Day 10

Day 10 started off well, just like day 9! I slept a little more this time, around 6 hours, so that was good. I spent even more time up and about, getting the mail, working on the computer, etc. It was a nice, calming rainy day, so I also laid down to read my book most of the afternoon because well, the bed was right there and it looked so comfy!

With a warm, purring cat.

The swelling went back up on that day, probably because my bands were looser and I was talking more.

I also gained back most of the weight I lost by day 10, so I switched from a goal of 2000 calories to my normal 1600 calories. I'm still counting it to make sure I eat enough, but I feel hungry now so it's not hard to keep the intake up. I'm still eating Ensure, canned soups, smoothies and some Joylent.

Since there isn't much to report on day 10, I thought I'd take this opportunity to discuss something that I was researching a lot before the surgery: how my nose changed.

The surgeon warned me that it would indeed change because of the movement of my upper jaw. And it's true, it widened a bit. I'm honestly still not quite sure how I feel about it. Most of the time I think it looks better and I'm happy, but some other time it's a bit harder to get used to. My nose was SO narrow pre-surgery that the difference makes it look HUGE, even though I know it's not. It's actually much more balanced. I think I'll just need time to get used to it and I'll like it 100% of the time instead of 75% of the time.

Before

After

The surgery also seem to have pushed out the tip of my nose, making it look a lot nicer in profile and lessening the bump near my eyes. A very nice surprise! I really like how it looks from the side.

Before

After

I can also see that I now have a jaw line. It's amazing! I used to HATE my profile. I pretty much deleted all pictures of me if you could see my profile. Looking at it now, I can't believe the difference it makes. Maybe most people won't notice, but I certainly do. Because the surgeon rotated my bottom jaw forward, it also brough my chin forward, which helps a lot. It's still a "weak" chin, since I didn't do this for esthetics and there was no genioplasty done, but I think it looks much better and I'm happy with it.

Look at that jaw line!

I'm also showing a lot less gum when I smile, but I don't know how much of it is caused by swelling near the base of my nose. I think I might show more than I am now once all the swelling is gone, but hopefully not too much more! It would be nice if it fixed that too.

One thing I noticed for the past few days is how much my the muscles in my neck and upper chest have been feeling sore. I'm not sure exactly why. Maybe because I've been sleeping upright, or because I haven't been moving my head too much? In any case, it's definitely sore as if I've been overstretching my neck. Sometimes when I breathe deeply, I can feel an ache in that hollow at the base of the throat. Definitely muscle-related though. (Edit: The neck/throat muscle soreness actually lasted a few days).