3 Weeks Today

This last week went by so quickly. I am still feeling great - lots of energy and no pain. I saw both my orthodontist and my Oral Surgeon this week. Everything looked good to them. However, when I left I got to thinking that it seems like my lips aren't closed at rest. I started worrying and obsessing over this. Why didn't I think about it when I was at one of their offices? Stupid. Anyway, I went back to look at the pictures from right after surgery and I did notice my lips closed closer together then. It figures that my OS is out of town for a month. (He goes to 3rd world countries to do surgery on people in need.) So, I called my ortho and he got me in today. He told me to stop wearing the band in front. He thinks it may be pulling down my front segment. I had a 3-piece Lefort done. I'll see what that does. Also it could be that I still have swelling and a lot of metal in my mouth. Is there anyone else that noticed something like this?

My ortho also took pictures of me yesterday and he showed me my before and after side-by-side. It was amazing. I look so much better now. I'll try to get my hands on them and post comparison pictures later.

Eating is still hard. I am able to eat mashed potatoes, pudding, and scrambled eggs. It just takes me about an hour to eat. By the time I'm finished it's time to start again. I'm half way there though! Yea! Even now I think I can safely say I'm still glad I did it. I just want my lips to close together.

My husband is jealous by all the gifts, cards, flowers and meals I got right after surgery. He said, "I got a colonoscopy and no one got me a gift". What can I say, I have some great friends.

Here's a picture of me and my OS. I love that man. I have tall heels on that's why we are the same height.

Two Weeks Ago Today I was in Surgery

I can't believe it was 2 weeks ago that I went under the saw. I was so scared. Actually, today I can say I am glad I did it. I like my bite and that I can close my lips. I like that I can breath better too. The first week was really rough, but last week wasn't bad. I'm just getting tired of all this metal in my mouth and I miss eating bread and salad. I think if I could eat normal I would feel great.

I saw the OS yesterday and he took the staples out of my head. He said I looked great - no bruising and hardly any swelling. He thinks my bite is just about perfect. He said I need another 4-6 weeks of a liquid diet. I was prepared for 4 more weeks, but not 6. I'm not sure what he's thinking. He didn't change my band configuration, but I can remove them every day for about an hour. I still can't open my mouth enough to get much food in so I'm still on a liquid diet. When he looked in my mouth he found a stray rubber band. Isn't that embarrassing and gross? I guess I have so much stuff in there I didn't notice it.

I don't like my smile now, it looks stiff and my lips are tingly My eyes still look sunken because my face is swollen. I did put on makeup yesterday for the first time since surgery.

On more thing, I love my OS. He is a Board Certified Cosmetic Surgeon and General Surgeon, an MD and DDS. He's awesome.

Day 9 - A Good Day

I can say I am way, way better than even a couple of days ago. I have hardly any bruising and my swelling is going down. My feeling is coming back slowly. I have more feeling and less swelling on my left side. My lips are still very painful. They are chapped, sensitive and swollen. No kissing going on with me. I can't even pucker. I can drink from a cup if I look in a mirror to see what I'm doing.

On the good side, my mom and I went out-and-about today. It was really so nice to get out. I did get kinda tired and we stopped to get a smoothie and that was all I needed to go a few more hours. I did see one person I knew who said her sister had jaw surgery about 15 years ago. It's surprising to me to hear so many people have this done. We brought dinner home from Olive Garden and I blended the Zuppa Toscana soup and Shrimp Caprese for dinner and it was really good. That was probably the most I have eaten since the surgery.

I am replacing my bands every day which is so incredibly hard. They are so far back in my mouth and I'm so swollen still and my lips are sore it's hard to get them on. My husband, bless him, has helped me try to do it, but I think it's easier when I do it. Did you notice the name of the rubber bands? Bummer. That is appropriate.

I want to include lessons that I have learned as I go through this whole process. So here are my first lessons:

1. Mom's are a gift from God.

2. If there is something rough in your mouth your tongue can't leave it alone.

A Hard Day

Well, today was rather hard. I was actually feeling better. My swelling was down and my energy was up a bit. So, it sounds good, right? Except for when you start feeling better you want to do things such as talk and eat. Two of my favorite things. Talking is kinda difficult now. I'm hard to understand and my lips are so swollen and very sore it's hard to talk. Ok, on to eating. I made the mistake of telling my husband to stop by Chick-Fil-A for a chocolate shake. Any other time I would love a shake, but not when that's the only thing I can eat. So, I get the shake and my husband orders chicken nuggets and fries. Boy did they smell good. And to make matters worse, my lips are so swollen I can't even use a straw. I had to wait to get home until I could use the stupid tube. He ate his whole meal in front of me. It was so frustrating.

Then we got home and my mom had fixed chicken tenders. I had to endure dinner yet one more time. This was the first time I joined them at the table. Usually I just leave the room when they eat. I stayed because I had mashed potatoes. But I couldn't eat them though because the OS had just put new rubber bands on and we were afraid if we took them off we couldn't get them back on. Silly, because I'm going to have to do that tomorrow.

The first post-op appointment at the OS went well. He said I looked really good and I was healing nicely. However, when I saw my x-rays and I saw all the metal it kinda freaked me out. Well, really the only one that really freaked me out was the screw up my my eyeball. Yes, it is up at the side of my nose by my eyeball. How in the world did he get it there? Never mind I don't want to know. All I could think is if I want it out how is he going to do that? Does anyone else have a screw way up there?

Well, that's my exciting day. I just notice I'm not at the point of being 100% sure I did the right thing. I guess that happens later when I can actually eat, talk and see what I look like.

Day 5

Actually, I'm not sure if I'm day 5 or 4. Are you supposed to count the day of surgery as day 1? With surgery day as day 1, I'm on day 5. I'm still taking Vicoden so I may be pretty confused. lol

Thank you guys so much for all the encouraging comments. I really do appreciate them. It's helped me a lot to hear from others who have gone through this. It can be discouraging to wake up in the morning hoping you feel much better, but find out you feel exactly the same as yesterday. I cried a little this morning when I realized that. That didn't help all it did was plug-up my nose. I look like I have a permanent smile, because my face is so swollen. I'm still just "eating" chicken broth, Gatorade, Ginger Ale and Smoothies.

I know I'm feeling a little better because I'm trying to tell the kids what to do and not do. The first few days I could care less what they did. They could have gotten away with anything. Here is a picture of all the lovely flowers my friends have sent me. They have been so wonderful to me.

One other thing I want to mention is I think my kids are kind of afraid of me. They have left me alone more than usual and sometimes I think it scares them to look at me. Did anyone else notice that? My kids are 9 and 11.

Oh I forgot to tell you this

I put the pictures in backwards. The first picture is today, day 4. The last 2 are from the hospital right after surgery.

Oh, I forgot to mention I got a genioplasty and a cranial bone graft which left 7 lovely big staples in my head. He did give me a choice between a cadavers or my own. I choose my own bone. I have rinsed it in the shower a couple of times, but I'm too afraid to use much shampoo. I'm afraid it will hurt. Anyway, here are some pictures and yes I look like was run over by a mac truck.

4 Days Post-op

Hi everyone. I'm sorry it's taken me a while to post, but I guess all these drugs make me so loopy. I'm actually doing pretty well. Pain isn't too bad. I have some pain in my upper teeth. I have lots of dried blood in my nose and it is so hard to get out. Any suggestions? I've used Ocean spray and qtips, but it's just really stuck up my nose.

I just want to post how the day of surgery went. I had to be in Denver at the hospital at 5:30. They took me back about 5:50am and got me dressed and an IV in. I was so scared I told them I think I changed my mind about the surgery. They let my husband back to talk to me and he was so comforting. The "gas" doctor came in an talked to me. He said they put a patch on my neck after surgery to stop the neausea. That really did help. I haven't felt sick at all. The OS and his assistant came in. The OS said they had been praying for me. He knew I was scared. Anyway, I said "ok, let's get this over with". The wheeled me into the OR about 7:45 and I couldn't believe how many people were there. I think it was 7-10 people. They talked to me for a second and that's all I remember. The surgery lasted 6 hours. He did the lower jaw first and that went until 10:00. I'm not sure what they did next but they fixed my turbinates in my nose. They said they were twice the normal size. They had a hard time getting my breathing tube in because my trachea was so small. The did a 3-piece Lefort. My upper jaw was pulled up 2mm and my lower jaw was moved up 6mm and then one side of my lower jaw was tiled 2mm and he fixed that. They took me to the Recovery Room and it was hard to wake me up. I was there 2 hours. I vaguely remember them talking to me. I was so out of it. I don't remember any pain waking up though, just really spacey.

I was able to breathe so much better the first few days. The surgery was done at Sky Ridge Hospital in Denver and they were all so great. The nurses were all attentive and I had a private room. It was all a fairly good experience considering what they did.

I came home the next day, Friday, and I feel better each day. Swelling is the worst part of it and it's hard to swallow. My throat hurt a lot. I do have pictures that I'll post. I am still really numb on chin and lower lip. My mom and husband have been taking such good care of me. My husband is a MD himself so he knows exactly how to care for me. I can't wait to feel normal again. It's hard to say right now that I'm happy I did it, but I think I will be happy in a couple of weeks. Maybe it's my age. Most people who do this are a lot younger than me. Sorry if this doesn't make sense, I'm doped up on Vicodene.

I made it

HI all. I can't believe I did. I was so scared I almost didn't do it. Very, very swollen. Can't swallow well. It hurts to swallow. It's hard to breathe out of my mouth. I'll post more later and pictures.

I Am Strong

So today I went to the OS office to get the official measurements. I was excited to learn that although I will have a 3 piece Lefort I do not have to have an external splint. My OS uses an internal splint that dissolves by itself after about 6 weeks. Cool. I really like my OS.

After that I went to the hospital for blood work and paperwork. It took all morning to get this done and by then I was pretty hungry. Anyway, I was sitting down getting my blood drawn thinking...I am woman, I am strong.... I am going to pass out. So being the smart person I am I tell the nurse that and the next thing I know I'm dreaming. Then I wake up and look at her and think "who is that". Then it hits me. I'm in the hospital getting my blood drawn. She then tells me I passed out and had a seizure. It only lasted 10-15 seconds and she stayed with me until I came to. How in the world can I have jaw surgery if I can't even get my blood drawn. I've never had that happen before. I was pretty freaked out to loose control like that. The nurse told my OS and I don't think that will stop my surgery, but we'll see.

I think it happened because I was stressed out, hungry and tired. At least I hope that's it.