Day 45: Chewing is the best thing EVER!

Week 7 is here! Holy Camoly!!!

Here are pictures from Day 43 (Saturday):


I'm thinking my swelling is down to about 2% now... I don't even know how to tell anymore! I don't look swollen at all, but I can still feel some pressure above my lips and beside my nose area... so I assume that means it's still swollen.

As you can tell by the title of this post, CHEWING IS AMAZING!!!! So... last week I was allowed to start chewing as of Tuesday when I had my post-op appointment with my oral surgeon. I did NOT take advantage of that. This turned out to be a very bad idea because the next morning I went to the orthodontist and my teeth ended up being so sensitive for the next week! Arrrgghh! This was my first appointment post-op and my orthodontist was very excited to see and impressed with my new bite. He took out those horrendous surgical wires and put in a brand new wire! Here is the good news... ARE YOU READY!?!?!

HE PREDICTS THAT I WILL ONLY HAVE 5 MONTHS LEFT OF MY BRACES!!!!

So that is pretty fantastic. I am so fricken psyched you can't even imagine!!!!! That means...by my intricate calculations... that I will have them off in FEBRUARY! WHAT WHAT!!!

On the weekend my teeth started to become less sensitive, so I was able to eat items that required chewing. Here is my list of food items that I have chewed thus far:

- Sushi
- Pizza
- Gourmet sandwich from Sandwich Box (my favorite sandwich place EVER)
- Shrimp Stirfry (I made it!)
- Blueberry pancakes with bacon sprinkles :)
- Salad
- Mini breton crackers with humus
- Chickpea salad with cucumbers, tomatoes and tahini sauce

In order to move my progress along, my Ortho has me wearing elastics on my back teeth 24/7 and elastics on my canines and 2 of the lower teeth directly below during the night. He has me doing this because since the surgery my back teeth don't touch and he's trying to pull them together. I've been pretty good with wearing the elastics all the time... except for the odd time when I eat and then forget to put them back in for a few hours. Hopefully I can keep it up! Getting elastics on the back teeth has been pretty tricky and sometimes takes a few minutes. I'm sure I'll be an expert in a weeks time though.

Numbness is SLOWLY disappearing in my upper left lip and chin... I will randomly have itching/pin prick feelings/itching in those areas... which can only mean that I CAN FEEL SOMETHING!!! Still feels like I have plumping lip gloss on though... an interesting feeling.

I know I said I was going to try to make a video last week, but I did not get around to it. I will try to make one this week!

How is everyone else doing with their recoveries!?

Alexis

Day 37: Exciting Week Ahead!

Hi!!!!!

Well 5-weeks post-op has come and gone and here are my photos from Day 37!


This week coming up is exciting in my jaw surgery/braces adventure! On Tuesday I have my 6-week post op appointment with my oral surgeon (#3 post-op appointment) and then on Wednesday I have my 1st orthodontist appointment post-op!!!!! That means I get my surgical wires off - HURAY!!!!!

I feel that the swelling is at about 4% (maybe 1% down from last post - hehe). I can really see the shape of my new face now. My cheekbones are definitely back and better then ever - which is very very exciting to someone who looked like a chipmunk/porcupine for the past month. The swelling is still in the same places as before - it just feels like there's slightly less pressure now.

All the numbness is still there from before (left upper lip, middle bottom lip and chin)... nothing has really changed with that. Although I've had a fair amount of itching and tingling in my left upper life and chin... so that can only mean good things! However, the most annoying thing is when it's SOOO itchy and you can't feel yourself scratching. ARGHH! I've heard A LOT about vitamin B12 supposedly being excellent in nerve regeneration... so I'm thinking of starting to take that this week. I'm going to talk to my oral surgeon on Tuesday and see what his thoughts are on it.

I have to admit that week 5 has been my roughest week yet. I felt a bit down this week and my appetite REALLY disappeared. I think a lot of it had to do with all the hype of the jaw surgery transformation being over and starting to get back into my normal life. For many months before the operation I was doing tons of research, planning, talking, etc. about the surgery and then post-op, the daily transformations were my main focus for about a month. Then all of sudden everything goes back to normal and I guess I missed having something to look forward too/motivating. I'm a BIG goal-oriented person. With that lack of motivation came my loss of appetite. It's hard to get excited about eating when all your doing is putting liquids/mush in your mouth. I lost about 2 lbs this week from not eating properly... so my main focus THIS week is to put that weight back on because it is very important to make sure I'm getting enough nutrition. Has anyone else come across this issue during their post-op recovery?

I did attempt to go to the gym this week! I did 20 minutes of cardio on the elliptical and then walked home from there, which is another 20 minutes. Getting my heart rate up on the elliptical was very interesting feeling - it felt like I was starting to work out for the first time EVER!! haha. As much as I'd love to go to the gym more often right now (helps to feel better), I know that I need to focus on maintaining calories instead of burning them for the next little while. When I feel healthy enough I will be back there 3-4 times a week!

I really want to send a huge THANK YOU to all my friends, my family and my boyfriend, who have been so amazing and supportive of me during the surgery, during the post-op and especially this past week. I would not have been able to recover so well without all of you and know that I appreciate everything that you guys do. <3

I'm thinking of making another video this week - so look out for that and the updates from my oral surgeon/orthodontist in the next few days!!

Alexis

Day 30: Almost 1 month!!

Hello!!!

It's been a week since I last posted - here are my pictures from Day 30:


It's been a week of back-to-normalcy! I had a full work week and it really does not feel like I was in recovery for 3 weeks. I feel great considering it was only a month ago that I had the surgery. I'd say I have about 5% of swelling left. Once month (on average) to go until all the swelling is supposed to be gone! It's mostly focused around my upper lip area below my nose and to the left and right of that area.

All of the stitches have fallen out (I think)! It at least feels like they've all fallen out. I find it kind of cool to see the scars in my mouth from where the stitches were. they are just little whitish lines, nothing severe. For now they are ok... but I`m hoping they go away in the long run.

The numbness is prevailing. My chin and upper left lip are still numb... but I'm getting some little electric pulses (or what feels like that) in those areas. Before it felt like the skin above the left lip was also numb, but either I was mistaken or the feeling has come back!

I saw a lot of people this week that I have not seen in a very long time, and who don`t know about my surgery (I think). I got a lot of odd stares from them trying to figure out what has changed about me... which also led to a lot of compliments. It's nice to know that people who don't know about my surgery can't tell that I'm still swollen - only those who've seen me post-surgery and who have been reading my blog can tell.

In the mornings my face still feels more swollen and goes down within the first few hours of my day. The pattern is also the same for the stiffness (goes along with the swelling) that I feel in my mouth.

I've been trying to get off Ativan... I only have a few pills left so I need to stop taking them to go to sleep ASAP! In the last week I've been trying to take 1/2 the dosage and it's been working ok. Some nights I had to take the full dose. I'm also still taking Tylenol - this helps with the swelling throughout the day.

I've gone to a few social outings since last week and apparently I'm not photogenic at the moment. It seems like I can only take an ok picture when I'm doing the self shots (for the blog)... but when it comes to posing, I haven't gotten my smile just right yet. I'm sure it has a lot to do with the numbness (AND THE DARN SURGICAL WIRES THAT MAKE MY TEETH LOOK GREY!!! I seriously cannot wait until next week when I get them off.)

That's all for now!! Any questions for 1 month post-op!?!?!

Thank you to everyone who is still reading my blog - I really appreciate your support :)

Alexis

Day 17: Labour-Free Weekend

Hello hello!!!

I hope everyone had a marvelous long weekend! I know I did... it was very relaxing and just what I needed before heading back to work (part time) this week.

Here are the photos from the past few days:

Day 17 (Today)

Day 16 (Yesterday)

I forgot to take pictures on Saturday (Day 15). Arggghh! But from the way I'm healing now it would not have been much difference from Day 14.

This weekend was filled with the game called "What can Alexis eat that isn't liquid!?" It turned out to be a great game and here is a list of items I ate that were not liquid/mush:

• Piece of whole grain toast with butter, natural peanut butter and jam (also microwaved to make softer). I had to chop it up into tiny little pieces and swallow but it hit the spot!!! I Couldn't eat the crusts though, they were too hard.
• HUGE freshly made waffle with chocolate sauce, bananas, maple syrup and vanilla frozen yogurt. I poured all of the toppings on top of the made waffle (I really should have taken a photo for you guys) and cut it up. It literally melted in my mouth it was sooooo fricken good. That waffle was probably all of the calories in one meal that I would eat in a whole day. Ha!
• Whole grain penne pasta with a garlic, oil & Parmesan sauce. I boiled the penne as much as possible to make it very soft and then I cut it up. It was pretty tasty but took some effort to mash the pasta against the roof of my mouth once it was getting a little cold/hard.
• Scrambled eggs (with one egg yolk and 3 egg whites). My boyfriend made them every morning this weekend and he added feta one day and Parmesan another. He makes the best scrambled eggs I've ever tasted. YUMYUMYUM. Those were super easy to eat because you can chop them into tiny pieces and swallow without having to mash them up
• Seaweed salad from a sushi takeout place. Cut it up! It made me realise how much I've been missing my fresh greens! I'm really thinking of getting a large take out container tomorrow and eating it every day to get some of those nutrients in me!

Next subject...NUMBNESS - Here is a photo where I've circled all of the areas that are still numb:It still seems to be really focused on the left side (as before). Everyday seems a little less. For instance I can now feel some of the sides of my chin and it's mainly in the middle from the middle of my bottom lip to just before my chin curves under. This is basically where the screws are, so it makes sense. The numbness in my upper left lip causes my lips to look kind of weird when I'm talking or smiling. I have no control over it, so it just moves along with the other half of lip. People have told me it looks like it's numb too, so I'm really hoping this is one of the things that goes away quicker! The chin doesn't bother me as much... it really has no purpose other than making my profile look good.

Today was my first day I've tried to kick the Tylenol pain meds... and it's been a success! I haven't taken one all day and I have not felt any pain. This is very good news... I hate having to take any kind of medication for a long period of time.

As I mentioned in the last blog post, I now have to wear tight elastics at night time. They have been pretty easy to put on and take off. However they are pretty darn tight. I'm glad I'm still taking the Ativan at night or else I think I would have a hard time sleeping with them on. Ativan is the last pain med I need to kick to the curb from the surgery, but I'm not ready for that yet. Maybe I'll try next weekend. I just need to ensure I won't grind my teeth!

I haven't really received any questions from you guys! Does anybody want to know anything that I haven't already covered?

I hope you all have a great night and I'm excited to tell you all about my first day back at work tomorrow!

Alexis