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 150: Throwback Thursday

So I finally got the pics my mum took off her phone so that I can post them here! Just a warning, they are pretty gory....

These are from Day 0, so the evening following surgery.I remember these being taken, but I thought they were from the day after surgery! I was then up for most of the night vomiting blood but thankfully I was still drugged from surgery and barely noticed. Mum had to deal with the brunt of it. She is a trooper!

 

Notice the drains are still in me. Gross. Here's one of the drain in my hip:

 

Dangggggg look at that profile! I almost cried when mum showed me this:

Day 1 - the day after surgery, there are ones of me writing (as I couldn't be understood at this point) and also of me feeding myself with a syringe:

Day 2:

This is from when they re-dressed my hip, I got mum to take a quick photo once the bandage was off:

Day 3: This was the day I came home from hospital:

Day 4 - Valentines Day! On the way to the surgeons office for my first post-surgery check-up:

Day 5 - The number hands thing didn't really catch on...

Day 6 - looking a lot happier:

And why not have another couple of comparison pictures while we're here??

Day 141: Photo time!

I finally got my a into g and took some photos to show you guys... I have even done some comparison shots too! Woo!

Here is a shot from the side showing the gap at the back:

And to show how far I can open my mouth:

The finished results!

I'm so happy!

And now for some comparisons, drum roll please......

 

Day 44: Something Worse Than Double Jaw Surgery!

Just for the record, today is 6 weeks and 2 days post-op! Woohoo!

This morning I had an appointment with my surgeon. This is what the title of the post is referring to. You know those two hooks I had sticking out of my gums that were attached to my skull? He removed them today.

Holy smokes did it hurt.

First he injected the local anesthetic. The bottom one was first, I didn't feel the needle but I did feel him pinch my lip with the tweezers. My bottom lip still doesn't have 100% feeling but it does have super sensitivity which means it REALLY hurts when he pinches it with his tweezers. He then injected the top one, and I DID feel this needle.... my eyes actually watered. He then left for a few minutes, came back, cut part of the wire, and then pulled them each out of my skull. Not the most pleasant of experiences, I must say.

Now it is evening and the local has worn off, I am feeling a lot better. I am enjoying my lips not snagging on the metal hooks. Sometimes things have to get worse before they get better, right?

Anyway... onto the good stuff.

He doesn't need to see me again for another month. He's happy with how everything is looking, and he is okay with me changing my bands (though I've been doing this already as they are beginning to wear down faster).

Also.... I can open my mouth a grand length of 31mm! That's 10mm more than my last visit 3 weeks ago! WOOO!

Here are some photos I took yesterday:

And I got some from a side angle for a change too!

Aaaaaaahhhhhhh I can't believe it!

So I don't know if you remember from about the million times I mentioned it but at the 6 week mark I was allowed to start chewing again.....

Here is a picture of my first chewing meal:

Macaroni cheese with cauliflower! It was delicious. Though not entirely easy, chewing is hard when you haven't done it in 6 weeks because you've had your jaws cut up and moved around. This was expected though so no big deal. I rang the dental assistant J. on Monday to get some guidelines, and she said anything that is soft enough to mash with a fork. So I'm going wild..... jokes. I'm playing it safe. Noodles for dinner tonight!

It's also really difficult eating with all the bands in my mouth, especially the crossed ones... so I made sure I asked about this today at my ortho appointment. He said I should take them out to eat and then put fresh bands in when I'm finished. Yay! I'm hoping this makes it easier.

I also asked about if I should be using my front teeth yet, but he said not for another few weeks while the bone is still healing.

An appointment was also made for the surgical gunk to come off and my normal braces be fixed up again.... I was hoping this would be around the 8-9 week mark, but it's actually on May 14th which is around the 13 week mark....

Oh well, this gives me more time to heal. It's only about 7 weeks away......

And now for some comparisons!!!!!!

As for everything else.....

Pain: I haven't had to take any painkillers in the last week.

Swelling: Keeps slowly going down... still a little bit of residual. I have a bump on my chin where the wire was removed today.

Numbness: I think feeling is slowly creeping across my chin.... My tongue is still really sensitive and weird. I think the roof of my mouth is back. Top gums still numb, some sections of my lower gums have feeling. Lower lip still numb on the sides.

Motion: Getting better, muscles feeling less and less stiff every day, and am learning to move my face normally again.

Hip: I haven't mentioned this in a while but it's been getting loads better! I started running again on the weekend and it's been fine. I can still feel it but I don't think I've had any pain in it for at least a week. The scar has become less lumpy too.

Activity/Energy: I've struggled with energy levels, especially with having to go to uni... but I feel I am slowly getting back to normal. I am probably at about 80-90% at the moment. I will probably start strength training again this weekend, hopefully this combined with running will help. I have to remember that I am still recovering so I shouldn't be beating myself up for feeling tired and not wanting to do anything. It's hard when you feel guilty and especially when you're used to being busy.

I am pretty happy with how everything is going though, life is beginning to get back to normal!

I hope all is well out there in the jaw surgery blog world :-)