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!!!
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