Day 4: Strolling & Smiling

Day 4 has come and gone!

I'm really happy with my progress thus far. In all of the reading and info my docs gave me, they said the swelling and bruising would be the most prominent thing...but I've hardly seen much!
The only bruising I have is slight bruising on my left side (you can see a small dark spot on my left cheek and some yellowing down the side of my mouth as well). Claire says the bruising may come a bit later once the swelling goes down, so we shall see!

Here are the photos!




Here is my attempt at a smile (I seriously cannot move my mouth any farther)! ha! It's way better than its been. It means that I am gaining muscle strength back in that area. Soon enough I'll be showing off my shiny tin-grin again!


I woke up today around 7:30 am... so pretty much slept through the night since midnight! I've been pretty lucky in the sleeping scenario...those Adivan are really doing their jobs. Took my codeine/Tylenol and antibiotics at that point and then went back to sleep with an ice pack on my face until 9:30ish.

My friend Brooks (a braces friend) came by to visit me before his orthodontist adjustment around 10:30ish! It was great to see him. He's VERY glad he does not have to get jaw surgery but said I was less scary in person than he thought I'd be.

I was feeling like I had my energy back around noon, so Claire and I decided to take a stroll. We were strolling around for about 45 min! It was so great! We ended up walking over to a mani/pedi salon and Claire treated me to get my toe nails did! I got "Jade is the New Black" for any of your nail polish obsessors like myself. By the time my feet were all done I was SOOOOO tired. We went straight home after that and I took a much needed nap. Apparently I really need to not expend my energy when I'm only in taking approx 500 calories a day.

Had some more visitors in the eve including my Dad and Mariya. I love visitors, but by the time they leave I am so tired that I don't feel like talking for another day (even though I do 1% of the talking when they are here).

I've been getting more feeling back in my jaw area - a lot of tingling and some slight shooting pains (but not actually painful if you know what I mean). I'm still pretty numb under my eyes, but I'm getting more feeling on the right side. Chin is completely numb for the first 2 inches and then it just feels sore and bruised.

I've stopped icing and now have moved on to applying warm compresses to the skin. The doctor said this helps get the blood moving again and is better than icing after about the 4th day.

I really feel like tomorrow the swelling will come down a lot more because today was supposed to be the worst, so hooray! We'll see what happens then.

Toodles!

Alexis