appointment that I was going to have to undergo a 2nd jaw surgery.  Thats kind of the way most orthodontist appointments go I guess.  I always walk in feeling great and excited to be getting one step closer to having my braces removed, but I'm grabbing for my ibuprofen as I walk out the door wondering, "Is this really necessary?".  At least everyone at the office is very friendly and nice.  I wish they were mean horrible people, though, because then I could hate them for hurting my teeth. But no, we're good friends.  I've been going there for 10 years so they've pretty much watched me grow up and that office is my home away from home.  Anyway...enough rambling. The most important thing about today is that my surgical wires have been removed. Hallelujah!!!  No more poking! No more food getting stuck in them!  No more looking like I don't have teeth, only gobs of metal! If only the would have taken off the braces with the hooks...then I would have been reaaally happy.  But this will do for now, I suppose.  Those surgical hooks didn't come off without a fight though.  I recall them being extremely painful going in too...Is that normal?  But yeah, they're out and a normal wire has replaced them along with one of those fancy little rubberband chains across my top teeth.  Luckily that rubberband chain is CLEAR instead of some obnoxious color.  Why call anymore attention to your braces than the braces themselves already do?  Thank goodness for clear. As far as the other rubberbands that are attached to both the top and bottom jaws go.... I enjoyed 4 short days of freedom, and now my orthodontist has mandated that the wearing of them be reinstated. Wonderful.

Day 46 - 6 week appointment with my surgeon!

No posts the last few days because I've been busy driving back and forth to Rochester, Minnesota.  We spent 12 1/2 hours driving up on Thursday, and spent 11 1/2 hours returning on Friday. Thats a lot of driving. The focus here, though, is on the few hours I spent in between all of that driving at the Mayo Clinic meeting with my surgeon.  Because Mayo is so far away, I've had two follow up appointments with my orthodontist instead of my surgeon and since everything has been going smoothly that's worked out well.  However, we made the journey to see him for my 6 week followup.  Just as I thought, everything is looking great and my bones are healing very well.  No issues whatsoever! Here are some questions I asked:

How is the numbness progressing? .......As to be expected. It takes about 3 months to get most feeling back, but it won't be 100% until the 1 year point.  It could potentially not come back 100%, but whatever I have at one year is probably what I'll have for the rest of my life.  As for now, the right half of my chin is healing far faster than the left.  There is a line directly down the middle of my lower lip and chin that divides zero feeling, and a lot of feeling. Its kind of weird but kind of cool.  The feeling isn't quite normal though, but kind of tingly. I'll take it over zero feeling though!

How much longer do I need to wear rubberbands for? ........Completely up to the orthodontist.  From a surgical standpoint, they are no longer necessary but if they are necessary for orthodontic purposes, I'll continue to wear them as my orthodontists instructs.  I've taken full advantage of this and haven't worn them since yesterday morning after my appointment.  =D ....This also applies to the surgical wires.  The orthodontist is free to take them out whenever they wish.  I'm hoping this is on Tuesday.

Is my energy coming back normally?  ....Pretty much.  Jaw surgery is major, you lose blood during surgery, your body spends a lot of energy on healing, and your diet isn't normal so you don't receive the nutrition you're used to so it takes a while to be 100% again.  But because my parents were concerned, I had some blood drawn to see whats going on...just in case.  Most likely my blood just is a little low on iron and this can be fixed with a better diet or iron supplements.  No big deal.  I'm not expecting anything too noteworthy to come back with the blood test.

When can I chew normally again?   ....Now. I'm now allowed to eat anything I want without risk of damaging anything.  However, the jaw muscles are super weak so just because I'm allowed to eat anything, doesn't mean I'm capable of it.  For instance, I'm pretty sure if I tried to chew an almond that it wouldn't work.  But say, chicken - that's something I can manage easily.   Now that I've been given the go-ahead, I'll be giving that jaw lots of big work outs!   

And that basically sums everything up.  I had some x-rays and photos taken.... so be watching for before and afters!!!

My fantastic surgeon, Dr. Rieck and me!

Day 42 - 6 weeks! picture!

Six Weeks! woohoo! I have posted a picture to celebrate this wonderful day because everyone knows that blogs with pictures are more interesting.  Really, anything with pictures is more interesting, and if you're me, pictures of food are particularly appealing.  Thats why I view my Nom List daily.  I love looking at it.  But anyway, as of Sunday night I'm finally back home from our family vacation and am adjusting back to normal life very well.  I worked my first full shift yesterday, which involves 6 hours of solid talking on the phone and I accomplished this without any jaw pain or anything! I don't even think my jaw was that tired.  Definitely a good sign! Being able to work my full regular shift is a major step of improvement for me; it makes me feel a little more normal again. =)  I'm also a sophomore in college this fall and  really enjoying getting back into my classes.  I love being busy... and after a month of recovering and doing absolutely nothing, functioning normally and being busy again is WONDERFUL.

Day 40 - Snap

Today i snapped a rubberband for the very first time.  It felt weird, but I enjoyed the freedom its absence gave me.  I've come a long way since the old rubberband days. A very long way.  The rubberband snapping is kind of exciting though, because this means that my jaw is gaining more mobility and is able to open wider than I could before.  Progress!!!  I can't wait to stretch my jaw open super wide again and for yawning to be more comfortable.  I really dislike not feeling normal.  After 40 days though, not feeling normal has almost become normal.  *40 Days*  That seems like so long... It certainly feels like forever.  What a journey... Anyway, I'm not sure if this is really related to jaw surgery, but I certainly feel that I've relapsed a little in regards to my energy.  Yesterday my family went on a bike ride that began in going up a pretty steep hill.  I've gone up that hill hundreds of times and it's always been a drag.  Its pretty much impossible to ride your bike up it, although a few years ago I was able to.  I felt like i should have made it into the world record book or something.  But anyway, after going up this hill I felt like i was going to die. I was breathing hard and nauseous and about ready to collapse.  I was obligated to continue on the bike ride for another 2 hours, though.  It was a very exhausting experience and upon returning back to the condo, I slept for about 4 hours until dinner.  I really feel like I should have regained more of my energy back by now... My mother thinks I don't have enough iron in my blood and wants me to have a blood test when I go to Mayo for my 6 week appointment later this week.  We'll find out what's going on then I suppose... Maybe I'm just really lazy and have let myself go this summer, though.  I can see my blood test coming back with results that say something like "You're perfectly healthy and normal.....for a lazy couch potato who hasn't walked across the room in 6 months".  I think I like blaming it on the jaw surgery better.

Day 38 - Tasty

I know it sounds crazy, but ever since my surgery my sense of taste has been heightened.  The flavors in whatever I eat are definitely more intense than they were before.  Some things that I used to enjoy are now too spicy.. I don't like spicy. Even aspirin tastes really bad now!  I didn't even know aspirin had a taste.   I was sure that my tongue was going to die after all of that liquid vicodin but I guess not... The only possible explanation that I've been able to come up with is that my nose was straightened out along with my upper jaw so that my airways/sense of smell are in better condition now.... And everyone knows that your nose affects your sense of taste.  Maybe its all in my head though.  Actually, it technically is all in my head. haha bad joke. Anyway... I guess this situation, like any other, has pros and cons.  The cons being that some things taste funny or bad now.... and the pros are that tasty things are infinitely tastier! mmmmm I think I'm going to go drool over my Nom List now.

Day 36 - The Nom List

I'm really starting to crave foods other than scrambled eggs and smoothies.  Sure, I've eaten a few other random soft foods too, even cheesecake made the list.  But while the cheesecake was quite delicious,  there's just been a big gaping hole in my life ever since I haven't been able to open up the pantry and eat whatever I wanted.   I've felt empty inside.....literally.

Of course, my family keeps the Food Network on the tv every waking hour so I get a lot of opportunities to think about the foods I miss.  In honor of these foods, I have assembled "The Nom List".  It includes the foods I have especially missed and am looking forward to eating again someday. 

Strawberries in general would be fabulous...but since we're using our imaginations, lets cover them in chocolate.

Roasted chicken, strawberries, pineapples, mandarin oranges, almonds...mmmmm. i get this at Big Apple Bagel. its the best.

america's favorite cookie

Who doesn't love steak?

I enjoy cheesy broccoli with my steak

Chicken fajitas are deeeeelicious!

I always had issues biting into gyros pre-jaw surgery... I'm hoping that these issues have been dealt with.

i love grapes.

i don't eat s'mores regularly, but i don't appreciate not being able to in case i was in the mood for one...

love.

apples with peanut butter! so good!

chocolate covered espresso beans are little pieces of heaven

I definitely miss my Yaya's baklava

I don't need fancy food... a simple ham sandwich would be nice

my favorite cereal....very crunchy.

classic.

i can eat ice cream...but not the cones... =(

I'm a big fan of healthy food.

yummmmm

i like to eat them dry with raisins.

Its very possible that i will fall in love with whoever sends me a box of chocolates in the next month.

All right...thats about all the food I can take for now.  Any suggestions of things i should add to the list?

Day 34 - Yawning is Contagious

Have you ever noticed how you always seem to yawn whenever you see someone else yawn?  Or when someone talks about yawning?  Or when you read about yawning?  Did you just yawn? I did.  I've been yawning all day long and its driving me crazy.  Believe it or not, yawning is quite uncomfortable after jaw surgery.  I'm not exactly sure why or how everything in my mouth works, but for some reason after jaw surgery you can't open your mouth as wide as you could before, but these yawns are really pushing the limits.  I'm impressed with these rubberbands the orthodontist gave me for not snapping after being stretched so much.  Anyway, yawning kind of hurts and the only solution I've been able to come up with is just to sleep all the time.  Only problem with that solution is it doesn't work... So now the question is, when will I be able to yawn again without enduring such anguish?  Sneezing is another thing I'm wondering about.  It doesn't hurt to sneeze most of the time, but it sure feels strange.  According to a bunch of random websites I just found on Google, a sneeze travels at around 100mph and, I don't know about you, but to me, that seems like an awful lot of force to be blowing through such a compromised location as a broken jaw.  Of course, if you watched that video I posted, you'll know that my jaws are very securely bolted in place with some pretty serious screws.  At $104 a screw, they'd better hold my mouth together. Anyway, let me know if you know any cures for yawning.

Day 32 - My One Month Anniversary! - Photos!

One month of jaw surgery recovery down!  It feels good to say I have the first month behind me.  I'm now a third of the way through the recovery process, as its supposed to take about 90 days.  I think that the first month is the toughest though, so I'm planning on relatively smooth sailing from here.  When I had reached the one week point I felt that I had come a long way, but the one month point is an even longer way.  Life is so much more normal at this point than its been the last few weeks.  Its still crazy to say I haven't chewed food in an entire month though.  I challenge all of my non-jaw surgery readers to do that!  I'd like to see you make it a week. =P  I'm kind of wondering how much longer I have to go without chewing though... 

Strength:

Today I kind of tried to gently chew a noodle, just to see what happened, and I found myself unable to.  My poor, feeble jaw simply lacked the strength to penetrate a noodle.  That might be even more ridiculous than my inability to bike for an hour.  On a side note, I paid the price for that biking today. My jaw was quite sore for the first time in about a week and I had to take some Tylenol 3.  Anyway,  I still have a long way to go in regaining strength in my jaw.  I can't imagine what would happen if I tried to chew a steak if a noodle is too much for me. Overall energy...I'll put it around 80%.  I'm pretty much back to normal unless I do anything that resembles exercise.

Swelling:

The swelling has mostly subsided, most people probably wouldn't even notice it.  I don't even think about it that much anymore because I'm just used to looking at my face everyday, but my cheeks definitely haven't gone back to normal size yet.  The other day, one of my coworkers who hadn't seen me in a while or know that I had jaw surgery asked if I had been stung by a bee on the right side of my face.  Now, my mother has been stung by bees on her face recently and my face is no where near as swollen as hers was, but I guess mine are still kind of puffy if you look close enough.  I definitely feel puffy when I first wake up in the morning.  My face is kind of stiff and its a little harder to talk, but the swelling goes down by the afternoon.  I've been told to expect slight swelling for the first 2-3 months.

Feeling:

Is my chin still numb? Yup.  I'm pretty sure the feeling on the far right side of my chin is thinking about coming back soon though.  If I touch it, I don't feel anything, but when I tap it, I know that my chin is being tapped and thats more than I can say for the rest of my chin.  The feeling in my in my palate is about 90% at this point.  Once it started coming back, it came back in chunks each day.  I'm hoping my chin will do the same thing..But I'm not exactly sure what to expect.

Rubberbands:

I'm not sure if the rubberbands deserve their own section, but I am still wearing them.  They really don't bother me that much.  I've only worn two this entire time, so really not that bad.  My surgeon told me that I was allowed to take them off during the day for a couple hours if I wanted, but I've been wearing them 24/7 anyway.  I just haven't felt very adventurous.  I'm no longer scared of brushing my teeth though! I take the rubberbands off without suffering from any emotional trauma and I can open wide enough to get my tooth brush in my mouth.  This is wonderful for hygiene purposes.  As far as speech goes,  I think I'm 90% back to normal.  My S's might sssssound a little like that ssssnake in Jungle Book, except not that bad.


Pictures:

here are some photos of my wonderful new smile!  A little cheesy perhaps...but with these nasty surgical wires on my braces, I either have to smile really big or barely at all.   I'll vote for big and cheesy every time.

well..thats not really a smile... but you can see my underbite is no longer!

grrrrrr! fear my teeth!

no more underbite!!!!

(click any photo to view a larger version)

I'm excited for month #2!  I have my 6 week follow up appointment with my surgeon coming up on the 17th, and then my surgical wires will be removed by my orthodontist on the 21st... So I have some things to look forward to!

Day 31 - not ready for marathon biking yet

My family is currently on our 11th annual vacation to Mackinac Island and I've been once again reminded that my energy has yet to be completely restored.  We arrived here yesterday during a torrential downpour and were forced to ride our bikes (no cars on the island...) to the condo we're staying at.  To say we were all soaked and chilled to the bone would be an understatement. To say that I was hungry would be another, since there's not much here to eat if you can't chew.  I'm really not sure its completely fair to go on vacation when one member of the family can't enjoy going out to eat, but no one consulted me, so here we are.  Today it continued to rain quite hard, which was unfortunate considering it was Rachel's birthday. We did manage to go on a bike ride though, but it was 8 miles long...and this was when I quickly became aware of my lack of stamina.  We had barely reached 4 miles before I was winded and feeling a little sick.  I've never really been the kind of person who exercises regularly, but I found it rather ridiculous how quickly I became tired.  In my defense, I will note that it was extremely windy and it took great strength to ride against it.   By the time we got back to the condo, my legs felt like jello and I may or may not have shut myself in my room for a couple hours to lay down.  It was not long before my mom called me for dinner, though.  I wasn't quite sure how that was going to work out... but I joined my family in walking downtown to some random restaurant anyway.  It of course began pouring shortly after we left the house and we found ourselves soaked again.  Nothing like sitting in a restaurant with wet jeans plastered to you and your hair dripping onto your shoulders.  And in regards to how the food worked out...it didn't really.  The menu was very unobliging to those recovering from jaw surgery.  All I was able to eat was a small serving of mashed potatoes that came as a side with my mom's dinner.  When we got back I was able to eat some scrambled eggs though, so don't worry, I'm not going to die of starvation......yet.