Day 304: Debraced!

This happened about a month ago, but due to being in the middle of exams and having a trip to Thailand straight after I was unable to post. But here I am in all my toothy glory!

Those photos were taken at the hospital straight after removal. I was so happy!! Here are some photos from our trip to Thailand:

 

As you can probably tell, I am ecstatic with my teeth now!

I have a clear plastic retainer that I wear at night time, and a permanent wire retainer on the back of my bottom front 6 teeth. I am worried about them moving, especially my top front teeth rebounding up again and ending up with an open bite again. I guess time will tell. I have another follow up appointment with my ortho in four months, and then I am done!

Numbness hasn't changed much, still completely numb in my top gums, and partial feeling below my bottom lip and to the left of my chin. I haven't gone back to eating normally yet, I still am wary of biting through hard things with my front teeth. Hopefully this will return to normal eventually.

I will probably do another post some time just to do some comparison photos and an update, I will also try to update every 6 months to a year in case things change!

Thank you to everyone who been reading my blog and following me on my jaw surgery journey. I hope that this has been useful or at least interesting in some way.

All the best,

Kelsie

Day 234: I have a De-bracing Date!

At my last visit with my orthodontist Dr. P. he said he was very happy with how things are looking and that I could be booked in for debracing on November 12!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

This is only 5 weeks and 2 days away. I am so freaking excited.

I still have a gap at the back where my back teeth don't touch (funny how the situation has reversed..) but Dr. P. says this will resolve when the braces get taken off and the metal bands won't be in the way. I'm guessing it will settle anyway. I will apparently be getting a permanent metal retainer on the back of my bottom teeth, and a clear plastic moulded invisalign-type retainer for the top.

I haven't had time to take any proper comparison photos, but here are some update photos that have been taken since my last post:

Gilbert the Chihuahua

My new friend, Zambesi. I've started volunteering at Bird Rescue

My family and I went to Queen while they were here in NZ!

My man and I taking a cheesy photo at dinner

Taking a selfie like a Gen Y

That profile

I think that my swelling has pretty much disappeared. It HAS been 8 months so I think this assumption is correct! My numbness hasn't changed as far as I can tell. I still have no feeling in my upper gums whatsoever. The funny patches on the right side of my lip and the left side of my chin are still there but I have kind of gotten used to them. Except for when I put them directly under the shower head, they're too sensitive! The area under my bottom lip is also like this.

I am looking forward to getting back to normal eating when the braces come off, I'm pretty sure that they are the only thing stopping me now. The only things I have trouble with are hard nuts and carrot sticks, and also biting through hard things with my front teeth like muesli/granola bars.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I am so happy with my decision!

Kelsie

Day 181: Holy cow, it's been 6 months!!!!!!!

Today it's been 6 months since jaw surgery.

Woah. I can't really believe it. Time has flown!

Here is an update picture, from when I made friends with a bearded dragon wearing a sombrero.

Today at work (I work as a checkout operator at a large supermarket/grocery store) I happened to have a customer who will be having the same surgery as me with the same surgeon. We talked for ages and she was asking me all these questions. One of them was 'Are you happy with your decision?' and I said ABSOLUTELY yes!!!!!!

Because I haven't updated in so long I missed out on some people's surgeries so I am looking forward to reading some blogs and catching up!

Much love!
Kelsie

Day 126: Long time, no see

Sorry I haven't posted in sooooooooooo long! Life has a habit of getting really busy, huh. I have some recent photos to post, here are some of my family and I before my brother went to his school ball:

This was for a wedding, it's the first time I've worn make-up since surgery:

Aaaaand at a party a few weeks ago:

Unfortunately I do not have progress photos to post today, I am in the middle of exams, but I am planning to do a big photo post when I am finished. It will be worth the wait, I promise!

Soooo today is 18 weeks post-op. Also known as 4 months and 6 days post-op. I can't BELIEVE it's been 4 months already, time really is flying.

Things are going really well. I am still 100% happy with my decision to have surgery, no regrets so far. My surgeon and orthodontist are happy as well, everything seems to be going great. Not sure when I will be getting the braces off, I have my next appointment in two days time though so hopefully he gives me some hints!

Eating is mostly back to normal, probably about 90-95%, though I still struggle with very hard things - especially using my front teeth.

Numbness has almost disappeared, I have probably about 80% back? There are spots on my chin and bottom lip which are back, but not 100% normal. Oh, and upper gums are still completely numb.

Health-wise I haven't been doing great, my iron levels have raised a bit but are still below normal levels. I've been having some emotional issues but I think this is due to low iron and probably just stress. I've also been having problems with my heart over the past week, an irregular heart-beat caused by PVCs. I've had blood tests done to rule out imbalances so this is most likely due to stress and anxiety. After exams I am planning to rest up until next semester. I haven't had a good break in about 2 years with uni, full time work, and then surgery, so I think a break is what I need!

I have pretty much gained back the full-use of my face, the stiffness has completely disappeared and I no longer feel limited in regards to facial motion. I just measured how far I can open my mouth and it's around 47mm.

I feel a lot more confident with my appearance now, I even got blue ligature bands last time I went to the orthodontist! I've always had silver to try and attract as little attention as possible to my teeth as I was so self-conscious of them. It worked, because a lot of people never realised I had braces until after surgery haha. Now I am happy with my smile, I feel no shame in showing it off! Woohoo!

I can't think of anything else to say right now so I guess I should go and study.....

Until next time,

Kelsie

Day 84: 12 Weeks!!!!!!!!!!

WOAH time has gone fast! Less than a week and I will be three months/90 days post-op! This seems to be the point at which you can consider yourself 100% medically healed, though some factors like nerve regeneration and getting full range of motion back may take a bit longer.

Here are some photos of a sandwich I managed to bite ALL THE WAY THROUGH:

Oh man, life is good.

I am absolutely 100% happy with my decision to go through with double jaw surgery, it has definitely been worth it. Being able to eat properly is amazing.

Here are some update photos:

Loving the big goofy smile!

I am enjoying having most of my range of motion back, as you can probably tell from the following ridiculous photo grid:

This is what I am doing instead of studying. Sigh.

I measured my mouth opening today and I can get to 4.5cm! Before surgery I could open about 5.5cm so I'm pretty happy with this!

I haven't talked about my hip for a while:

The scar is definitely less raised now, it's almost flat. I still have some muscle soreness occasionally but it's not bad enough to stop me from doing things. I have been running again and it's fine.

I have my next surgeons appointment in 4 days, and then its 9 days until my braces get adjusted!!!! Never thought i'd be looking forward to that haha.

Until next time,

Kelsie

Day 80: (Not so) Ironwoman

Earlier in the week I had a blood test done that was requested by my normal doctor.

Some background info:
I have always had low iron (ferritin) levels and I take iron supplements sporadically to boost my levels. My levels have always been at the very lower end of the normal spectrum, not quite low enough to be classified as anaemia. The healthy range is 18-160ng/mL blood and the last time I had a blood test (about October last year) my levels were at 23ng/mL. I ended up having an iron IV where they inject an iron solution straight into your blood stream, and this increased my level to 60ng/mL. I have taken iron tablets pretty much consistently since then.

I couldn't take the tablets after surgery for about 6 weeks due to numbness in my mouth, I couldn't tell whether I had actually swallowed the tablet or not. Anyway I have been taking them religiously since about this point and I figured I would get back to normal soon (hoping my levels didn't drop too much over the 6 weeks).

ANYWAY..... cue call from my doctors receptionist today when she informs me my levels have dropped to 6ng/mL!!! WHAT!

My doctor wants me to get an iron IV again but I simply can't afford it at the moment (it's quite pricey!) so I am getting them to write me a prescription for some heavy duty iron tablets. Hopefully these manage to boost my levels!

I think the reason they are so low is because I wasn't able to eat any food that had iron in it for a good few weeks after surgery, and I obviously haven't been eating enough since then! I am going to work on getting more red meat and other iron-rich food into my diet. Hopefully this combined with the tablets boosts my iron levels.

Beware of dietary deficiencies when recovering from surgery!

Day 78: 11 weeks and 1 day

I can't believe it's almost been three months! Time is flying by now. I am looking forward to the 13 week mark when I get normal braces back. Here are some update photos:

Not much is changing now, even I can't tell the difference.

I still have numbness in my chin, tongue, and upper gums, but my chin and tongue are getting a lot better. I think I have partial feeling in my whole chin area.

Mobility is slowly coming back, I am not limited much now as far as I can tell. I still get drooly sometimes, especially if I am talking with my head down. If I am talking quite a lot I end up with a lot of saliva everywhere and have to be careful not to spit on people! I am trying to move my tongue more now as well, trying to use it to get food out from my braces and lick my lips haha. It seems to be going well!

I haven't been told to do any facial stretches or anything but I am doing some every so often when I remember. I can open to three fingers wide now and that seems to suffice. I have been eating burgers and sandwiches and it hasn't limited me too much.

I can eat pretty much anything now! It's great! I go careful with hard nuts and chewy meat but I don't miss them too much, apart from steak. Yesterday I ate nachos for the first time since surgery. Delicious.

The weather is getting really cold really fast here at the moment, I am pretty excited. Winter is my favourite season!

Until next time,

Kelsie :)

Day 65: Whistling

We interrupt this program to bring you some breaking news: It has taken just over 9 weeks but I can finally whistle again!

This week I have eaten some crusty bread, pizza, sushi, a bagel, snax crackers, and chocolate. Nothing is stopping me now! Well, not much.

Life is good!

Day 59: Bring on the Carbs

I have been seriously carb-loading this week. I don't know why I am craving them so much, but damn I have eaten a lot and they have been delicious. Bread, potatoes, oats, pretty much anything I can get my hands on. I don't tolerate these kinds of foods very well, I get very tired and moody, but they are good for exercising your jaw muscles so that's my excuse. I have gained back about 2kg from my total weightloss from surgery of about 5kg (Damn you double-chin!).

You really can't afford to be a fussy eater when recovering from jaw surgery.

Anyway, here are some photos:

And a candid one:

My lips are crooked at the moment. I wonder if this is from him rotating my jaw or something (I'm still not entirely sure what he did with my jaws during surgery), I hope it goes away but no big deal of it doesn't. My face is naturally quite asymmetric anyway. My smile is crooked too, I wonder if this is because of the crooked lips or if they're both related to muscle movement... who knows. Whatever. I'm so happy with my profile!!!

The last photo I look a bit weird, I guess I'm still getting used to my new face.

Numbness and Swelling: Swelling is pretty much non-existent. I don't feel so bruised around my jawline anymore too, it's probably about 90%-95% gone. I'm almost comfortable resting on it, and sleeping is completely back to normal. Numbness hasn't changed much from last week, I am still completely numb on my chin and upper gums. I have partial feeling in my bottom lip, the outsides of my chin, and my bottom gums I think. My tongue is still partially numb too, but I'm getting used to it. My speech and eating is a whole load better.

I was researching the other day and I think it may take up to a year for my upper gums to regain feeling, if at all. This area underwent probably the most trauma, so it's not surprising really. It makes eating difficult though as I don't feel pressure biting into things, and you really don't realise how much you rely on this sensation until it's gone.

Motion: I am able to move my muscles more and more each day, to be honest to other people it probably doesn't look like I have limited movement even though I can feel it myself. It's only very minor, mainly in my bottom lip and chin, and it's getting better every day. I can open almost 3 finger widths now! I'm trying to stretch when I take off my bands.

Eating: This improves surprisingly fast. The motion almost feels natural now, though sometimes I do have to think about it. I can eat most things as long as it's not too hard or crunchy. I'm trying to start biting into soft things with my front teeth now, but like I mentioned before it's quite hard when you have no 'sensation' in your top teeth. No burgers for me yet!

Pain: I have had pretty much no pain for weeks now. Every so often I'll get a sharp pain in an area, or some kind of ache, generally in the chin or bottom jaw area, but it really doesn't bother me and it goes away in a few seconds. I don't get sore muscles so maybe I'm not talking enough!

I'm starting to get more definition in my face, you can kind of see my cheekbones now! And the hollow I used to have in my cheeks has appeared again:

I guess it depends on the light haha :-)

As things are slowing down I might not post again until the three month mark. Hopefully I have some significant changes by that point!

Day 51: Half a Century

As you can probably tell, I am trying to do a new post about once a week. There isn't much point in doing them more frequently than that as there isn't much to talk about!

I have now passed the 7 week mark, yay! Almost at two months now... time is really flying.

Here are some update photos:

What a poser!

I can't really tell the difference between weeks now, the decrease is swelling has slowed down to almost nothing. I'm pretty sure I still have some under my nose and around my lower jawline but it's not really noticeable. I have a bit of a double chin but that was expected, my surgeon said that this is why he didn't want to move my bottom jaw back too much and I;m really glad he didn't! I think he moved it the perfect amount :-)

Numbness: This is slowly decreasing, I think my chin is coming back from the outside in but veeeeeery slowly. I got the right side of my bottom lip back this week! That was pretty cool. I'm at the point now where the numbness doesn't really bother me, apart from my tongue. It's STILL not right, and it's really bugging me! There's nothing I can do about it though so I try to ignore it most of the time. I no longer feel like I had a face transplant so that's nice!

Food: I am being very ambitious with food when I probably shouldn't... I've graduated to chicken and fries of a moderate hardness (i.e. not quite soft but not quite crunchy). Last night we had burgers (we live just down the road from the best burger place in town), and I managed to eat mine with a knife and fork! My right side is a bit stronger than my left so I am trying to eat mainly with my left side... even though it's slower and a bit painful.

Pain: Not really any pain left... just if I try to eat something too hard! I haven't needed to take any pain meds for a few weeks now. It's a bit uncomfortable when I put my bands on after eating but I figure this is normal. I am looking forward to getting rid of the bands!

Skin: I did a quick google search on skin going haywire after surgery, and this is totally normal. I have been getting breakouts of pimples along my lower jawline, and even though I'm cleansing my face they are not going away. Apparently this is normal with all of the drugs and things they inject with before and after surgery, it really messes your body up and it's trying to get rid of all the toxins! This is porbably combined with the rapid change in diet. So, you know, fair enough. Any kind of surgery is tough on your body. I remember reading something about endocrine systems but I don't know what that is..... biology was never my strong point haha.

Brushing: I thought I would mention this as I haven't talking about it for a while. I am still using a baby toothbrush, i could probably graduate to a normal one now but maybe not my electric one. I tried flossing and it felt really good! Though I've run out of the special braces superfloss and I can't afford to buy any more at the moment. I'm too scared to use my waterpik yet, I might wait until I see my orthodontist again and get normal braces put on. In the mean time I am just using the baby toothbrush and some minty mouthwash twice a day. I also use a pikster to get rid of the food trapped right down the back as I still can't brush all of my teeth. I can brush every surface apart from the outsides of my very back molars. I think this is because of the scar tissue that is there, though I think this will go down eventually and I'll be able to brush normally again :-)

I have seen a lot of people who have had jaw surgery (especially when they had their top jaws widened) that have used splints post-surgery to keep the top jaw from narrowing again. I have had no splint, no appliance, no nothing put in apart from rubber bands. I think the rubber bands combined with the bone graft I had put in has been enough to keep it in place! I am glad I didn't have a splint, they seem horrible.

On another note, I thought my drooling days were over.... they really aren't! I need to work on keeping my mouth shut because I've been drooling on myself a lot over the last week! I felt a wet patch on my chin yesterday on my way home from uni - I wiped at it and sure enough it was drool. It's a blessing and a curse because on one hand it's 'Oh I hope nobody saw that..' but it's also 'Yay! I'm getting feeling back in my chin!'

I have been struggling with my energy levels, though I am unsure if this is due to surgery. I have chronic fatigue and am generally always tired but the first couple of weeks back at uni have been so exhausting. I've missed quite a few classes which is not good! I felt a lot better yesterday all of a sudden, but then caught a cold and am feeling lousy again. Hopefully it's gone in a few days.

In the mean time life is carrying on like normal, only with a slightly different face. My next surgeons appointment is another 4 weeks away, and my next orthodontist appointment is 6 weeks away. I'll be getting all the surgical stuff taken off and going back to normal braces so I am counting down... only 42 days to go!!!