Day 11

I tried to do a real smile, but both
husband and sister told me I looked
scary!

On a positive note, I noticed that when I bite my teeth together BOTH the right AND left upper AND lower molars ALL Touch! ... At The Same Time!!! Isn't that amazing?  Imagine the kinds of foods a person could eat if their teeth actually fit together?  It certainly gives me something to look forward to after all the pain & swelling (finally) go away and the bones heal up!

Day 10: Almost a Smile

I decided not to let today get the best of me so I woke up, showered, put some mascara on, and did not put my hair in a ponytail.  Tom and I were going to try to see a movie (figured it would be a relaxed outing), but we missed the movie showing so we just walked around the bookstore a bit. I still tired more quickly than I hoped for, but it was nice to get outside of the house.

almost a smile!

It is so bizarre to have lost proprioception and sensation in my lips.  They feel like they are ice-cold all the time, when really it is just numbness.  I've been working on my face exercises and have found that if I slow down and focus on my lips I can enunciate a little better. And along with slightly improved speech, I was working in the mirror and found that I could almost smile.  The left side of my face is still rather swollen though which makes most of my facial expressions odd and...lumpy? Regardless of the proper adjective I'm afraid that I may still scare the kids at work...

Status Update:
Pain: 6/10 (trying to take as little narcotics as possible)
Nausea: gone!
Drooling: improving with muscle control
Eating: still just through syringes and with small sips from dixie cups
Fatigue: High
 

Day 9

Today was another rough one, I didn't see much progress and I just felt exhausted all day.  My jaw really, really aches. Just a constant, gnawing ache that isn't relieved with warmed up facecloths or cold ice packs. Looking down to work on my puzzle or read just increases the pressure in my face and makes it all the worse. Tom also seemed to have more trouble understanding me today, maybe I was mumbling more from the effort? But because of all this, I called work today and told them that I would not be ready to return at my exact 2 week date of this coming Tuesday, but that I will still shoot for the end of next week.  They knew this was a possibility, but I still feel like I let them down. I know it is silly in that I can't control how quickly I heal, but never the less I know that they will now need to scramble to cover my patient load and I hate inconveniencing others.

One bright spot in my day was my sweet husband who spent time with me and made me an amazing peanut butter ice cream milkshake (with some protein powder thrown in) for lots of calories!

Day 8: Fatigue

So I think I overdid with moving around yesterday.  I really didn't feel like I did much, but Tom says that I was puttering around too much and then we went for a walk on the beach (oh the salt air was wonderful!). Either way I am absolutely wiped today. I just feel fatigued down to my bones and even with a long nap, I still feel unsteady on my feet.

Crockpot-beer-cheese-soup

Some of it I'm sure is the abrupt change in diet. I've officially lost 10 lbs. already.  I have not had much of an appetite, which I'm blaming on the narcotics because I cannot remember ever not having a an appetite. OR second theory is that maybe its a lack of appetite because there is no cheese in my diet.  So I've decided to rectify it by making cheese soup for dinner... I just wish I could make (eat) the pretzel rolls too!

I do have some good news though!  I would like to announce the re-emergence of my right cheek bone!  The left side is still pretty swollen, but the left was always my more painful (and longer) side so I imagine there was a little more surgical work done there.

Yea for cheekbones! 

Day 7: Pucker, Purse, & Scrunch

Starting my "exercise regime" today per MD I should be doing these multiple times per hour.

• Pucker : kissy-face
• Purse : pulling lips as far back as possible
• Scrunch : scrunching my face and nose centrally as much as possible.

Have you ever worn a mud mask on your face?  It starts off feeling like that, like my skin is stiff and it is that discomfort/ borderline painful to begin to move. Then the underlying musculature starts to yell. If I hadn't had such an intensive anatomy course I probably would not really remember facial muscles, but I swear I can feel each individual one as it starts to contract.  The upper lip  and nose muscles are actually the most painful, so I'm nerding out a little trying to figure out if it is the levator anguli oris, the levator labii superioris, or the levator labii superioris alaeque nasi (spelled that one without looking Dr. Swanson, boo-yah!)

A little bit of Grey's Anatomy for your enjoyment.

On another progress note, I also slept in my own bed last night!  I was still propped up and had a giant pillow buffer between me and my husband (out of both our fears to keep my head elevated and out of harms way). Unfortunately, I still only slept for 4 hours increments (still waking up as soon as the pain meds start to wear off :-/), but psyche -wise it made me feel a little more myself to be in a real bed after a week of sleeping in the reclining chair in the middle of the living room.

Day 6: Surgeon Visit

 I had my 6 day follow-up appointment with the Surgeon today.  And I asked a few more questions about what he did for the operation.

• My mandible was brought forward 9.98mm 
• My maxillae was brought forward between 4-6mm on each side and the cant was corrected.
• The longer ramus was cut and angled to shorten the impact in the TMJ and correct the asymmetry.

Of course I wont be able to visualize these changes myself until the swelling goes down, but, overall Dr. M. was happy with the progress!  My midlines look a little off to me but he says that anything under a millimeter is negligible and they are less of landmark than the fact that my cuspids are lined up perfectly!!

Metal Mouth!!!

What else was there... oh I (only!) have two rubber bands that need to stay on my teeth all the time (this will help guide the jaw as it heals).  I was imaging a complex mesh-work of bands that clamped my teeth tight, but it is not that bad...

He told me that I need to switch from icing all the time to hot packs to assist the lymphatic drainage.
I also asked about using a straw, since it seems to be a huge no-no for many similar surgeries (negative pressure tearing up stitches), but he says that it is completely safe for me to use a straw.  I was so excited that we went straight to Tropical Smoothie from our appointment.  I stuck the straw into the smoothie aannndd nothing happened, my lips are too swollen to form a seal around the straw...ggrrr!

Overall

Pain: I ran out of pain meds before my appointment today and it increased to a 7/10 :(

Nausea: 0/10 (haven't taken a anti-emetic pill for 36 hrs!)

Exhaustion: pretty high

Main Frustrations: Drooling, numbness, fatigue, slow eating

Fresh juiced breakfast!

Day 5: it's all downhill

I feel like doing a little victory dance ( I won't because that much movement would surely hurt!) but everything the doctor said and majority of blogs I've read all say it gets easier and better from day 5 on!

I think the swelling is going down, but you can see the yellow bruising a little clearer today.

 Also I slept for a straight 5.5 hrs last night! That's the longest I've slept since surgery! Granted, I still needed my pain meds ASAP and some fresh new ice packs at 5:30am... But nothing like a good block of REM sleep. 

I also stepped on a scale this morning. I had forgotten to step on my home one prior to surgery, but it looks like I'm down 6lbs. That's certainly the quickest I've ever lost my holiday weight ;) I'm not worried as I'm sure a portion of it is simple dehydration and the other half is the extra weight I gained in December anticipating this surgery. So while it's been a quick loss, I hope I'll be better with mitigating it now that I am eating some more smoothies. AND my good friend dropped off her juicer yesterday(!) I'm excited to experiment and it'll be a great way to add veggies back into my diet!

My big goal for today was to go for a walk and my sister was kind enough to escort me around the block.  I really thought I'd make it further than ~250 yards, since I ran 3 miles this time last week. But like almost everyone post-op, I fatigued really quickly. Thank goodness my sister was there to make sure I didn't fall on my face as I staggered those last steps home.