Day 023

Its been about 10 days since I've last posted. I do not feel like I have had much improvement in that time span but I know I've had swelling go down and some feeling has started to come back. Yesterday I noticed feeling in my cheeks have started to come back. My goatee area is still numb but feeling in my lips have very somewhat come back. Just enough to drink a little easier but don't get me wrong, I still spill drinks daily.

I still for the most part am just drinking protein shakes and juices. That is partially due to the wafer I still have in my mouth. I feel like I could handle pudding but wit the wafer it would make it very hard to brush my teeth so I feel like it isn't worth it.

I saw my orthodontist yesterday, he was pleased with the results so far. My bands snapped about 4 or 5 days ago so he put some new bands in the help align my jaw better. I am looking forward to my appointment this Friday with my surgeon to see what he says and I am hopeful he will take out the wafer in my mouth but I feel like that is unlikely.

Day 013

Well I feel not too much has happened since my last post. I have been getting some bloody noses. By bloody noses, it is normally very minimal blood that barely makes it out of my nose. I almost think it is drainage from blood that may have dried up in my nose but I am not sure. I am going to call one of the on call RNs today or tomorrow just to make sure it is nothing serious. I notice it normally happens if I walk a long way or if I am looking down for a while.

I am still pretty  swollen, it is kind of hard to see in pictures but essentially I have noticed that where I am numb is where I am still really swollen so I'm hoping once swelling is gone, much more feeling it back.

I have had some more feeling come back. I am mostly still numb in my goatee area and a little bit across my cheeks. I can control most of my lips now for drinking but I cannot feel anything with my lips, that does not really make much sense to me but that is how it is right now haha.

Below I am going to attach a somewhat humorous side-by-side of what I looked like my first day back at home and what I look like not....

Day: 010 Back to Class

So I guess alot has happened since my last post. I went to the surgeon on day 8 for my one week follow up. We took X-Rays, which I will post one below, and he took a look inside my mouth. Contrary to what I thought, I was supposed to be brushing my teeth during the past week but I was unsure if I was supposed to so I waited until the appointment. When I went to the bathroom a bunch of dead skin and dried blood fell out, it was quite a scene.

He said my jaw is looking good so far, he removed the two stitches on the outside of my face (you cant event see where they made a cut) and he put on some new bands which are awful. They're supposed to help pull my jaw forward to get it into the correct positioning. Now I have lost all hope in being able to talk and my next appointment isn't for a week and a half.

I went back to class yesterday, it went pretty smoothly for the most part. I got some help from a friend of mine to drive me to class and all my professors were pretty understanding and helpful in the situation, which was pretty awesome.

For the most part pain is still pretty moderate as I am taking ibuprofen every 4 hours now, instead of hydrocodiene. My swelling has decreased a bunch there there is still much more left and for the most part all that is numb for me right now is my goatee and my cheeks and some of my nose.

Day: 006 Multi-Day Update

Wow.... sorry I have been bad at keeping this updated... All of the days have kind of just blurred together over the last few days. Every four hours take medicine, do a little walk around the house, and maybe have some protein shake so I don't lose too much weight (which I am perfectly content with losing a bunch of weight).

Things have improved greatly since my last post. I've began trying to drink out of those protein shaker cups since it is somewhat of a small hole. It works sometimes and others, half the drink ends up on my shirt. I tend to have a parent standing by to spot me and let me know if I am spilling since I normally do not know it until it is too late. As weird as it sounds, I have pretty much reverted back to being treated like a baby since I cannot do anything by myself.

On a nasty note, so do not read this paragraph if you have a weak stomach.... I have been using Q-tips to help clear out my nose a bit over the last two days, sometimes with hot water sometimes without. Well I quit today after I managed to pull out a solid chunk almost 2 inches in length... It was unreal. It kept coming out and I won't go into detail but my nose felt amazing afterwards. I COULD FINALLY BREATH THROUGH MY NOSE... for the most part.

But swelling over the last fews days have greatly decreased, I have been pulling a few random chunks of skin/blood from the inside of my mouth. I guess this is somewhat normal, I cannot wait until Tuesday when I go to the surgeon to hopefully brush for the first time... It'll be awesome!

My nights have been terrible compared to the days. I am pretty much off of the Codeine now but still taking some strong ibuprofen. During the days I can normally stretch out taking medicine to 5 or 6 hours but at night I can hardly make it 3.5 hours due to the pain, not sure why it gets so bad at night but it is. Last night the backside of both sides of my upper jaw felt absolutely awful. I'm guessing since they split my upper pallet into 3 pieces and I was just starting to get feeling back in my mouth so I was not yet used to it yet.

I think I have roughly covered everything so far... except in the last few hours my mouth is continually watering from food commercials and my parents baking pizza. I have not gotten sick of chocolate protein shakes yet, but I definitely miss pizza... It is starting to set in how rough this is going to be... food wise.

Day 003: Thanksgiving....

Well I am currently in a recliner, that I have been in for roughly the last 48 hours. It hasn't been too bad, aside from sitting next to the kitchen where my family helped make thanksgiving dinner and took it to my grandparents house. Thank god, because it would've been awful listening to them all eat that food all night but I also did not want them to not celebrate Thanksgiving because of me.

I have not had an update since I got home so here it goes... I ended up getting a 3 Lefort I surgery done on the top of my mouth, which they pretty much split my upper pallet into three pieces to widen it, which in retrospect is kinda depressing because I had to use a spacer for at least year in middle school so I went through all the slow pain for nothing. My swelling has slowly gone up and down over the last few days. I have mastered the level of slowly drinking out of a syringe like a baby calf, as pathetic as it sounds, it feels great to drink something other than medicine and water. I have lost close to 10 pounds already but that is probably due to me barely scarfing down two protein shakes in the last 4 days. I honestly have no idea how I have survived doing that because before I could eat all day if I felt like it.

I hope my swelling continues to go down over these next few days since I will probably be sitting in class here in a hand full of days, that'll be quite the scene if I am still pretty swollen but we will see, I just cannot wait until I can drink out of a cup because it is such a hassle to drink minuscule ounces through a syringe.

I hope this rough feeling I have at the back of my pallet goes away over time, I assume it is from when they moved my upper pallet forward but there feels to be a big bulging scar coming from back there, I guess we will have to wait and see. Also. I think I have developed my own sign language with my parents for asking for different things since I have not been able to talk in about 4 days.... fun stuff.

Day 001: Just got home

Got released form the hospital at 8 pm. From what I was told everything went pretty smoothly during the surgery. I do not really remember much from the day of the surgery after the surgery.

I did wake up a few times in the middle of the night needing to pee but i couldn't since they used a catheter during the surgery. They ended up using another one on me later in the day because I couldn't pee which might have been just as painful as m jaw at the time. I took medicine and laid in bed all day.... exciting stuff. I am just ready to get these next few days over with, as I have read online that days 001through 003 are the worst.

Day 000: Surgery Day

Well today is the big day. I'm not too sure why I've got to be there at least 2 hours early just so I can put on a night gown and hook up an IV to me. Definitely going to be one of the longest two hours of my life.

I will probably have more information tomorrow when I arrive home from the hospital.