They are Gone Baby GONE!!!!

Last. Picture. E V E R. W/braces.

An hour and half later...  I LOVE IT!!! :)

And, a little bubbly to celebrate! Courtesy of Dr Nelson and his staff. So sweet!

5 Month Update

Wow, it's been a while since my last post, guess that's what happens when life gets back to normal. ;) This past month has been really busy...We took a vacation to Niagara Falls earlier in the month (the area is Beautiful!), and then we headed to Iowa City to watch the Iowa Hawkeyes play (both me and my hubby are native Iowans), and October=Oktoberfest (that one is self explanatory).  Busy, busy!

Sooooo, my braces are coming off TODAY! WooooooHooooo!!!!! :) :) :)  It's been 2 years and 3 months since all of this started, and I am READY for it to be done.  Happy times!

Only other update to note is my ROM issues are no more.  I'm opening to 40 mm, and Q says that's right where I need to be. :)  So those tongue depressors did the job! :)  I still need to use them once a week for about 15 mins or so, just to keep the muscles stretching and in shape.  About 2-3 weeks ago, my right jaw joint started krackling and popping when I'm eating crunchy foods.  Since I have no pain w/it, Q says not to worry about it, so I'm not. :)

Really no change with all the other stuff - I still have some numbness and slight puffiness, but I just don't notice it much anymore.  Kinda nice, I must say. :)  I do catch myself when I'm bored or whatever, running my fingers across my chin so it tingles.  Some of the sensations appear in my lower lip or the opposite side of my chin, which I think is funny now.

On the food front - just about anything and everything is game.  I still shy away from raw veggies unless they are small pieces like in a salad.  I bit into a hard piece of chocolate a few weeks ago, and it hurt so that was my warning to take it easy on the hard stuff.

Lastly, just wanted to share a couple pics from our trips this past month. First one is at Niagara Falls (on the Maid of the Mist boat), and the last one was at the Iowa game (outside Kinnick Stadium) on our way to the game.



Tongue Depressors

That's my "home" physical therapy for the next 10 days.  Sticking a bunch of tongue depressors in my mouth.  LOL  Right now 17 fit in my mouth.  I have to add 4 more to the stack by adding one everyother day, and holding the stack in my mouth for 15 minutes.  All I can do is laugh, I look completely ridiculous. :D  But, hey, if it works then I don't have to do real physical therapy, and that makes it worth it! :)

Also, Dr Q got my mouth to open to 34 mm which is 4 mm more that the last time!  I was completely surprised, because I didn't think I had improved from the last appt since I was a bit more tense due to things at work this past week.  That Flexeril must be helping!  (Just to note: 34mm is still VERY limited.  I read somewhere that 50 mm is considered the norm for females so I still have A LOT of work to do!)

Other good news this past week - I saw Dr Nelson on Tuesday, and he said my bite looked perfect!  And I don't need to wear the rubberbands anymore.  Woo! Woo!  I had just said to my husband the night before how tired I was of putting those on at night. lol  I don't go back to see Dr Nelson for FOUR whole weeks - that hasn't happened since well before the surgery!

And, I got my teeth cleaned on Monday.  I was afraid it won't go very well, because of my ROM issues and that I'd be in a lot of pain.  So not the case.  It went really well, and it feels great to have clean teeth! :)

3 Months Post-Op

So I'm just over the 12 week mark.  Hard to believe it's been that long already.  Though the days haven't been all easy (and still aren't) they are flying by!  This journey is going to be completely over before I know it. :)

Here's the latest and greatest that's going on with me and my jaw...

No Chew Diet No More

I've finally been given the ok to start chewing food again!!! :) :) :)  Not that I can run out and chow down on raw veggies or nachos or anything like that yet, but it's a step closer to it!  Eating is STILL a process, because my teeth are still mostly numb so I have to be careful not to over do it.  Dr Q told me that I can't solely rely on my teeth to chew up food yet.  I've had bbq from The Salt Lick (my fav) and Rudy's, although I only had the brisket.  Don't think I'm quite ready for the sausage or ribs yet.  I had harder time w/ the brisket than what I thought I would since still had to cut the brisket into smaller pieces to chew it, and the chewing was more like gumming, but whatever, I'm chewing again!!! ;)  Also had a cheeseburger (no veggies of course!) Friday night, and again not quite as easy as I thought it would be, but man o man was it GOOD!!

ROM

My ROM is still very limited. The muscles are still VERY tight and not wanting to be stretched out.  It still hurts when I do the stretching exercises which are helping some, but not enough.  I saw Dr Q last Wednesday, and I thought I had improved from the last visit, but he said I wasn't opening any further than the last time.  That was depressing. :(  The muscle relaxer he had me on from the previous visit didn't do much for me as I was still waking up with my jaw clenched.  So he upped the ante and prescribed a different one (Flexeril 10mg).  This one is working quite well (also, things at work have calmed down so that helps too).  I have a hard time waking up from it in the morning, though, but at least my jaw isn't clenched.  I'm afraid I'm going to end up in physical therapy soon which I'm sure is going to suck big time.  BUT on the upside, the PT should be able to help me regain the ROM that I'm not able to achieve on my own. I sure hope so anyway.

Bite

Both, Dr Nelson and Dr Quaroni, say that my teeth fit together very nicely every time I go in to see them. :)  Dr Nelson comments almost everytime that the surgery really could not have been done any better.  He continues to fine tune my bite at every appt which has been almost every week since the surgery.  I'm still using elastics every other night on the back molars w/the metal bands - inside of top molars to outside of bottom molars.  I was wearing the elastics every night, but Dr Nelson said it was doing too much, and going w/o them wasn't quite enough.  Most days I feel more contact on the right side of my bite than the left, but that's a part of the fine tuning that Dr Nelson is doing.  Just gotta stay patient.  Still on track to be brace free by the end of October!  Woo Hoo!!

Numbness

I have most of the feeling back in the original numb areas - 100% in my cheek and nose, and about 85-90% in my chin and lower lip.  On the "new" numb areas feeling is around 60% on the chin, and 30-40% in the area under my chin.  Everything is still tingling most days so that is good news. The nerves are still working on repairing themselves.  Again, just gotta stay patient. :)  Oh, and also my upper teeth and gums are starting to wake up too.  I'm starting to feel my tooth brush along the gum line. :)

Recap of my numb areas - immediately following surgery, the whole right side of my chin and lower lip were completely numb as well as a small area on my right cheek and the inside of my right nostril. Around the 8 wk mark or so, I noticed a couple newer numb spots - the whole area under my chin and a line to the left of my chin starting at the corner of my mouth to the jaw line (kinda weird, but Dr Q didn't seem concerned about it when I mentioned it to him so I haven't be too worried about it.).

Swelling

I still have some residual swelling around the base of my nose and above my upper lip (so in my profile my upper lip doesn't look very full).  It's not really noticeable to anyone other than me.  It's a little more pronounced some mornings when I first get up, but doesn't last very long.  Doesn't really bother me all that much since I know it will eventually go away.  Also, the base of my nose and on either side of my nose where the plates are gets really tender sometimes.  I've been told that all of this stuff is normal and will last up to 6-8 months.  So, I'll say it again - just gotta stay PATIENT. ;)

Mood

I still feel like I'm on an emotional roller coaster ride.  I still don't feel "normal" yet.  Most days I'm fine and happy with everything.  I couldn't be happier with the results, I mean it's just SO amazing.  But, then there are the days that I'm not so happy.  The days that my patience runs thin and I just wanna everything to be healed so I can just be done with it all.  The no chew diet really wore me down, I mean REALLY wore me down.  It's been tough to go all this time w/o chewing anything.  Thankfully, I've reached the huge milestone of chewing again, and I'm just beyond happy about it! :)  My ROM issues have been getting me down a lot lately.  It hurts so much to stretch out my jaw, and then the pain continues for most of the day - it just aches all day and all I wanna do is cry.  No fun.  No fun at all.  But, I knew this recovery wasn't going to be easy when I decided to do this, and it was going to take some grit, both physical and mental, to get thru it. 

Patience really is the key to this recovery process.  That and finding something positive in everything.  Just not always that easy to do.  The one thing that I can say is that I have never had the thoughts of "Why did I do this" or "Wish I hadn't done this."  I won't allow myself to think like that.  I can't allow myself to think like that.  I have no regrets about choosing to go down this rough and bumpy road.  That's the way I believe life should be lived w/no regrets. ;)

Exercises

I forgot to add this to my last post. :P

These are the exercises my ortho/surgeon instructed me to do to help get my ROM (range of motion) back in shape. *Disclaimer - Please consult w/your OD or OS as every doctor is different in what they want you to do/not do during your recovery! :)

Stretch #1:  Take both index fingers and put on lower teeth. Then press down on lower jaw and softly bounce lower jaw down - if it hurts then use less pressure. Bounce 4-5 times, twice a day. Massage jaw and joint area afterwards.

Stretch #2:  Using your hand, push lower jaw to the side till you feel the stretch (not pain) and hold for a few seconds. Do both sides, twice a day. Massage jaw and joint area afterwards.

Stretch #3: Little side to side, and open/close movements throughout the day.

Stretch #4:  Open and stretch mouth as far as I can till I can feel the stretch, and then hold for as long as I can stand it. I do these mostly in the car to/from work. Also, I'll do this while I'm watching TV in the evening. Massage jaw and joint area afterwards.

And that's it.  These are helping little by little. Everything in this recovery is little by little. :) Anyway, this morning I was able to get two finger widths in my mouth opening.  First time that has happened since I started working on my ROM! Woo Hoo!!

Too Tense

So I'm still having pain issues w/the right jaw joint area. This has been going on for about 3 weeks or so now, it's REALLY getting to be annoying. Grrr. I just wanna be all healed already.

I saw Q last Wednesday, and again he prodded around and pulled my mouth open - It hurt like hell. :(  But he gets my mouth way more open than I've been able to so far, and he did say it opened wider than it did the last time he saw me (which was 2 wks previous). So I guess that's a good thing. Then he asked if I wake up in the morning tensed or w/ my jaw clenched, and said I do. I've also been really achy at the end of the work day and I get these sharp shooting pains inside my right ear (that just about turns me into a blubbering, crying baby). Q said that would be happening since the muscles are in spasms and putting stress on the joint which sends the shooting pain in the ear.

He basically told me that I'm really tense, - I know this, my stress levels at work have been BRUTAL the last couple of weeks! - because he can feel the muscles quiver and spasm when I try to open/stretch my jaw. He said there's nothing wrong w/ that, it's just how I am. Hmmm, I think there are some steps I can take to help myself relax....like oh say not stress about the shit I can't control. :| Easier said than done, but I still need to work on it. Anyway, he prescribed a muscle relaxer for me to take before I got to bed every night for the next 2 wks. So far I'm not sure they are working...I still wake up w/a clenched jaw. I think it's time I find some yoga classes again. Or a new job?

9 Weeks Down...and still a LONG ways to go

Tuesday of this past week (July 27) marked the 9th week since my surgery. The days have really gone by fast, but it seems like it was sooooo much longer ago that I was in the hospital.

I feel like I'm stuck in a gray area now...what I mean by that is I feel mostly like my old normal self, and yet I don't cause I'm not fully healed yet which my jaw constantly reminds me of everyday. I still can't chew any type of food. I'm SO tired of mushy foods, juice and Ensure. And what normal/solid food I can eat - like pastas - I have to cut up into itty-bitty tiny little pieces in order to eat, well not eat cause I can't chew, but so I can swallow it. UGH!!!! And I've still got 3 weeks to go on the not chewing front...slowly, so very slowly, but surely that day IS coming...

Then sometimes I actually forget that I had my jaw bones sawed apart only just over 2 months ago and that I'm not fully healed yet. I feel good so I don't think about it. Then I'll smile a little too big, or laugh a little too hard, or talk a little too long, and then my jaw reminds me that I'm NOT 100% quite yet! Or, I'm make a sudden movement, like when something startles you, and I'll get this weird pulling sensation in my upper jaw which is apparently normal. Man, Dr Q wasn't kidding when he told me this takes a long, long, LONG time to heal! So again - UGH!

So besides my mood being in the crapper (there's a couple other things contributing to my mood besides my jaw and recovery, but I won't go into that), here's what's been happening the last three weeks with the jaw -

I've been in to see Dr Nelson twice since my last post and really not much to report on the ortho progress (this week is the first full week since the surgery I haven't been in to see him so maybe that's a good sign?? :) ). He took off one of the very back brackets on the bottom, and I still need to wear the rubber bands at night. And he told me that I could have the braces off by the end of October!!!!!! Woo Hoo!! :) :) :)

About two weeks ago or so the right jaw joint area starting hurting really bad. Too much movement - talking, laughing, stretching, etc - sends shooting pain in my joint and ear, then the whole side of my face aches. Ouch. So I saw Dr Q on the 21st and told him about this pain. He pressed and prodded all around my joint, and found some real tender spots, and during all this he also had me opening and moving my jaw side to side. It freaking hurt REALLY bad! Not fun at all. :(  He told me that it was muscle spasm-isms and gave me some exercises to do twice a day. Those exercises hurt to do. :(  No pain, no gain, right?

Oh, and Q took out the wire hook that had been in my upper front jaw since the surgery. That being pulled out was a funky sensation!

I gotta say that not everything has been gloomy and gray the last couple weeks - I was able to finally get out on the river two Saturdays again w/friends, and had a really good time. I crispy fried myself in the process, it was still worth it though! lol  And last wkd we had our first girls night out in a really long time that was a lot of fun. And after a night of talking and a lot of hard laughing, my jaw didn't ache! So those exercises are working!! ;)

6 Weeks Post-Op - "Good Healer"

Day 42 (Tuesday, July 6):  6 Weeks Post-Op!!!

So I'm half way to eating solid food again! That really keeps me going. :) Only a little residual swelling remains around my nose - on either side and the upper lip area. There's still a little left in my chin area too. But most of it is GONE. :)  The right half of my lower lip and chin are still numb, but the feeling is slowly working it's way back. I'd say that I have around 60ish% feeling back, and it still tingles most of the time which I don't notice most of the time. My jaw and face still gets a little achy after talking/laughing a lot, but overall I feel great!

Just a few minor annoyances to note:

• I still drool occasionally
• Upper gums are numb
• Left cheek feels thick - I think the inside of it is numb
• I get little twinges a pain along the cut sites every once in a while
• The base of my nose has been sore - Dr Nelson says that's normal and it'll be that way for up to 8 months
• Slight puffiness remains on either side of my nose - Dr Nelson says this is normal too, and it'll be that way for up to 8 months

I saw Dr Nelson on Monday (July 5), and he said that I am a "quick healer." :) Everything has fused together and he can't see any lines in my gums where the cuts were made. He said he could tell that I've been massaging my upper lip area (to smooth out the scar tissue underneath), because he couldn't see any ridge in my lip. I only need to wear the rubber bands at night now, and he told me to continue withe the lip/cheek massaging. He also said I need to really work at stretching my mouth to get my ROM back. It's pretty limited right now so I might have to go to physical therapy if I can't get it back on my own. Yikes! That's going to suck if I have to do that. :(

On Wednesday (July 7), I saw Dr Quaroni, and he said I was a "good healer." Just call me the Super Healer! ;) LOL jk. He was happy with my progress from both surgeries. He didn't seem as concerned about my limited ROM, he just said to a little movement everyday and it'll start come around just don't expected to happen overnight. He said I can start running on a treadmill now, but still no chewing anything even soft food.  Oh well, I'll be eating real food again soon enough, only 6 more weeks to go on that front.

This pic was an accident, but I think it turned out to be an awesome profile shot. I'm loving my new profile! :)

5 Weeks Post-Op - Just Pics

 Week 5 - June 29th:

4 Weeks Post-Op!

Day 29 (Tuesday, June 22):  Officially 4 weeks post-op! :)  Hard to believe it's been that long already!

Work Day 2:  I was so TIRED. Around 2:30 that afternoon I just about fell asleep, literally. Getting back into the swing of things is a bit tougher than I was expecting. I've been talking a lot more and my jaw aches. Kinda surprised how tired it makes me. Guess I gotta get those muscles back in shape.

4 weeks post-op

Post-Op Day 28

Day 28: Monday June 21st was my first day back at work. I'd been off for 3 1/2 weeks. Kind of a bummer since I didn't miss it at all, but that's why it's work, right? I also wasn't too happy with the fact that I was still puffy (not super noticeable, but it's all I could see) and I have one faint bruise on my right side that was refusing to go away. :|

I was nervous about seeing my coworkers, or rather them seeing me. Most everyone knew I was having this surgery so I assume they were all going to be staring at me. I know I do have some differences in my appearance, but it's nothing drastic, and I think the changes are all for the better. And I'm super happy with my profile now. I feel more confident now.  But still, on the way in to work I was really feeling some pressure. All I wanted to do was turn around and go back home. When I pulled into the parking I almost started to cry, and for the life of me I don't know why. I got my composure back, sucked it up and went in. Gotta start facing the real world again at some point, right?

It really turned out to better than I was expecting. Most everyone said welcome back, and asked how it had went and how was I feeling, ya know the typical stuff when someone has been out for a while. The only thing that I wasn't prepared for was a meeting...first thing that morning was our quarterly meeting our director which includes the two groups under her. This meeting usually is about 2 hours. Ugh! After that the day went on pretty much uneventful. I was tired at the end of the day though. Lots of talking had made my whole jaw ache.

I also had an ortho appt before work, and Dr Nelson said I didn't have to wear the bands while I'm at work. Yeah! It's so hard to talk with those things in so this makes me very happy. :) He also says I have to continue with the face massaging to help push the remaining swelling out of my face. I also need to really stretch my mouth and jaw to get the range of motion back. Oh, and get this, he says I have a textbook perfect bite! That is truly amazing. :)

Post-Op Day 25

Day 25 (Friday, June 18): I still had some swelling leftover from the revision surgery, but I was finally feeling good again. I had stopped the narcotics by the end of Wednesday (which was the day after the 2nd surgery), and I think that helped my mood a lot. I had been in seen Dr Nelson on Thursday, and he was very happy with the revision, and that I looked great. He put me back in the rubberbands for the weekend. I'd be back to see him on Monday.

Day 25 pics - Stupid swelling...but I'm smiling again! :)

Post-Op Day 23 & Post Revision Surgery

Day 23 (Wed, June 16):  I was still not a happy camper - the right side of my face was puffy, I was having some pain on that side of my face, and still overall depressed about it all. The pain meds took care of the discomfort I was having so that was good I guess. At least I wasn't crying anymore whenever I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror.

Funny thing - I had a dream the night before that my whole upper jaw was about to fall out of my mouth. Llike if I openned my mouth it would just fall completely out. Those pain meds made me CRAZY!! :D

Day 23 pic

So, looking back at this point in my recovery now that I'm almost 7 weeks post-op, I can see that the swelling wasn't near as bad as I thought it was at the time. At the time I was REALLY bummed out over the whole ordeal, and the new swelling seemed HUGE to me. It's all I could see at the time.

Post-Op 3 Weeks....and Revision Surgery

Day 22 (Tuesday, June 15): Well the good news was that I was at 3 weeks post-op!  :) 

The bad was I was at Q's office for the revision surgery. :(

I was there bright and early in the morning for the revision surgery. Q got my IV going right away which I was happy about 'cause is knocked me out. The next thing I know I was waking up and being walked to the recovery room. I was completely numb to the right of my nose - my cheek and upper lip were NUMB (I was told I would be though to be fair). I wasn't even that numb after the jaw surgery!

So I'm in the recovery room, right, and someone had the TV on and it was BLARING loud. WHF? It's a recovery room people, isn't it supposed to be QUIET??? I had asked my husband twice to have it turned down. I swear he was trying to ignore me since it was the FIFA world cup games that was on. Grrrrr. Finally, he asked to have it turned down, and I was able to sleep off the sedation stuff some.

I remember someone trying to ask me a little later if I was ready to go home, and I said no, and went back to sleep. Then I remember waking up and I had tears running down my face. I really don't know why, but it continued all the way home.

The rest of day was fairly uneventful. I was back on the narcotic pain meds so I was knocked out sleeping mostly. I do remember having a hard looking at myself in the mirror, because I had some swelling on the right side of my face again. I had a rough patch later that night when I was getting ready for bed, I just couldn't stand to see the swelling and I had a mini emotional breakdown. I wasn't happy at all. Of course, during my little emotional crisis, Dr Q calls to check in on how I was doing. Thankfully, I didn't have to talk to him, my husband did. Pain-wise I was fine. I wasn't having any problems with that or bleeding or anything like that. The swelling I had was normal. I was just having a hard time emotionally dealing with it. :(

Post-Op Day 21

Day 21 (Monday, June 14): I was back to see Dr Nelson again. He just wanted to confirm that the revision surgery was the right course of action, which after checking my bite he said it was. He sensed that I was pretty tense about the whole thing, and I told him I wasn't happy about it at all.

Side note - This is just one example of why I really like my doctors so much. They both are so good at asking that probing question to get me to say what's on my mind happy or not, and then they break it down and explain so that it's like 'Oh, well that makes sense', or 'That's not so bad.'

So Dr Nelson tells me that since I haven't had a lot of dental work (actually zero - I've never even had a cavity) it's hard for me to understand that all dental work is done in such tiny, small measurements that it's hard to ever have anything done perfectly exact. He said I should view this as an adjustment instead of surgery, because that is what it really is, just an adjustment. No different than if he when he changed out a wire or reposition a bracket. It's not that the surgery wasn't done correctly, he said the surgery really was perfect. He told me that I'd be glad it was being done 'cause I'd be out of the braces a lot sooner. I still wasn't happy about it, but I did feel a little better. Whatever, just get it done...the sooner it's done the sooner I can move on...right? And I wanna say - I trust both these guys, I really do. So if this is the best plan of attack then that's what has to be done. If they told me I needed to jump off a bridge I would do it. I trust that they know what's best for my treatment.

I had done some shopping over the weekend - nothing makes a girl happier quicker than some shopping! ;) I actually even needed some new jeans/pants since everything I owned was falling off me. I had lost ~8-10 lbs up to this point and had done down 1 pant size. Anyhow, along the way I found a few new sandals and cute summery tops. On Monday I planted some new flowers around the house. I was feeling really great! (minus the revision surgery) :)

Day 21 pics - Most of the swelling was gone!

Post-Op Day 18

Day 18 (Friday, June 11): Had another appointment w/Q. The revision surgery was scheduled for the following Tuesday (June 15). I was depressed about it. He told me that it was "no big deal" and that it would only take about 30 mins in the office to complete. Also, it would speed up my orthodontic treatment so that I would be out of the braces sooner (same thing Nelson told me). Q gave me another round of prescriptions to fill and start the day before the surgery. Luckily, everything was in pill form this time (gotta find an upside somewhere, right?). He told me to expect some swelling on the right side of my face afterward.  That wasn't good to hear since most of the original swelling was gone by now...crap I had to go thru that again?  *BIG SIGH*  Was not looking forward to this at all!

Bummer News :(

Day 16 (Wed, June 9): Really not much new to report for this day. Felt good. Swelling continued to go down just a little bit everyday. I was up and about doing stuff around the house, and walking around the back yard more often. Everything was looking up. :)

Day 16 pic

Day 17 (Thurs, June 10): So the week had been all sunshine and roses for the most part until my ortho appt w/Dr Nelson. He told me that I would need a revision surgery to bring down the right section of my upper jaw. The rubber bands I had been wearing would fix the issue, but it would take 6-8 months to do it....the surgery would reduce my remaining orthodontic time down to around 4 months. He might as well have punched me in the gut. Talk about raining on my parade. :|  At least I didn't have wear any rubberbands till after it.

Q had talked to me about the risk of needing a revision surgery along with all the other risks, but it was a measly 1 fricking %. It really wasn't something that I had thought about much so I just wasn't mentally prepared for it. I knew it would be done in the office and that it would a lot less traumatic than the initial surgery, but still it really bummed me out.

Day 17 pics

2 Weeks!

Day 15 (Tues, June 8):  2 weeks post-op!! :)  

The hubby had gone back to work this week so I was flying solo by week 2 into my recovery. He did a great job of taking care of me and keeping me on track with all my meds. Plus he put up w/me when I turned into a baby. ;)  

Overall I felt great at this point. I was looking better, feeling better, my mood was improving, everything really was looking up now. I loved my new profile - it really was exciting to see how much better it looked! I noticed for the first time that my teeth fit together properly - MY teeth fit together - WOW! I got emotional about it. It was really amazing to think that I had a perfect bite (or was going to soon). This was the moment I realize that this really was a life changing experience. I'm so happy with the results so far. :) And I absolutely love my doctors - they are the best!! :)

 

Good Stuff:

• I feel like myself again (for the most part)
• The swelling has really gone down!
• I can brush the backs of my teeth now
• I can almost swish mouthwash now
• My smile is getting bigger
• Eating is getting easier
• Finding lots of tastey soups so the blended diet isn't so bad after all
• Not spending the entire day sleeping
• I love, love, LOVE my heating pad!
• The nausea is GONE! (the yogurt helped)
• NO MORE PAIN MEDS!!!!
• Congestion has finally started to release from my sinuses - Yeah!
• Most of the bruising has vanished :)
• I'm able to drive myself around

 Annoyances:

• Talking is still really difficult
• Drooling has become the norm
• Coughing hurts my joints
• The tingling in my chin gets INTENSE right before I go to bed
• My nose is runny all the time
• Laughing hurts my face
• Realized my gums and inside of my cheeks are numb
• One pesky yellowish bruise still remains on my face

  

Post-Op Day 14

Day 14 (Monday, June 7): I was back to see Dr Nelson on this day. He liked the progress the rubber bands were doing on bringing down the right side so I need to keep up with that. He told me I need to start massaging my cheeks and upper lip area, and to push the swelling down my face towards my neck. This would help my body get the swelling work out. Also, he told me that scar tissue can form a line along the inside of my upper lip and actually create a visible ridge so by massaging that area down it will keep my skin smooth. (This was news to me since I hadn't come across it at all in my research prior to the surgery.) And the other thing he told me was to work on stretching my mouth and jaw. I need to be able to get 2 fingers in the opening of my mouth and to regain the range of motion (ROM). I had some work to do!


Day 14 pics

Post-Op Day 13

Day 13 (Sunday, June 6): Honestly, I don't remember much of anything of significance other than I made it thru the weekend w/o any incidence. Which was a good thing - No panicked calls to Dr Q!  I believe it was a turning point in my recovery. ;)

And the heating pad totally worked on the dark bruises that were on my lower neck which was awesome. God I love that thing! :)

Day 13 pic

Post Op Days 9-11

Day 9 (Wed, June 2): I'm starting to look a lot better now, but I felt awful most of this day. I still had some nausea going on even after the anti-nausea meds, and I had no appetite to speak of. Just couldn't stomach anything which wasn't good. I had force myself to choke down some Ensure just get some nutrition. On the good side, I was only taking the liquid ibuprofen now. :)

I forgot to mention in my previous post that Q said I could brush my teeth now. That made me very happy, my teeth felt gross. It felt weird, but good. I couldn't open my mouth much so I couldn't brush the backs of my teeth. At least it was a start! :)

Day 9 pics

Day 10 (Thurs, June 3): Still wasn't feeling great, and still didn't have much appetite. :( At least I wasn't throwing up though. I had my first post-op ortho appointment w/Dr Nelson which went well. Everyone in the office said I looked great, they are all so nice there. Dr Nelson tied the broken wires together and changed up the bands. I only had one band on the right side at this point. He asked me how much weight I had lost so far which with the last couple days of not eating was at 10 lbs so far. He told me that I'd need to be careful not to lose much more. I totally agreed w/him, I didn't have that much to lose in the first place (the wk before surgery I weighed 126 lbs)! Hopefully this nausea crap will go away soon so I can eat more regularly.

Day 10 pic

Day 11 (Friday, June 4): Finally started feeling better and was actually eating. Yeah! :) I still had some slight nausea, but I sipped on 7 Up and that helped. I saw Dr Nelson again, and he checked the band that he had placed the day before. It was doing what he wanted it too. He told me to take it out when I ate and brushed my teeth. Then I was off to see Dr Q, and he was happy with everything. He asked how the nausea was doing, I said it was a little better...and that I was so sorry for having to call him late at night, he said it wasn't a problem at all, that's what's he's here for. I know it comes w/the job, but he is such a nice guy. :) Q told me to get some active cultures into my diet like yogurt and that should help settle the nausea. He also told to me to put some heat on the bruises on my face and neck which should help get rid of them. Hopefully I make it thru the wkd w/o any problems!

Day 11 pic - This pic shows a big reduction in swelling from the previous day. Yeah!

1 Week!

Day 8 (Tues, June 1): Milestone - 1 week!  :)

I felt really good this day. I took my last narcotic pain meds early that morning, and then I had myself on just the liquid ibuprofen. Maybe it was just a mental thing, but I felt great! :) I also removed the motion sickness/anti-nausea patch that I'd been wearing since the day before the surgery. I figured I won't need it anymore since I wasn't taking those awful narcotics anymore, right?

I had my first (official) post-op appointment w/Dr Q in the afternoon. Q said I looked really great, and that I looked more like I was at 2 weeks post-op instead of 1 week. That made me feel good. :) He was happy with my healing and said my teeth fit together nicely now. He touched my face to check on the numbness and was impressed that only a couple places were numb - the right side of my chin and lower lip were my only numb spots. :) He asked how I was doing pain wise which I was happy to report that the last dose of the narcotics was early that morning. He asked about if I was having any nausea, and I told him my stomach had got a little queasy in the Jeep on the way to his office, but it wasn't anything bad. He said he wanted to see me again on Friday before the weekend. All was well until the ride home...

I totally emptied my stomach on the way home. I really think it was the stop and go of rush hour traffic that did me in. :( So much for not needing that anti-nausea patch anymore. *Big sigh* So I got home, and I really thought it was over, and it was the car ride that caused it. It wasn't over. Pretty soon I was dry heaving, and I couldn't stop. This went on for about 2 hours. (And nothing turns me into a blubbering baby quicker than vomiting!) My husband called Q cause he couldn't take listening to me any longer. Q calls in another prescription for two different anti-nausea meds - one for the anti-nausea patch, and one for an anti-nausea pill that they give to cancer patients going thru chemo. That little cancer patient pill was AWESOME. It tasted good, and it worked instantly! And it lasted 6 hours. I felt much better and was able to sleep. :)

Here are my 1 week post-op pics (first time I really noticed how much my profile had changed, and in a good way!):

Post-Op Day 7

Day 7 (Monday, May 31) - For the most part, day 7 was a repeat of day 6 except w/o the food wall. Thankfully, I got over the wanting solid food thing pretty quickly. But the pain meds, I was still fighting to take them. OMG they tasted so bad! So I decided that this was the last day I was taking them, I HAD to get off them. I'd been taking the pain meds every 6 hours since I had been home from the hospital, I couldn't take it anymore.

I alternated taking the horrible narcotic meds with liquid children's ibuprofen, so it went something like this - narcotics then 6 hours later ibuprofen, 4 hours later narcotics, 6 hours later ibuprofen, and so on. It worked and I was feeling much better by the end of the day. I did this for the whole day and night with the plan of stopping the narcotics the next day.

Here are day 7 pics - I was not feeling the greatest and I think that shows, and I attempted to smile, to the extent my face would allow anyway:

Post-Op Day 6

Day 6 (Sunday, May 30) - I had a bit of a scare the night before. I had just finished up drinking my soup, and of course I choke on it so I start coughing. Then I hear POP POP! WTH? Instant panic occurs. I frooze, because I thought if I moved I'd mess it up even further. Oh shit, oh shit, I'm thinking I just busted my lower jaw on one side. I looked at my husband and said "Something just popped!" Then about two seconds later I was like, "Wait, there's no pain? Oooohhhh, the bands just broke." Haha. Whew.

Then about another two seconds later, panic set in again. "Oh no, oh no, what should I do????" My husband called Q's cell since we had it, but he didn't answer. I was freaked out and just about crying. I still thought I was messing something up w/o those bands. Then my husband tried Q's office # and got the # of the other dr that was on call for the weekend. The dr didn't think it'd be a problem w/o the bands for a night since I didn't have any pain. He said to try Q's cell again if he didn't call us back. Q did return our call, and confirmed what that other dr had said. He wanted to see me first thing the next morning to replace the bands. It really wasn't that big of deal luckily. Whew!

We went down to Q's office in the next morning, and he replaced the bands. He gave me a bag of bands and showed my husband how to put them in if they broke again. No big deal. He said I was looking great all things considered. :)

I felt pretty good in the morning, but as the afternoon came I started hitting some walls...first one - the oral pain and anti-nausea meds. They are supposed to be "fruit" flavored. Didn't taste like any fruit I've ever had. But they do work (really well) so I have to take them. It started turning into a fight over the weekend and by Sunday I was literally choking them down. It got to point where I was almost in tears every time I took them. And I had to go thru this every 6 hours. It was torture.

The second wall I hit - I wanted solid food. You do not realize just how many food commercials are on TV until you can't eat those foods! I really wanted pizza. I wanted pizza SO BAD. Later that night it got so bad that I tried to suck on a tiny piece of bread, but it just got stuck on my tongue so I couldn't swallow it. Grr! And of course that lead to tears of frustration and anger. :|

Ok, so just to prove just how messed up the pain meds had me. Day 6 was SUNDAY. I totally thought it was Saturday, and the night before was Friday night. ALL DAY LONG on Sunday I thought this. It wasn't until later Sunday night when I mentioned to the hubby that I thought it was weird that Dr Q had asked how our Saturday was when it was only Saturday morning. My hubby was like, um, today is Sunday.  HUH??? I completely and totally lost a day, no memory of it what so ever!

Annoyances:

• Talking is still difficult
• Still drooling/slobbering
• Runny nose w/o warning
• Will this congestion ever go away?
• Coughing hurts
• Oral pain meds and anti-nausea meds taste HORRIBLE, I am so freaking tired of choking them down!
• Still can't "swish" mouthwash so I'm pretty sure my teeth are going to rot
• I wanna brush my teeth soooo bad (I did use the little in-between brush to clean some gunk from my front top braces, shhh)
• Bruises are surfacing - WTH is with the ones on my neck?!?
• I REALLY want solid food
• Tired of not feeling like myself

Good Stuff:

• No nose bleeds
• My lower lip and chin still tingle - means the nerves are healing :)
• I LOVE my heating pad
• I like hanging out w/my dogs all day
• Swelling is going down
• I can kinda smile

Post-op day 6 pic - Swelling had gone down considerably, but bruises had started surfacing.

Post-Op Day 4

Day 4 (Friday, May 28) - Chubby, chubby cheeks! lol  Still had a lot of swelling. I think it's kind of a toss up as to if day 3 or 4 was my peak swelling day. I think my profile looked slightly more puffed on day 3. I was smiling in the first pic, that's all I could mange to get.
I felt REALLY good this day. Especially considering what had been done just a couple days ago. I had another friend stop by the house to see me. She brought me flowers and a strawberry smoothie. :) She also brought over a sandwhich for my husband. Watching them eat their burgers and tots was a bit cruel since I won't be able to touch that stuff for 3 months.  :( Oh well, gotta get used to it sometime.

Profile pics:

Before we left the hospital, Q gave my husband a list of things for once we got home.

• Heating pad 20 minutes per side throughout the day
• Exercise - walk down one house and back, slowly increase by one house until she can walk around block
• Keep up w/liquids - don't get dehydrated
• NORMAL
• Tired & grouchy
• Sore
• Nose bleeds
• NOT NORMAL
• Rapid swelling on 1 side
• Non stop nose bleed
• Nausea that meds don't help
• Temp over 101 degrees & swollen/flushed
• BUY
• Prune juice - Pain meds will cause constipation
• Childrens Motrin - help reduce the swelling
• Childrens liquid Benadryl - use for sedative for if any meds hype her up

Post-Op Days 2-3

Day 2 (Wed, May 26) - After breakfast, I really wanted to get up and take a shower, but I still had the catheter in which was UNcomfortable. I was so tired of just laying in bed. So I asked the nurse if I could have the catheter removed so I take a shower, and she said no problem. Awesome! The shower felt GREAT! :) Then I was totally pooped and just wanted to sleep again.

After my shower I felt good for the rest of the day. I attempted to watch a movie or two, but the all the meds I was getting just knocked me out so sleeping is what I did most. At some point that day I also took a walk w/my husband's help around the hospital which went good. I was pretty tired afterwards though and slept again for a while. Later on I was coherent enough to log onto facebook for a while. Dr Q came while I was on FB and said that it was really good that I was sitting up & doing things. He said everything looked good, but I needed to get more liquids in me before he released me to go home.

I had visitors that evening. I didn't really want to see anyone since I was starting to look like a puffer fish and was spending most of my time in lala land, but my friend had made up her mind before the surgery that she was coming to see me whether I wanted her to or not. She is one of my closest friends so really I couldn't tell her no. ;) Now, I was kinda worried about her seeing me though...she has NO poker face at all. I was afraid she'd see me and have this horrified expression on her face. That is something I don't think I could have handled. She said I looked good, a lot better than she was expecting. They (her and her husband) brought me some flowers and a card. :) I can't say that I remember what was talked about, but I remember my face hurting some from laughing. It must have been a good visit. ;)

Here's the first pic of me ~24 hours post-op and after my shower. I really didn't look too bad yet, other than no make-up. :( Oh, and I LOVED those ice packs around my face! They felt awesome! :)

Day 3 (Thurs, May 27) - I reached the peak of swelling on day 3. Now I'm really puffer fish face, and it was bit scary looking (see photographic evidence). Another than the swelling I still feel pretty good for the most part. Not a lot of pain. During the night the nurse had started to switch me to the oral pain meds in preparation of disconnecting the IV and so I can go home. I had a lot more appetite on day 3, and drank everything for my breakfast and lunch which made Dr Q happy. Then I was able to go home! Q also told me that my swelling really was minimal compared to others, and that I looked great. This didn't really make me feel any better. :P

My list of 'annoyances' for the first two days:

• Talking is way to difficult
• My face feels funny
• Drooling is gross, but can't be stopped
• Nose bleeds just happen w/o warning
• Congestion - I can breathe thru my nose, but my sinuses are stuffed
• Coughing hurts
• Eating is a messy procress
• Can't "swish" mouthwash since I can't move my cheeks or lips
• Tired of laying in this bed

Stuff I'm happy about:

• No sore throat! (I had read that a lot people had this so I was expecting it)
• I can shower
• Ice packs are awesome
• Minimal numbness
• My lower lip and chin tingle - means the nerves are healing :)
• I can drink from a cup
• Pain is managed well
• I can have my Starbucks :)
• Everyone is so nice here

Here are day 3 pics -

Nausea :(

The first night was a little rough for me. I woke up around 11pm or so (per my husband) with a really upset stomach. Apparently the nurse had forgot to give me a dose of the anti-nausea meds earlier so I got the dose a little too late...

The tech that helped me was wonderful though. She was so nice, I wish I could remember her name. : | She explained that what was happening was totally normal even though it looked really bad. She told me and my husband that I was going to empty my stomach contents of the blood that had drained into it during the surgery. Great. I tried SO HARD to throw-up, but my stomach was completely empty. It sucked so bad. It hurt too. Dry heaves suck. Anesthesia sucks. This dry heaving seemed to go on forever, I really don't know how long it lasted. It just sucked.

I also started coughing which sucked too. It was a deep chested, crackling cough. The nurse and tech said this was a good thing and to go ahead and cough it all out. It wast the anesthesia working it's way out of my system. I didn't care what it was at the time, I just wanted it to stop.

After this happened is when I first remember actually feeling some pain. I felt the most pain in my lower jaw. The nurse put the little button thingy for the pain meds in my hand, and I kept on losing it. Those pains meds work pretty fast. In no time I was back in lala land and asleep. :)

I had the barf tub next to me for the rest of the night. Off and on a few times I had some nausea, but is was nothing like that first time. By the time the morning rolled around I was feeling better. I was able to eat, or drink rather, some liquids - apple juice, ensure, beef broth and water. Everything tasted pretty good. A bit later though the nausea came back. I didn't puke anything up, just had a queasy tummy for a little bit. This became the norm for a couple days. Didn't have much pain, what pain I did have was easily controlled by the pain meds.

Surgery Day - May 25, 2010

I didn't sleep hardly at all, and was up well before the alarm. (Which to anyone who knows me well, knows this is not the norm. I LOVE my snooze button!) I'm feeling nervous, but with a little bit of calm. I think it helped me to pray the night before, I think that's were the calm came from anyway.

I dragged my feet a lot this morning, because I really wasn't feeling ready and the day already seemed to be moving faster than normal. I needed to be at the hospital at 9-9:30am to be prepped for the surgery which was scheduled for 10-11am. Time was flying by, but everything seemed be in slow motion too.

We (me and my husband) get to the hospital on time. The check in was quick (it helps that I did all the paper work the week before when I came to get my blood drawn) and before I knew I was in the pre-op room. The pre-op nurse was super nice, and did a great job w/my IV. She told me what to expect when I woke up - might have a tube in my nose that goes to my stomach, there'll be ice packs wrapped around my head and there'll be an oxygen mask on my face. Again, everything was moving SO freaking fast. I wanted to hit the pause button. I'm not feeling ready for this! I don't know how many times I said that to my husband, must of been 100 times or more.

Pretty soon Dr Q came in to see how I was doing. Then the anesthesiologist dr (don't remember her name) came in to give me what she called "the best dizzy you'll ever feel" medicine. Yeah, I needed something to calm me down! I remember waiting for this "best dizzy ever" feeling, and not feeling the "dizzy". I kinda remember being rolled into the OR next to the operating table and being left there. I tried to look around, because I heard people, but didn't see any people. My husband later told me that after the dizzy medicine, I became very chatty. I'm not a chatty person, in fact when I'm scared, nervous or mad I don't talk at all. I don't remember being chatty at all.

The next thing I knew I was waking up. This part is a lot fuzzy since I was really out of it. I vaguely remember the tube being pulled out of my nose that went to my stomach. I remember someone asking me if I knew where I was and what had happened. Which I did. Once I was awake, they took me to my room. I don't remember having any pain at this point, just being really groggy and tired.

It was around 4pm when they put me in my room. I was feeling pretty good all things considered, ya know for just had having my jaws sawed apart. My face felt pretty weird. It felt tight and puffy. Talking was very difficult and that became frustrating for me. I couldn't really move my mouth at all. I had 4 rubber bands in, two on each side. I had full feeling on the entire left side of my face including my lips and chin. On the right side of my face, my lower lip and chin area was completely numb, and the inside of my right nostril was numb. That was it for the numbness! That was awesome and really exciting since I'd been most worried about the numbness. :)

At some point Dr Q came in to check on me. I don't really remember much other than he was there. My husband told me that Q had told me to get some rest, then he sat down and chatted a while w/him. Q went over the what to expect now stuff w/him, and said everything went really well during the surgery. Then they just BS'ed for a while.

My surgery lasted 3-3 1/2 hours or so. Each jaw took about 1 1/2 hours complete. Dr Q said everything went well. Apparently the nerve in my lower jaw was huge which took him a little longer to get around, because he had to chisel it out. I'm just glad he didn't chop it in half (not that I really thought he would)! ;)

The Day Before Surgery - May 24, 2010

I was extremely nervous the day before the surgery. I had planned to take the day off from work since I had a couple of appts in morning. I thought I had all my ducks in row workwise, but didn't quite get everything completed so I needed to finish up some things in the afternoon. I'm thinking it shouldn't take me that long to finish up...

First up was the appt for my pug, Paco (he has allergies and is going thru allergy shot therapy), which went fine and stayed on time. I run him home and I'm off to my last ortho appt before the surgery. That went quickly as well, they put in some wire hooks on my upper and lower brackets, and put some glue on the ends of the cut wire pieces that they had put in the week before. The inside of my lips had been slipping between and then catching on the ends. Those suckers were sharp! The glue dots made them much more comfortable. :) (Dr Q would have cut these wires during the surgery had it the ortho not done this, and from what I've read this was much more comfortable as I wasn't getting poked by anything before or afterwards.) Dr Nelson had asked me if I was nervous, and I said VERY nervous. It was a weird nervous though too, because I was excited about it at the same time. He laughed and said I was going to great and that I was going to be really happy with the results. :) I sure hope so!

So after my ortho appt, I grab some lunch with the hubby, we pick up the last of my prescription meds and grab a few more packs of Ensure and what not. We get home around 2:30 - 3ish or so, and I break out the work laptop to finish up my work. Should only take me 2-3 hours, 4 tops. Nope, took a wee bit longer...I worked until almost 10:30pm! I'm already completely stressed about the surgery being TOMORROW, and now I'm stressed out because there's way more work to do than I thought. I really am an organized person and on top my shit at work. So I finally get to the point where I was like f*** it, I can't deal with it anymore, I'm too stressed and worried plus I'm tired now, and I go to log onto the network (easier to work off my desktop at home), and the freaking drive I need isn't mapped for some reason. Grrrrrr!!! Thank God I have a GREAT coworker to cover me while I'm out. We had talked about what might need to be finished up so she knew that there might be some things to do - I just really wanted it all done so she didn't have to do it! Btw-this coworker had the same surgery I'm having so she knows all about what I'm going thru. She says it was one of the best things she ever did. I hope I feel the same way when this is all done and over with.

So I finally get that all taken care of, and as I'm getting ready for bed I have my 'freak out' moment. All the anxiety, stress, fear, everything just hits me. I'm trying to brush my teeth and see myself in the mirror, and I just start crying. Heavy, shoulder shaking sobs. I don't feel ready. It came too fast. I feel like I need to ask more questions, read more blogs, but I don't know what else to ask or look for, I mean I've already read EVERYTHING I could find on the subject. What if I missed something? God, do I REALLY want to do this? What if I don't like my new face...once it's done it's done. What if I don't wake up? Still crying, I finish my pre-bed routine, and then I prayed. I counted and thanked God for all the blessings in my life, for Dr Nelson and Dr Quaroni, I prayed for Dr Q to be well rested and well practiced in the plan for my surgery and to be of clear mind, I asked God to watch over my husband to ease his worry during the surgery, to watch over my parents, family and friends. I asked for forgiveness, and that He take care of me so that I wake up and that all goes well...and then I tried to get some sleep.

Before Pics

Before braces (taken at initial consult w/Dr Nelson in June 2008):