2 Weeks Post Op!

Two weeks post op!  I would love to say that the last few weeks have flown by, but it has felt slow.  Well, it's felt slow but at the same time feels fast.  Hard to describe.  Anywho, 2 weeks post op means I am UNWIRED!!!!  Yes, unwired!!!

Wired on the way to the hospital to get unwired (left), then unwired leaving to go get some soft grub! (right)

I was a little nervous about getting unwired.  Nervous and excited.  I was afraid my jaw would just fall off on the floor or something, but it actually went really smooth.  My doc laughed when I told her the jaw on the floor fear, and she laughed and said that is totally normal.  It took her just a minute to snip everything, but she checked all my incisions first.  I was worried I had a problem on my left side since I've been swollen over there still and it's a firm swollen lump over the incisions on the lower left, and she said one of the stitches looked to have ripped and maybe a little infection going on.  I'm kicking myself because I know when I ripped that stitch-- in my orthodontist chair when he sat me down to take a look while I stopped in for proxy brushes a few days post op.  I lifted my head (like doing a sit up) to sit up from the reclined dentist chair I was in (habit from doing that all the time-- I should NOT have been doing that post op!) and immediately felt that I stretched something on my lower left jaw.  I didn't have severe pain, I was still swollen all over and didn't notice any additional swelling, and no fever, so I never followed up with my surgeon about it.  Guess I should have!  Anywho... outside of the infection on the lower left needing a course of antibiotics, all looked well and I got unwired!!  YYYYAAAAYYYY!!!!!!!!!

First time opening unwired. This is as far as I could get, but for the first time this is actually supposed to be pretty decent!

I got cleared for soft chew.  Thank sweet baby jebus!!  BUT, it doesn't mean you can go balls to the wall with food.  I could barely get my mouth open, and my jaws, teeth, muscles were all in new positions.  Everything is REALLY tight and stiff.  And it's seriously the weirdest feeling having my teeth touch in different places.  Couple that with the fact that my gums are numb, the side of my cheek is still numb.... even if I could eat it's like eating when you're coming out of the dentist after being numbed, and it's just not fun.  But we were in Oakland (an hour from where I live) and our favorite Ethiopian place is there, so I figured I could give some soft lentils or potatoes a try and my mom could try Ethiopian for the first time.

Ethiopian offers lots of yummy soft food options. I basically had the soft injeera bread and a few bites of spiced lentils. As soft as all of that was, it was still hard to get in!

My first bite unwired!

I really couldn't get much food in, and it's VERY tiring trying to chew, but just a few bite was ssssooooo nice and I was really satisfied!  It's been much the same since getting unwired.  It's jut awkward and tiring to chew.  My jaw gets a little sore too.  BUT, it's nice to get some food in, even if it's a few little bites.

The other nice thing about being unwired is cleaning.  I can use my sonicare again, and I am flossing all of my teeth except for the space between the very last ones.  I am wearing two rubber bands on each side that get taken out for 30-60 mins a day while I eat, clean, and take a few minutes to stretch and work out my jaw.  Today is day 4 unwired, and everything is still really tight and stiff.  It's going to be a slow process, but I know everything will eventually become normal to me and muscles will learn how to work in their new positions.

My swelling is still coming down really well (a few girls at my orthodontists office couldn't even believe I just had surgery!), and the bruises left around my chin are continuing to diminish.  Only thing bothering me asthetically right now is I feel like my smile is crooked.  I'm hoping that is residual swelling and my muscles still learning what to do and not that my top jaw is actually crooked.  Again, just like anything else, it needs to be given time to settle and do it's thing.  Speaking of thing doing it' thing and needing time, my chin is still driving me nuts with the tingling.  I feel like my lower front teeth are less sensitive, but the lower lip/chin still going off with nerve pains.  I haven't had any nerve tingles/pains up in my nose/chin/lower eye, but I do feel like I have a bit more feeling back in my nose and just below my eye, so I guess that is coming along.  Here are a few of the daily pictures: