I can't believe that I officially passed the 2-month mark! It feels like the surgery was years ago, it's so odd.
So, I still don't have an answer to the fatigue/anemia thing. I'm seeing my doctor this week, so I'll update on that next week. I'm still feeling tired, but I'm taking iron supplements. I recently switched to Slow Fe because I was having some pretty bad stomach cramps a few hours after taking the normal iron, and I read somewhere that Slow Fe helps. I'm happy to report that it is absolutely true! I don't get any cramps anymore. I'm also taking vitamin C right after; apparently it helps with iron absorption. I'm hoping to see results within 6 weeks. Crossing fingers!
Other than that, this week has been pretty uneventful surgery-wise. I'm seeing my orthodontist for the first time post-surgery tomorrow! Maybe we can get these surgery hooks out of my mouth. I haven't had many sores from them but my lips keep getting stuck on them when I try to talk while smiling, so I sometimes avoid closing my lips fully when I form words. Hello mumbling!
Last week, I was very depressed about how none of my friends are seeing a difference in my face. I'm no longer too bothered by it, thankfully. I guess I just had to come to terms with it. I'm moving on; it seems like a waste of energy anyway. I want to focus on learning to appreciate my new face, as I personally do see a difference, and like I said in the last post, most days I'm struggling with thinking I don't look good anymore. What doesn't help is that I've had quite a bit of acne in the past few weeks.
This is actually something I wanted to mention a while ago but never found the time to write a proper post about, so let's do it now. Basically, after the surgery, my skin was INCREDIBLY oily. However, it was completely clear. I actually thought the skin on my face was unexpectedly glowing. I now think I may know the reason: steroids. They gave me a shot of it after the surgery, and I think it stays in your system for a while. It may be why my face was so clear despite all the oiliness. My skin eventually got less and less oily, but the acne didn't start until maybe week 5. I did struggle with folliculitis in the early days after the operation, but I was able to clear it with the use of zinc soap. This time, the zinc soap isn't working, and it's pretty clearly just normal acne. The zits are especially bad on my jaw line. It's slowly getting better, but it's quite annoying. If you're having acne too, don't fret: I've seen it happen in a lot of jaw surgery patients on the Web. This too shall pass... But it sure isn't helping with my self-confidence, ugh!
Also, my hair got suuuper oily at about week 4. Before the surgery, I could wash my hair 2 times a week and it was fine. A little oily on the third day, but nothing a pony tail couldn't fix. However, for about 2-3 weeks when my hair got extremely oily, it was bad. I thought it was the shampoo, so I switched, but nothing helped. My hair would get oily by the evening. Thankfully, this is completely gone now! I'm back to being able to wash it twice a week and have nice second-day hair. Yay! Hopefully it's a sign that the acne will follow the same path and my face will get back to its "one or two pimples a month" state.
One last thing I wanted to mention: my speech. After the surgery, when I still had all the bands keeping my mouth closed 24/7, I noticed that I had a lisp when saying "s" and "z" sounds. When I was allowed to remove the bands during the day, it got noticeably better, but I still have a slight lisp. I feel like it's because the tip of my tongue doesn't know exactly where to position itself when I make those sounds and misses the mark every time. I want to work on that, although I don't exactly know how. Honestly, I've always felt like my enunciation was not great in English, and even in my native language (French), so I'm considering going to a speech specialist once I'm fully back to normal life. I figure since my mouth has a whole new configuration, maybe it's the perfect time to get everything else corrected, speech-wise. I'll let you know if I decide to go through with it.
Pain
No more pain at all!
Swelling
I'm pretty sure the swelling is decreasing, and I'm now convinced I still have some because I looked at pictures from a few weeks ago when I thought I didn't have any, and I looked totally swollen on them. So obviously my face is changing enough that I see a difference LATER. I'm expecting that in a few weeks, I'll look back at today's pictures and think "holy crap, I was swollen on the cheeks." Still trying to get used to my face. Still undecided whether I like it or not... I don't HATE it, like I said last time, but I definitely don't think I look "cute." Again, just repeating myself, but I know this is normal and everyone goes through that. It takes a while to get used to your new face, no matter how small the changes may be.
Numbness
Definitely getting better, but slowly. VERY slowly. I can now feel cold and hot on the numb part of my lip, and I'm getting more tingles. The tingles are definitely not annoying and it's nothing I even notice unless I think about it. I've read some people complaining about how painful/annoying it was. Although I'm thankful it's not my case, I'm also wondering if it's a bad sign. I kind of wish I had the painful kind because then at least I would feel like it's definitely all coming back. At this point, I can tell it's getting better, but it's so slow that I'm worried the feeling won't be fully back by the 6-month mark. If it doesn't, it's fine. I'm already used to it. But it would be nice to get back to 100% normal. One thing that is incredibly annoying, and I still don't know if it's related to the numbness or something else, is that whenever I brush my teeth on the left side (where the numbness is), I get an unpleasant shock-like/nerve pressure shooting everywhere feeling. So much so that I dread brushing that area. I think it's just the nerves on my gum waking up, but it's been happening for a month now. Sometimes I wonder if it's related to the gum recession on the inside of my two teeth, but the feeling only happens when I touch the brush on the outside, towards the bottom of the gums. It's also hard to pinpoint exactly what area is causing this, which makes me think it's nerve regeneration-related. Who knows? I'll ask my orthodontist. I just don't feel like going to the dentist/periodontist. I'm seeing enough specialists already, aren't I?!
Diet
Still on a soft diet. Getting quite tired of it to be honest. There are only so much ravioli/mashed potatoes/rice dish I can make. I know I could blend stuff, but I'm SO over that phase. Once you start chewing, it's hard to go back. It just makes going to the restaurant too difficult. Everything on the menu seems to have crunchy stuff in every. single. dish. I don't really want to start picking around at the restaurant, so I just eat at home. I'll try to do a roundup of the recipes I'm cycling through right now, in case you guys are also stuck in the soft diet and wondering when it will ever end. I'm seeing my surgeon Monday next week, and last time he mentioned that we might be able to incorporate chicken into the soft diet, so I'm excited. If I can chew cooked chicken, surely it opens up a lot of other options, right? I'm eating chicken right now, but only the super tender rotisserie kind that I cut in tiny, microscopic shreds and swallow almost whole.
Oh, I did start eating ice cream sandwiches! I let them sit on the counter for 10-15 minutes. They get soft enough that I can eat them. Yum!
Fatigue
Still no improvement. See the beginning of this post for more info 😏.
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