Week 14

Like I anticipated, this week has been pretty much uneventful. This will actually be my last weekly post. From now on, I'll only post every month until the one-year mark.

Pain
No throbbing at all this week, even though I've been eating much harder food than usual! My left joint is still kind of stiff and sometimes hurt when I open my mouth, but other than that, no pain at all.

Swelling
No changes. I've been a lot more used to my new face, but annoyed at the acne and disappointed that the laugh lines didn't get any better with the surgery. Oh well. Like I said last time, we'll see if it improves. I really hope it does!

I'm also trying to find new frames for my glasses. I was due for a new prescription before my surgery, but I decided to postpone it in case my face changed a lot. Now I'm struggling with figuring out what looks good, since I'm still not 100% used to my face. I can't tell if glasses look good or bad, I'm just constantly thinking "Uuhhh I don't know about this but I can't explain why..." Is it because I still don't love my face yet? Or because the style doesn't fit anymore? Or because I'm just not used to this new style even though it fits me well? I don't know. I may need my friends/family's help for this!

Numbness
Still the same as last week, when I could tell that the nerve regeneration slowed down. Not much improvement, but I can still definitely "feel" something everywhere, even if it's not a normal feeling.

Diet
FREEDOM! I'm eating pretty much whatever I want except bagels and chips and stuff. I even ate cereal and the crunch didn't create any problems. Yesterday, I made a huge batch of roasted veggies. I'm so glad I can finally eat some healthy stuff! Root vegetables used to be too hard, even when roasted. But now that I'm cleared for most food, I'm all about it!

Bell peppers, carrots, potatoes, onions, beets and asparagus.

I also realized that orange season is at its peak, so I didn't miss it completely! YESS! I had an orange every day since my visit with the surgeon, and it has been glorious.

At first, I could only eat them cut up in small pieces like in the picture, because the skin is so thin that it's actually kind of hard to chew through it. My teeth don't really touch together all that well, which I think is why I'm having problems. But today I ate an orange the normal way and it was all fine! I feel like my chewing progress is exponential since I've been free to experiment. I didn't run into much problem to be honest. I'm so happy!

Fatigue
I did the iron blood test this morning, so I'll be getting the results later. Still fatigued, but I somehow feel like it's a bit better. I haven't had a chance to sleep more like I wanted to do last week. I really need to get serious about this if I want to eliminate "sleep debt" as a reason why I'm still tired. I'll keep you updated (although maybe none of you really care, maybe you're not getting this surgery for sleep apnea... 😅).

I did get back into working out 5 days a week, doing 20 minutes of cardio. I haven't yet gone back to doing some weights and stretching though. This week will be the first full week of working out since the surgery. I was cleared a while ago to start exercising, but with the anemia, I thought I would give myself another break until my iron goes back up. But I couldn't wait any longer. I felt like a huge, lazy potato. Much better now!

Week 13

This week turned out so much better than last week!

The throbbing definitely decreased, and I didn't have to go back to a no-chew diet at all, which was a relief. I also had an appointment with my orthodontist. I was expecting them to reposition some of the brackets and get crazy elastics to wear 24/7, but the appointment ended up taking a whole 15 minutes. My orthodontist just cannot get over how perfect my bite already is. Apparently, my surgeon did an amazing job at aligning everything!

I'm still not touching much on the left side, but the orthodontist said that the teeth will settle for sure. Apparently, even without braces it would fix itself, it would just take longer. He did give me some weak elastics, but I only have to wear them at night! I was pretty happy about that. Then he took an X-ray to check the roots. There are a few roots we'll need to straighten, so the whole "repositioning brackets" hell appointment will be in a month, when I see him next. But then again, I survived double jaw surgery, so this should be nothing. I just hate being awake while people have their hands in my mouth and accidentally smear bitter glue all over my tongue. But who doesn't? Thankfully, I was spared that this week, so I just won't think about it until the next appointment.

My orthodontist said I should be out of braces in 4 to 5 months!

Next, I had an appointment with my surgeon, and everything went smoothly. Still zero issue with anything. We talked again about the pain I have on my right bottom jaw when I touch it, and he assured me once more that it was definitely a muscle knot. He gave me the go-ahead to stretch my jaw, and he thinks it will probably help the knot as well. He told me to use my index and thumb like a pair of scissors and push a little on my teeth at the front to stretch the muscles. I'm still only able to open two fingers wide, so I'm hoping this will help me progress back to three fingers.

(As you can see, I'm still struggling with acne, especially on my neck. It doesn't seem that bad on the picture because of poor lighting, but the skin on my face is... ugh. The texture is all bumpy and gross. I'm thinking of asking for a stronger concentration of tretinoin cream.)

I also asked my surgeon if there was still any risk of fracturing the bones or getting an infection at this point, and he said "not really." He said that when he told to me back off when it hurts, it was just to let the bones heal faster. There was no real danger of breaking them or anything, it was mainly for comfort and healthy bones. He thinks I'm probably going to deal with throbbing more than others because my bones are thinner than average, but not enough to cause real problems. I feel so relieved about that! I can finally stop being afraid of shattering my bones or getting complications!

Also, I am now free to eat whatever I want, except very chewy stuff (bagels, jerky, etc.) and very hard stuff (nuts, chips, etc.). I'M SO EXCITED! We celebrated by trying out a poke bar that opened in our neighborhood a few weeks ago. I've been dying to eat sushi for a while, so this hit the spot!

Before I get into the usual updates, go check out my Photos section. I added the 3-month post-op comparison pictures.

Pain
Like I said, the throbbing lessened quite a bit, but I still get it every once in a while if I chew a lot. That poke bowl was delicious, but my jaw definitely got tired! No pain per se, just that overexerted feeling you get in your muscles when you repeat the same exercise twenty times.

Also, I'm happy to report that the pain in my right joint when I open wide is almost all gone!

Swelling
Once again, not much difference this week.

By the way, I've always had those nasolabial folds, even pre-surgery. Some days are worse than others, like when I'm laughing a lot. I was really hoping the surgery would fix them, but I guess it didn't... Unless the skin just needs time? We'll see at the 6-month or 1-year mark.

Numbness
After improving rapidly for a few weeks, it slowed down again. I can "feel" my lips a lot more than before though, but I can't wait for that half-feeling, heaviness/stiffness to go away. Come on, nerves, you can do it! I believe in you!

Diet
I only got the go-ahead to eat whatever I want two days ago, so for most of the week, I was still restricted. I made a huge batch of mashed potatoes and carrots. It doesn't look appetizing, but it was delicious, especially paired with Greek yogurt ranch dressing. I was just happy to get more veggies in me (because of the carrots).

Also, the bananas I had bought to make the Ensure replacement shakes went uneaten and turned brown, so I used them to make banana bread with chocolate chips. It was deliciously moist and soft! Best thing ever this week.

Fatigue
It actually feels a little better this week. I've taken steps to sleep longer, and let myself nap if need. I read an article about sleep debt from Stanford, and they recommend letting your body sleep as long as it needs for a couple of weeks. I can't exactly do that, but if I can manage a 2-hour nap every day for a few weeks, I'm hoping it'll help. I slept a total of 12 hours on Tuesday, and after the last nap, I actually felt refreshed, which has never happened before. I'm very hopeful! I still have to test my iron again. I've just been lazy about it... Gonna do it this week though.

I also wanted to mention that I asked for a referral to a speech therapist from the surgeon. I don't absolutely need it; my lisp is almost all gone, but I've always been horrible at enunciating, and I tend to speak way too fast, so I thought this would be a great way to fix it without having to pay out of pocket. We also put way too much money in our FSA, and we're looking for ways to spend it, so this could be one way if the insurance refuses to cover it. I wonder if I should wait until we remove my braces though...

The next few weeks should be pretty uneventful, since I won't have any appointments for at least a month and recovery is slowing down majorly. Hopefully I'll still find interesting bits to share!