Day 13

Saw my Ortho today and he was pleased to see that I am doing so well. The nurses were all so lovely, asking me questions about the surgery and commenting on how great my bite looks. It is amazing to see my teeth align properly and to hear others say it too :)

My Ortho said after my braces come off he will happily whiten my teeth (free of charge) and smooth down a couple of ridges that I have on my two front teeth. I thought that was a really nice gesture, and it will finish off this amazing and loooong journey perfectly :)

The whole team has been great actually, they sent me a massive bunch of flowers to my hospital room and called my mum a few times while I was in there to see how I was going. After going to the same Ortho practice for 16 years, yep I was first accessed at age 8, they seem to all know me, which feels nice! As you can imagine, my computer file there is HUGE and full of hideous photos like this one.. haha

I was 12 years old here. This is before any of my dental treatment. Before my expander, Herbst appliance and first lot of braces. Yes I really have had everything imaginable done to my teeth and bite. Check out those crowded teeth, and my massive overbite. My jaws continued to grow apart, which is why I got the "open" bite, even after the braces and other dental appliances.

I couldn't go for a walk in the sun this afternoon, because it has been so windy and cold :( brrrrr winter is definitely here. I ate Spag bowl for dinner tonight. I cut up the noodles and was able to chew them a bit :)

Still swollen in bottom portion of my cheeks, more on left side now. Around my lips and nose slightly numb and swollen. Bottom lip still very numb and puffy. It tingles when I touch it. I occasionally dribble, but nothing like last week. Chin rock hard, but I can feel the bone. I think from now on it will be harder to notice a significant amount of change in my swelling and appearance. I will just have to play the waiting game.

Day 12

I slept last night less elevated then the previous 11 nights. It was so cold I just had to snuggle down on my side (still using 3 pillows) and pull the blankets right up to keep warm. Was very cosy but I did feel a little extra puffy on that cheek when I woke up. It subsided after a few hours. I'm with you Dani, no more sleeping upright for me now, sick of it!!

Another consultation with my surgeon, Dr. M today! He was extremely happy with my progress and the changes in appearance since our last visit. He was particularly happy with my oral hygiene and teeth cleaning. I am cleaning my teeth 5-6 times a day with my baby toothbrush, and rinsing frequently with the Oxyjet and salt water. It takes up sooo much time and effort, but It's worth it. I don't want an infection or any complications.

Breathing through my nose is amazing. I am so glad I had the septoplasty. My surgeon was like.. "I bet it's like a wind tunnel now" haha he is exactly right.

I asked about the stitches dissolving soon, and apparently they should remain intake for another week and a half. He said it's important for them to stay in a bit longer to make sure everything has properly healed and that there are no openings where the incisions were made. They are irritating, but I can live with them a bit longer, I hope!

Big news for today is that I got the OK to start chewing!!!!

I just need to exercise the jaw a bit before attempting to chew. I will start by chewing soft things like a piece of bread with vegemite on it! haha can't wait, let the chewing begin :)

P.S...The thai Massaman I had last night was delicious and very easy to eat! For dessert I stewed some apples and pears, and ate them warm with wildberry Ice-cream. This soft food diet hasn't been too bad. The trick is to be creative and have a variety of different things, so you don't get bored with what your eating :)

Tomorrow I will be seeing my Ortho for the first time since surgery. My original appointment wasn't until the end of June, but Dr. M thinks I'm ready to see him now. I'm really looking forward to seeing his reaction. Surprise!!!! No anterior open bite :)

This is my Oral B OxyJet Center.

They gave this to me in the hospital to use at home, and It's pretty awesome. You fill it up with warm water, add some salt or mouth rinse, and then use the powered jets to flush out all the excess food and plaque from around the teeth and gums. I only use the low setting at the moment.

It also has other attachments like a tongue cleaner and different brush heads. I guess it's similar to the waterpik but with more gadgets. I would definitely recommend getting something like this to anyone having the surgery!

Day 10 and 11

Yesterday was a really lazy Sunday. Stayed in my pj's all day and watched movies. I didn't even feel motivated to write a blog post.. anyways It was good to relax after my busy day at the wedding on Saturday. Today has been a perfect winters day! The sun is out and blue skies all around. I have been sitting outside all morning, soaking up the sun and getting my daily Vitamin D intake :) I will go for a walk around the block later on today because it's just too nice to be inside.

My appetite is well and truly back to its old self. There are so many things I wish I could eat right now. I am craving Vegemite toast, or a Vegemite and cheese sandwich. Before surgery without fail, I would eat Vegemite everyday. I really miss it :(

As an Aussie, I find it extremely hard to live without the stuff, and it is a great source of Vitamin B too.

**Dani did you try it when you were in Australia?? It's the best, but I know many Americans absolutely hate it and can't understand why we eat it! lol.**

I have been enjoying eating big portions of home made chicken soup, savory mince with mash potato, pasta Carbonara, pasta salad, rice pudding, stewed apples and pears with custard... basically anything soft and easy to swallow without chewing. I haven't started chewing anything really solid yet, but will ask my OS tomorrow when he thinks I can start.

We are having Thai Massaman Curry tonight. I cant wait!!! I will have to break apart the soft meat so it's easier to swallow but will eat lots of rice with the creamy coconut sauce...Oh its making me hungry now just writing this post, yum!

My swelling has decreased quite a bit over the last few days, but still swollen around me lips, chin and bottom portion of my cheeks. No stitches have fallen out yet :( My bottom lip was driving me crazy last night, constantly burning and tingling. I hope this is a sign that some feeling is coming back.

All the bruising on my neck has gone, I just have a bit left on my right cheek that's slightly noticeable. I am starting to really like my side profile. It is so much less convex!!

Just had a look back on my before profile blog post, and my nose now actually looks smaller side on!! AMAZING, couldn't be more happier about that, however I'm not so convinced about it's appearance front on... I feel as though my nostrils have slightly widened. I guess we will have to wait to see after all the swelling has gone.

My number 1 craving!!!

Day 9

I am really starting to get annoyed with these 30+ stitches inside my mouth. I can feel every single one :( Hope they start to dissolve away soon. I have been a little slack with the ice packs lately. How often should I still be using them, I wonder? My bands are going ok, been wearing them all day and night, except for when I eat and do my jaw exercises. I'm glad they gave me a whole bag of them because I keep loosing track of where I put them when I first take them out. lost a fair few already, they just seem to disappear.

Today was my best friend's wedding and I made it to the ceremony at 1pm. I woke up this morning feeling good on the inside but not so convinced about the outside. I still find it extremely surreal when I look in the mirror every morning and see the different changes. I know I am still extremely swollen.. "but is that really me?!"

I am not a very patient person, and this journey of recovery is all about being patient and waiting to see the real results happen over time.... but in the mean time, it is a struggle to feel and look semi presentable, especially for a wedding.

Anyways the wedding was beautiful and perfect. I am so glad I got to see her on her special day. There was a fair few people at the church who I knew, but who did not know about my surgery. I sat in the back row with another friend, hoping that they would not notice me. I just didn't feel up to talking (which is hard anyway) to people about the surgery etc. It was awkward enough just sitting there with my swollen lips and mouth open like one of those side show clowns. haha.. I gave the beautiful bride a quick hug and was on my way. Took a Panadol for the drive home and went straight to bed for a 3 hour nap.

I was hoping to take some photos of me dressed and ready for the wedding, but my stupid digital camera has been playing up ever since my trip to fiji. All my photos at the moment have been taken from my laptop and the quality is pretty terrible. Here are the day 9 photos taken tonight. My friend curled my hair for the wedding, but they mostly fell out when I got home.

I can slightly smile, its a weird forced smile and very different to my post surgery one. It will be interesting to watch how the smile develops as my lips become less swollen and loosen up.

1 WEEK POST OP

I HAVE SURVIVED THE 1ST WEEK!!!

My work sent me these beautiful flowers and balloons today to celebrate :)

I cannot believe when I walked into the private hospital today to have another post op consultation with my OS, who had just come out of theatre, that this time last week it was ME in there having my surgery done... NOW I am well and truly on the other side, and recovering well.

It does feel like its been a quick week, but then again looking back, those first few days were very looong and painful... literally. The nights have been the worst when you can't sleep and the pain is really BAD. I remember every time I looked at the clock on day 2 and 3, it seemed like no time had actually passed and I felt like the night would never end.

I got re-banded again today. looks like this when looking front on. /\ 2 elastics that meet together at my top mid line hook. Wow!! they are super tight and going to be very annoying, but I like the fact that with the bands on, my new bite feels 100% secure and in its exact position. I love looking at how perfectly they now align. So strange to see my top teeth actually fit over my bottom teeth.

Do you think my swelling has decreased?? My face still feels very heavy and pumpkin swollen, and my nose is tender and sore around the outside of each nostril. I guess that's from the septoplasty and having stitches up there. More feeling is coming back to my chin, especially at the tip and under my neck :)

Also..Can anyone tell me when the stitches inside you mouth dissolve? Thats one thing I forgot to ask my OS today.

Here are some Day 7 photos.

I have not needed any Panodol today, and have been eating and drinking heaps :) Chicken soup with noodles, scrambled eggs and chocolate custard and yogurt. I have lost 3kilos, even though I have been eating well. I think the majority of the weight was lost while in hospital for 4 nights. The food in there really did suck :(

Eating, eating eating!!! gotta love the baby bib.. thanks to my niece for letting me borrow it. haha

Time is going quick... Day 6

Hey guys,

Not much has changed since my last post! I guess the swelling has decreased slightly and my bottom lip and chin have a tiny bit more feeling, but not much, still very numb, swollen and bruised.

Again, I cannot complain too much about the pain today, although I did wake up incredible tired this morning, and my jaws really ached. I don't know if this is because I am clenching at night or because everything just generally tightens up while sleeping because I am lying still and not moving anything. The sore throat and dribbling when first awakening is also horrible and annoying.

Another post-op appointment today. I am having one everyday at the moment, which is great for my reassurance that everything is going the way it should. Actually my OS was in theatre today, so I had a consultation with the female OS who works at the same practice. She actually informed me that she was there assisting throughout my surgery, so it turns out that I had TWO maxillofacial specialists devoting their full 6 hour attention to my jaws. Love the team effort :)

She was lovely, and very informative. She noted that my teeth, gums and incisions were VERY clean and no problems whatsoever to be found. Apparently the risk of infection is most common around the 12 day mark, so that is why its very important to regularly get checked out by your OS throughout the first few weeks of recovery. We stretched my jaws a little bit more today, and she answered some of my queries regarding the sensations I am feeling in my face... all normal and nothing to be worried about :)

It does get very tiring going to these post-op appointments everyday as its a 40min drive each way, but it makes the day go really quick and gets me out of the house for a few hours. Oh and it also gives me an excuse to pick up nice treats on the way home such as the Maccas chocolate sundae I had today. It was extremely messy to eat but totally worth it :)

No photos today as I really still look the same as Day 5 but will put some photos up in tomorrow's post to mark the big 1 week post surgery!! wooohooo

High five for day 5!!

First night at home went really well. fell asleep at 9pm, only woke up once around 1am and then slept straight through till breakfast. I did wake up to see that a a line of dried blood from my nose was stuck to my face.. Dam that dripping nose during the night.

The pain today was very manageable, I felt really energized after finally eating some decent, non hospital food. I had porridge with sultanas for breakfast. it was a bit thick and stuck to the roof of my mouth, so I thinned it down with some banana custard :) It was actually really yummy. Home made soup for lunch and LOTS of fluids throughout the day. Prune juice (to help with bowl movement lol) Vitamin juice with a tablespoon of benefibre mixed in, protein Sustagen and water. I really think the liquid intake has significantly helped with me feeling better today.

I definitely have more energy, and it really showed when mum and I had to walk quite a distance together to my first post-op appointment. No parking to be found anywhere close by and it was raining so we just had to tough it out and walk. I was very glad to have my huge umbrella, as it helped to hide my awful puffed face from the public's view. haha!

At the post-op appointment, my surgeon checked out everything in my mouth and said it looked fine, I just need to be really diligent with continuing to use the oxyjet and rinsing out my mouth every hour to prevent ANY infections.

The worst part of the appointment was the stretching of the jaw. This was the first time I had actually attempted to open it up wide and close down on my new bite position. I am so swollen and there is not much movement yet but he insisted it was fine and kept saying "com'on just a little bit wider, you can do it" arghhh I freaked out.. I know he knows what I should be capable of doing at this stage of recovery, but I was fearful about my jaw accidentally popping or something tearing. I had a bit of teary moment in his office, as I was just so scared. He was very supportive and kind about it all and I will see him again tomorrow for more of this jaw stretching torture! haha

The rest of day was pretty good, spent most of the time just chilling out watching TV with my ice-packs on. I have to say, the pain that I have been experiencing only really comes to a high peak during the evening. The tingling starts, the stinging and burning lips and chin, the weird twitches from the muscles around my face, the aching feeling, they all begin to radiate around 6pm and continue on throughout the night. During the day its just not as bad, and I think I've been really lucky and fortunate not to have experienced any extreme pain or nausea on day 4 and 5. In the hospital I took Endone for the pain, and they prescribed that for me to take home, but I am yet to take any. I have just been having small dosages of regular Panadol. I guess this is a good sign :-)

The bruising made its ugly appearance today! Bright yellow patches all over my cheeks and neck. My surgeon says that it will continue to change colour over the next few days and then should be gone after 10 days! hmm we shall see if this is accurate! Also, the swelling is really intense at the moment. I think I look sooooo different and very unattractive. I never pictured myself to look like this, but really hoping I start to like what I see soon!!

I am yet to be able to close my lips together properly! Talking just looks sooo funny! My friends think its hilarious that I can talk normally but cant actually move my lips or face yet. haha I look like I have had way too much Botox injected into my face or I am one of those puppeteers who talks without moving their mouth. Oh and don't try to laugh 5 days out from surgery, its kinda painful :)

Sorry about the photos.. I was so tired and quickly took them before bed.

attempting a smile. I look fat as..