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: