2 months, 15 days: life as we know it

I'm almost to the 3 month mark! The point where I should be pretty much almost healed and things will just slowly improve from here on out. I will say that I still have pain, mainly in my lower right jaw. My jaw also spasms occasionally still. I cannot open as wide as I used to yet either. All of these things I will bring up to my surgeon when I see him on the 10th of December. Life has slowly gone back to almost normal. I'm working, going out, working out and enjoying life as I used to. I have made great progress in the past two and a half months and hope to continue on that road. Only time will tell as to how everything will end up. As I type I'm enjoying a nice bowl of soup, still on softer foods. After this, I never need to see another bowl of soup again. I'm doing my smoothies in the morning and surprisingly I'm not sick of them yet. I actually enjoy a good smoothie in the morning, it's become my little routine. I have even moved back to my regular bed from the hospital bed recently, giving faith that Jake will not punch me in his sleep. I have even had a few glasses of wine 🍷 lately. How I missed it! There is just something about a glass of wine after a long day. So relaxing . My stepdad is having surgery today and soon he will know the joys of anesthesia and recovery. I don't think any surgery is easy and for me the anesthesia really took effect. I hope I don't have to go under again ever or at least not for a very long time. I'll just enjoy my new smile and be happy! 

Just me loving my life!

2 months 5 day: confidence

The reason I elected to have this surgery is because my doctors told me that it was my only option, medically. If I wanted to eat correctly, breath correctly, have an unobstructed airway, and not have my teeth ruined at a young age, my only option was surgery. Braces alone was not going to cut it. Besides the medical benefits, there are also cosmetic benefits to having jaw surgery. Do I think cosmetic reasons alone justify the procedure? For me, no but, I can say that my self confidence has risen since the surgery. I used to over compensate for my severe overbite, jetting my lower jaw forward at all times. I had to think before I took a picture, jaw forward but not too much, make it look natural. When I was around people I was super self conscious about it. I just thought everyone was staring at my horrible over bite and lack of lower jaw. My side profile was something I never wanted to see or anyone to see for that matter. Everyone has something about themselves that they wish was different but mine was something huge. You can wear jeans to cover up your cellulite, you can put on makeup to cover up your acne, but there is no covering up the shape of your face. And it might seem silly to some, and maybe it is, but this surgery has given me more confidence. I no longer worry about moving my jaw in the correct way to smile. I don't care if people stare at my profile. I don't feel like an ugly nurse shark anymore (that's how I thought my teeth looked). I love my new face and smile! Below is a picture of a nurse shark and how I thought my teeth used to look.

And here is me now! No longer a nurse shark!

Dat side profile doe...

Its officially been 2 months!

Today is officially the 2 month mark since the surgery. Looking back I cannot believe how far I have come in just 60 days! I'm still on a soft food diet and I'm not 100 percent back to my regular work schedule but I have been walking on the treadmill, working full 10 hour days, and I've started wearing heels again! There are still parts of my face and mouth where I do not have 100 percent feeling but I'm confident that most of it will come back. I can tell that there is a lot of scar tissue in my upper jaw area that I need to try to break through. Talking, chewing and doing some mouth exercises will help to break that up and return to normal. To fully heal from this surgery takes a year, although after 3 months the healing is slower and not as noticeable. If I were to go back in time, I would do the exact same thing I did and have the surgery all over again. The first few weeks were very hard but it has been worth it. I can breath better, swallow better, my bite is better, and I have not had a headache since the surgery. As someone who had migraines daily, that fact alone made this surgery worth it. I'm shocked by how many people I've talked to either know someone who had the surgery or know someone who were told they needed the surgery. I've been very lucky to have a wonderful support system around me to help me through this very difficult recovery. I don't think I would be healing as well as I am if I didn't have so many people supporting me. So, thank you everyone!!! Until the next post 🙂

Day 53: work out!

Day 53, almost 2 months in! I'm still on a soft food diet because my teeth and jaw cannot handle hard foods. My jaw also cannot open as wide as it used to yet so it is hard to eat anything too big. I tried to eat some chicken salad last Thursday and let's just say my jaw got a good work out that night when the chicken salad decided it wasn't going to stay in my stomach. I don't know if I over ate or if I just had some bad chicken salad. I worked  over 50 hours in the last two weeks which is really good considering I haven't worked in almost 2 months. Today after work I decided to try out the gym for the first time since the surgery. I didn't do anything too strenuous, just walked on the treadmill for 30 minutes. That was about all that my little body could handle. I'm hoping to get back to the gym another 2 times this week to get my energy back up and try to get back to normal. Every day gets better! 

Day 49: back to work, back to work

It's officially been 7 weeks! Everything has been going very well. I still have some numbness. My lower lip and chin are tingly but have not regained full feeling. The ledt side of my nose is completely numb and I doubt I will get feeling back. Also, the left side of my tongue has only minor feeling in it. They say whatever feeling you have after 3 months will be what you are stuck with. I'm hoping to regain full feeling in my lip and chin, as far as the rest, I would be ok if I didn't get feeling back although I'd prefere to have all feeling. With my splint now gone (good riddance), I can talk and also am eating a soft food diet. I have gone back to work and am doing arrangements again. I worked 2 8 hour days in a row and that took a lot out of me. You know when you spell has HA3, you need to be done working for a hot minute. I think I've healed really well so far. I can't wait to see what everything will look like after 90 days. 

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?