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!!!

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!!!!!!!!!

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.

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:

Got my post op xrays done yesterday to take to my unwiring appointment on Monday-- yes, unwiring in just 2.5 days!!!  Can't wait!!  It's so weird looking at xrays in general, but to look at them post op is really weird.  Can't believe I am going to have those plates and screws in forever.  And it's even weirder looking at the breaks in my jaws!  That will all fill in with new bone over the next 6-12 months.  One of the things I noticed when I woke from the op is that I felt like I could breathe easier.  My nose felt more open, as did my throat.  And since the op I feel like I have super human smell, which is kind of weird and don't know yet if it's quite a good thing since that includes smelling bad smells too!  I'm no doc and don't know what I'm looking at on xrays, but I can see my airways look more open on the post op xrays.  I know people who have the lower jaw set too far back often say it opens up their airway when it's pulled forward into the new correct position, so maybe that is what happened to me too!  Anywho....Hoping my surgeon sees these on Monday and all looks well!

So I'm totally off of any pain meds, including childrens ibuprofen.  A ton of my swelling has come down, but I'm definitely still swollen.  At least I'm good enough now to go out in public and not have people stare.  Still bruised, but I'm more yellow than black/blue now up my face and down my neck to my chest.  Only black and blue is where they did the breaks on my lower jaw.  Speaking of my  lower jaw, I still have little feeling in my chin but I feel like it's getting more tingly and weird feeling.  Only way I can describe it is the feeling after you fall asleep on your arm and it falls asleep and starts to wake up and it kind of hurts/tingles/feels weird.  Not painful, just weird and noticeable.  I guess it's a good sign hopefully.  Otherwise, the right half of my nose feels like it has a little more feeling but it's not tingly/weird like my chin and right half of my lower lip.  My right cheek up to under my eye (like where you get those circles under your eyes) is still the numbest, especially my cheek.  I've been stressing over it the last day, and I know it's too early to stress, but I've had these 'what if's' run through my head and I was wondering what if that numbness is permanent in my cheek/eye.  I can almost see dealing with my chin and around my mouth, but the cheek and eye will suck if that doesn't come back.  I'm going to cross my fingers and hope that in the next 3-4 weeks stuff starts to come back there.  It can take up to a year to get feeling back, but I know a lot does start to make its way back in that 4-8 weeks post op.  I think I just need to stop worrying about it, but it's hard.

I've dropped a little more weight.  Sitting at 123 right now, which is about 11-12lbs down post op.  I haven't been eating much.  Trying, but it's hard.  Just haven't been in the mood for anything and haven't been super hungry.  Had a few bad hunger fits, but they go away pretty fast with some sparkling water or something.  Honestly, it feels great being my comfy weight again.  No bloating, no muffin top, and my clothes fit again.  Thank goodness!!  AND... I can see my abs again.  Under all the bloating and little layer of fatty muffin top on them, they were still under there!  I can't wait to tone up when I get cleared to work out.  I've been wanting this body back for 3 years now, so at least something good is coming out of this forced diet!

Overall I am feeling pretty good.  Get tired easily still, which is probably calorie intake still.  I've been so bad at getting enough in.  I've probably had about 300-400 calories today and the day is almost over.  I really need to do better with that.  It's not good for a body that is healing.  I'm taking liquid b-12 and multi, so at least I still have the nutrients from that.  And in other news-- I graduated to drinking out of a regular cup!  I'm not super drooling and spilling all over the place, which is awesome!  I might even try doing my soup out of a cup tonight.  I also spent a night on my couch instead of the lazyboy last night.  It was still not the most comfy since I can't pop over on to my sides (which I want to do so badly!!!), but it was a nice change.  I can't wait to sleep in my bed again.

Here's a few shots from the last few days.  Goal for the weekend is getting more calories in.  Hopefully I get super hungry and want to get something in!

I've been told to take things day by day.....so that's what I'm doing!  Today was slightly better than yesterday.  No major changes, but I guess I'm not looking for them to happen either.  The one major development is some food I'm glad I can get around here-- Pho broth!!

The pho broth is absolutely so delicious and satisfying.  And it's really healthy for you as it's made from bone, marrow, and yummy spices.  Luckily enough for me I live in the Bay Area and can find this anywhere.  Not only do I live in the Bay Area, but I live in the town with the highest Asian concentration, so there is literally a pho place in walking distance either direction from my house and one on every street corner.  So, here's a tip for you guys on liquids post op-- look for a Vietnamese and/or pho place in your town and hit them up for the broth.  It's cheap, nutritious, and yummy!!  Only other thing on the food subject is a weight update-- I'm officially 10 lbs down since surgery.  I'm at 125, which is a happy weight for me.  If I drop below 120, I'll start worrying about packing some high calorie oils or something into my smoothies and broths.  I've been as low as 115 in the middle of a dental forced diet, and that is getting kind of low for a curvy girl at 5'6".

I had my follow up call this  morning with an RN from my surgeons office.  The nurse said I sounded so great!  She put me on speaker phone and said to the others around here, 'listen to how good she sounds!'  Maybe they say that to everybody, who knows.  I know the surgeon and now the RN said most people don't want to speak, and some absolutely refuse to.  I've been going out of my way to talk since they told me the more the better.  Only thing I had to bring up with them was the fact that I punched myself in the face.  True story... literally upper cut myself to the lower jaw last night as I was putting a swing pack purse on.  No pain and didn't feel my jaw all loosey goosey, so I figured it was OK.  They said if I had knocked something loose I definitely would have known it!  Phew!  All is well then :)  I also had to make a stop by my orthodontists office today to get more proxy brushes to help with cleaning all this mess and everybody there said I looked and sounded pretty good too.  I should have known he was going to throw me in a chair and look at me.  Made me a little uncomfortable since I am afraid of my stitches being stretched and all, but he was pretty gentle and stopped as soon as I showed discomfort in my upper incisions.  He gave his seal of approval.  So again, I guess all is well :)

I'm getting sick of sleeping in a reclining chair.  It actually felt really good to be reclined in the dentist chair today!  Weird to say that since I usually HATE those chairs.  I'm totally off of the hydrocodone and on the liquid childrens ibuprofren and feel pretty good reclined as far back as the chair can go, so maybe I can lay down in bed soon!  I'll probably wait until I'm unwired on the 21st.  God, I can't wait for the 21st!!  My mouth is just so tight right now.  I am not sure if it's my muscles spasming from the new position of my jaws, or  my jaws are literally wired shut that tight.  But I would say the tightness/numbness/swelling (which is going down now-- yay!) is what is making me the most uncomfortable.  Pain wise I am only in aching pain if I miss the liquid ibuprofren dose (and I'm only taking 20ml of the 30ml dose suggested) over a few hours or overnight when I clench my teeth while I sleep, or if I touch my face hard enough.  And trust me-- I'm trying not to touch my face!

My goodness.... the last week has been so crazy that I didn't even get a pre op post in!  And people who say that you are so tired and out of it the few days post op that you can't even get up and get your laptop to post, they are not kidding!  The last few days have been pretty rough, but lets jump back to things pre op to start off this long post to catch up!

I went in on Tues the 8th and got my surgical hooks on.  Everybody in my orthodontists office wished me well, and my mom who flew in a few days prior got to meet everybody at the appointment.  Everybody asked what my last meal was going to be, but I didn't even really know at that point!  I've been on a eat-a-thon for the last few months (like...the last 5 months, so don't feel bad for me!), so it's not like I really waited until the last second and had to have a certain something the night before.  My mom is in town from Philly and we don't have tri tip out there, so I smoked up a tri tip with some local asparagus and quinoa.  It was awesome!

I got a call on Tues to report to the hospital by 6am on Weds, so we got up around 4:30am to make the hour drive up to the Richmond Kaiser.  Oddly enough, I was calmer than I thought I would be.  I think at this point I just wanted it done.  It wasn't until I was back in the pre op prep and got the IV in and my husband and mom came in to say good bye to me that I started to loose it.  This is also when the surgical team came in and chatted me up a few mins and wrote "yes" on each side of my cheeks to indicate where they were going to operate.  For me I guess that was pretty easy since they were doing all 4 quadrants of my jaw.  When my husband kissed me goodbye the tears came because all I could think was, 'this may be the last time I feel your lips against mine.'  Everything was really quick after that, and even though there wasn't anything in my IV making me out of it at that point (I know, I couldn't believe I made it pre op without any good stuff to calm me down!!), it's a blur.  I remember being walked to the operating room which was really close to my pre op bay.  I hopped up on the table and the surgeons rushed to turn down some hip hop they were listening to.  I think I made them laugh when I told them to pump that shit back up. And I think they did.  hahahaha.  The general anesthesia went just like any IV anesthesia that I've had at an oral surgeons office.  The put something good in and you start to float away.  I was out before she even got the mask over my face telling me to count down.  And then just like that, you're up in what feels like only a few minutes.  I remember hearing "she needs a new hospital gown. Her gown is too bloody." And vaguely remember being stripped down and put in a new gown on the operating table before being wheeled out to the ICU/PACU (post anesthesia care unit).  That is a weird memory for me because I then distinctly remember thinking "god, I'm glad I showered and shaved last night."  lol

Just like any anesthesia, you're pretty out of it afterwards.  On top of it, I was also getting heavy doses of morphine through my IV.  I remember asking a nurse why my bed was tilted with my feet up and head low, and I think she said it was because my blood pressure dropped towards the end of surgery and they laid me like that to help it out.  You're so out of it at firs tin the PACU that you're not really in pain.  Discomfort-- like, I could feel I was swelling and my jaws felt tight and wired shut (duh!), but over all so out of it I didn't care.  I know for me I usually just sleep and am out of it after any anesthesia, but in a good way.  I never get sick luckily!  I was never sick feeling except for the one time they got me off the bed and put me on a wheel chair to pee after being in the PACU for a few hours post op-- when I went to get up I got all hot/flushed, felt nauseated, SO out of it, and felt like I was going to pass out.  By the time I got back to my bed, I was getting the whole ears ringing and TV closing in thing, so I made it back just in time!  It's funny how much you don't care about things in that state.  I remember getting to the toilet and there was pee on it.  I hopped right on and didn't even care (which is SO NOT like me... I'm a little bit of a bathroom-a-phobe who has to wipe everything down before sitting), and totally left the door open for other nurses and patients to just see.  I just didn't care and was so out of it. 

For some reason they were short on beds, so instead of transferring right out of the PACU, I was there for 6 hours or something!  My poor family was stuck in the waiting room all that time after the 3 hours they waited through surgery.  But, the room situation wasn't rockin, so the wait didn't get any better anyway.  I finally got up into a tiny ass room that I ended up sharing with the woman who was next to me in the PACU for the afternoon-- this woman who I couldn't wait to get away from!  She was so whiney, loud, and pretty rude.  I was happy to see her go from the PACU, but then couldn't believe my luck when I showed up in my room and she was there!  Ugh!  My husband got chased out since they didn't want a guy in there overnight, but her husband got to stay for whatever reason.  Made it super awkward a few times when I had to get up and pee or try to walk down the hall with my ass hanging out of my hospital gown.  My mom was a trooper-- she stayed with me through the night and slept on an upright uncomfortable chair.  Thank god she did, because the nurses had to be reminded when my ice packs needed changing or when I was in pain so they could dose me some more morphine.  Overall, my pain level was OK.  I tend to have a high pain tolerance, and I don't have much to compare this to, but I would say an abscessed tooth technically hurts more.  This surgery was more discomfort.  You're terribly swollen, you're bloody/mucousy in your mouth, stuffed in your nose, wired shut, and the worst if it is feeling like you can't breathe through all of that.  I'm very sore to the touch, but already off of the heavy pain meds now at day 5 post op.  The only hiccup I had after being in the room was a noose bleed that just wouldn't quit.  I know they happen after surgery, but I wasn't sure how much was too much.  This one lasted for hours!

The night was rough.  I've never been on IV fluids before, but you do have to pee a bit on them!  Getting up was just so rough.  I was still having the waves of hot and felt like I was going to pass out, so I decided the 24+ hours of empty stomach, blood loss, and heavy doses of morphine were probably not a good combo.  I stopped taking the morphine in the middle of the night so I could make a lap around the floor and get cleared for discharge.  I felt good enough for all of that by the morning and after the surgeon saw me during his rounds, he agreed I could head home!

The past few days have been rough too.  They say up until day 3-4 it's the worst thing you've ever experienced, and I have to agree at this point.  I would have to say this is the toughest thing I've ever been through.  My mom and husband have been awesome through everything making sure I have fluids, ice in my packs (going out back and breaking it up with a hammer manually since the gel blocks they gave me pre op absolutely sucked!), and just over all taking great care of me.  I think today is finally getting over that 3-4 day hump.  I definitely feel better than yesterday.  Up to this point I am more numb on my right side up to the bottom of my eye-- even only the right half of my nose is pretty numb and the left is fine.  My left side has been pretty good since I got out of surgery, but my lips have been in and out of it and at times more tingly than numb.  Definitely think my right side is going to take a while, but hopefully I get all my feeling back.  I started getting zinger pain in my front teeth and could tell that was some nerves already waking back up.  That happened days 2-3.  Today has been much better with that.  It sucks, but at least I have nerves coming back this fast!  I'll take it!  Overall everything is just so swollen, numb, and tight.  Less mucousy today and less stuffed up so that is making it more comfortable to breathe.  The breathing thing really sucked the last few days!  Looking forward to a shower today and maybe taking a walk outside.  I've had ZERO energy.  Probably the pain meds in combo with having maybe 600-900 calories if I'm lucky.  It's just been hard to get food in. 

I'm absolutely not hungry (kind of a good thing, IMO), and it's just such a chore to try and get it in through my squeeze bottle.  Speaking of calories and weight loss, I walked into surgery on Weds at 135 with my clothes/shoes on.  I weighed myself this morning in my PJ's and I'm 126 now.  Most of that is water weight and I imagine I'll eventually plateau soon in terms of the rapid weight loss.  Already got a green smoothie in today (probably 250-300 cal) and will try some pho broth and maybe some broccoli cheddar soup later.


Some of them not the most flattering, but here are a few pics through the journey the last few days!