Day 44: Reborn

This week has been great! 6 weeks after surgery and on Wednesday I finally got my splint taken out! It was the nastiest yet most satisfying event. After 6 weeks of not being able to fully brush my teeth, I finally got to brush them! And I did so for 5 min. My surgeon looked at me like I was crazy but I didn't care. I felt reborn. I can talk pretty much normally now. And guess what?! I can eat soft foods! My friend and I actually went to KFC and I ate my weight in mashed potatoes. It was glorious! Yesterday was my first day back to the orthodontist. I was dreading it and rightfully so. When your jaw is still healing from being sawed apart the last thing you want is for someone to put new wires and rubber bands and other metally things in your mouth to make it move more. BUT no pain no gain. If I want my braces off before the wedding then we have to be aggressive and I would like to have my braces off before the wedding. As of now I will enjoy my soft food diet and the new look of my teeth!

Day 38: you're hot then you're cold

I have past the one month mark! Wooohooo! I can say that from beginning to now a lot has changed. The swelling is way down, a coworker the other day actually said I didn't really look like I was swollen anymore and could just pass as having a fat face (still don't know if this is a compliment or not). The pain isn't as bad tho I'm experiencing a new type of pain. My lower right side of my jaw is extremely sensitive to hot and cold. When I drink anything too hot or cold there is a sharp shooting pain down my jaw into my neck. I used to have to have ice in my water or I seriously couldn't drink it, now I have to wait for it to reach room temperature for it to be tolerable. I've read that other people have experienced this as well and it goes away so I'm hoping it will work itself out over time. I really don't have any upper jaw pain anymore, it all seems to be located in my lower jaw now. I have worked 3 times in the past week, for a few hours each time. It's been good trying to get back to normal but I still am not ready for a full work day and I can't do the normal things I would do on the job. I've pretty much just been doing office work and pushing paper because I can't really talk that much or that well still and am on restrictions as far as lifting, pushing and pulling goes. I've said goodbye to the syringes and I have never looked back. This week I tried 2 non liquid meals. First, was mashed potatoes with BBQ sauce on them. It tasted like BBQ chips! I ate a few spoonfuls and was full. Then I made some spaghetti and cut it up very small to eat it. I ended up making a mess and spilling spaghetti all over myself but it tasted good. Little successes. This upcoming Wednesday I get the splint out (thank god) and then Thursday is my first orthodontist appointment since the surgery! I'm sure Thursday will be the worst day ever. After having your skull sawed apart the last thing I want is hand poking and prodding and moving wires and elastics around everywhere. I'm bracing myself for an uncomfortable experience and I assume I'm going to hate my life and be in a lot of pain after. As the saying goes, no pain, no gain right?

Day 31: priorities before and after surgery

A friend and I were texting today and home how we got on the topic on priorities. What are our life priorities? As she listed some of her's I realized my priorities as of late are very different from just 4 weeks ago. 4 weeks ago my priorities were to make it through work, relax with some wine, see friends and family, and pay my bills on time. Now? My priorities are to relearn how to talk, eat with a spoon, drink from a cup, and not drool all over myself. Oh and Bones, this series is very high on the priority list. To sum this up? I need to get back to my old priorities, especially the wine. 🍷

Day 29: When your syringe don't work like it used to before...

I'm channeling my inner Ed Sheran today. None of my syringes work anymore. I guess they have a 4 week life span. So I decided I was going to just drink my ensure straight up, with my mouth. AND it worked!!!! So now I'm enjoying my free venti white mocha (thank you Asian woman who didn't understand what drink she ordered) with my mouth! So syringe suckling! It's fantastic. Utterly fantastic. I also went to my surgeon yesterday (well the resident saw me) and she informed me I have ulcers all over my mouth, which I already knew. I've been throwing salt everywhere in my mouth to get rid of them. My friend says whiskey does the trick but I seem to be all out of that. I have pain still but it's not as bad as before. Now, I'm going to sip on Starbucks like a normal human. 

Day 24: Zombie? I think so...

Past the 3 week mark. I wasn't scheduled to see my surgeon this week but I never do things as scheduled. I was in major pain starting last Saturday and on Wednesday I was over it. So I woke Jake up at 6am and told him to drive me to the U of M. They poked at my mouth, "Does this hurt?" They said, and I thought, no dumbass, you're just poking where you ripped my jaws apart and screwed them back in, doesn't hurt at all. Then they took some X-rays, showed me my new hardware, gave me new prescriptions and sent me on my way. I'm doing better now, to say I'm not in pain would be lying but I'm better. The pain is not the worst part right now, what is the worst? I think I have turned into a zombie. Or soon I will be one. Yup like walking dead I wanna eat your brains. Why? Because I'm starving. I could eat anything right now. Grilled leg? Sounds fab. Ok not really but when you have been suckling liquid from a syringe like a Guinea pig for 3 weeks you get pretty desperate. I cannot wait to eat real food. I almost blended chicken nuggets the other day. I didn't but it was close. 🍗

Day 17: I am not normal

I have passed the two week! Yay! I have my 2 week check up with my surgeon two days ago and he said everything is going well. No infection so that's a plus. I am still very swollen, so much to the point where I am actually biting into my cheeks because they are still so big. There isn't much to do about it other than wait for the swelling to go down but I have feeling in my cheeks so it hurts like a bitch constantly. I no longer have the super raw feeling anymore so that's a plus. My pain is more of a sharp stabbing or aching now. I'm getting more and more "twitching" of my muscles happening which really hurts and then I must be getting feeling back in my gums/teeth because they just hurt like the dickens. Still taking my oxy as needed. My surgeon wants to see me in 2 weeks and splint will be out in 4 more weeks. I've actually been feeling really good because I can talk now, obviously it's not like my normal talking but people can understand me and there are days when I don't even have to take a nap! That being said, today taught me that i am far from being back to normal. My fiancé and I went to a hotel to celebrate my sister's 11 birthday. I didn't swim, just hung out in the hot tub and played some games. At 7pm I was in so much pain that I needed my oxy and I'm just drained. It was a long day. So as much as I would love to think that I'm back to being me, I most definitely am not. I'm doing better, slowly, day by day but I am no where near being 100 percent. I would say I'm running at about 50 percent right now but each week gets better. This time last week I couldn't talk at all and was doing all liquid medicine and now I can somewhat talk and take pills. I think the recovery is just going to take some time. I'm not the most patient person, especially with myself, so the slow healing is really hard for me. I'm ready to throw myself back into my old life but my body cannot handle it and today was a true test of that. I just have to remind myself that in the end, I will be back to myself and I will be even better with new and improved jaws!