Surgery day 37: busy, busy, busy

Hey guys! Ok don't hate me because it's been like a month since I last posted. This past month, I have been crazy busy with band practice and volunteer work (needed for school), summer homework (the work of the devil). As far as my face goes, the swelling is nearly gone; there's only a little bit left in my chin. As far as how I like it goes ...I'm not sure. My face is now definately longer and more angular than before and I'm still not quite used to it. 

Please excuse my sweaty, tired look. I'm currently on break working at a skate park that's at least 100 degrees. 

But anyways, I do think my perception of myself will improve once I get time to get used to the new bone structure and get all of the hardware out. Speaking of that, tomorrow is my 6 week checkup! (Well it's a couple days early but it's all gonna be ok) and at this checkup, the surgeon will remove my giant splint. THANK THE LORD. My new nickname probably will turn into "lipsy" if this thing stays in any longer. Not to mention it'll be 10x more comfortable without a giant plastic mouthguard in my mouth.

This is not ok.

In addition to this magic, as of the coming Tuesday, I will FINALLY be able to eat regular food. Chicken, cereal, Oreo's, and every other not soft food that I have been craving can finally be eaten! No more oatmeal every breakfast or smoothies every lunch. I now can and will eat whatever I please (well except for really hard stuff). Yessir, this week will be a good one.

See you next time 

Surgery day 19: smiles all around

Woohoo! Look at that smile! The swelling and stiffness has significantly decreased and I can now smile without looking like a weirdo circus clown. Not much has change since I last blogged, except I had a garage sale today and I spoke so well that everybody understood me without question! Yup, today was a good day.

Surgery day 15: long time no see

Hey guys! Sorry again for the accidental hiatus. Now that I'm actually going out in public and hanging out with friends, I forget to post all of the time. 

So yesterday, I just passed my 2 weeks mark and I'm feeling pretty good. This is what I look like now.My cheeks and jowls (I hate that word) are still swollen, but it's definately gone down since I last posted. My main problem now is stiffness. In my lower cheeks, jawline, bottom lip, and chin, I have a lot of stiffness that restricts me from smiling, eating, and talking normally. I'm trying to use heating pads and massages to loosen everything up, but so far it hasn't changed much. 

Surery day 11: fat booth

Hey there! So great news: my bottom lip is almost down to its normal size! I would be more excited except the rest of my lower face is still pretty rough. You guys remember that hilariously popular app "Fat Booth" from a few years ago? Well that's what I look like today. Normal me put into Fat Booth. 

The scarf helps to proportion it better, but regardless of how chubby my face is, it sort of looks like a normal face. Because of this, I'm making my first public appearance at the mall today. I debated wearing a surgical mask to hide the swelling, but I figured that the mask would bring more attention to me than my fat face. 

Other than my appearance, I'm feeling incredible! Yesterday was the first day that I met my caloric goal and that was due to the wonderful fact that I can now take out my elastics and eat mushy foods. It felt amazing not having to drink through the spaces of my teeth! For breakfast this morning, I had eggs and a very thick smoothie and I actually got full! I'm going to be loving this new diet. 

That's all for now, wish me luck at the mall.

Surgery day 10: things just got a lot easier

Oh my god guys, today was a very good day. I just got back from my incredibly good checkup. Here's what it went like:

First, they took off my bandage! It felt amazing to finally have almost full movement of my neck again! In addition to this, the doc said that the swelling in my lip will now start to go down a lot because the fluids can drain out now that the bandage is gone; he thinks the swelling will be almost gone in a few days!

Next, they removed my stitches, which is awesome because now I can stop worrying about them when I wash my face and sleep.

Then he took off my elastics and let me brush my teeth. I was so excited except, when I tried to brush, I realized my jaw wouldn't open wide enough for the toothbrush without locking up. I eventually squeezed the brush in there but I couldn't do very much. This kind of discourage me because I really needed to brush, but it was all ok because the doctor said that I only have to wear 2 elastics now and I can take them out when I brush and eat! You will not believe how good this news is! He also said that my jaw pains will get better and my mouth will start to gain full motion again once I start stretching the muscles, which I can now do because I can take off my elastics. 

Then he told me that I can now add soft, no chew foods to my diet including mashed potatoes, scrambled eggs, and maybe even some pasta! I was about to start singing out of pure joy when I heard that.

 The whole visit finished off with him telling me that I looked great, my bite looked beautiful, and my chin will look stunning. 

This past week was pretty miserable, but it is already worth it. Now seeing my face with this bandage off, I can tell a huge difference.

Alright, maybe I'm still a little too swollen for you guys to tell, but the difference is amazing.

Surgery day 9: accidental hiatus

Hey guys! Long time no...write. Sorry for my little break in blogging; it was due to a combination of losing track of time and procrastination thanks to Netflix. Anyways, recovery is going great! I am now officially able to drink from a sippy cup rather than a syringe and swelling has gone down considerably! 

Even my bottom lip has started to deflate!

So right now, I'm in a hotel in Dallas (where I had my surgery) and tomorrow I have my first post-op appointment where I finally get this bandage off! I'm so excited to finally be able to regularly wash my hair and face again! Other than this, not much has changed since the last post except for the fact that I'm craving real food now more than ever. Seriously. I have a Pinterest board titled Stuff I Can Eat When I'm Done With This Stupid Liquid Diet full of recipes and delicious looking food. Why do I torture myself?

Surgery day 6: so much progress

We'll it's technically day 7 due to the fact that it's 12:09 as I type this, but I haven't gone to bed yet, so technically, it's still day 6.

Again, today was a good day; the main reason for this is because my swelling continues to get significantly better. My eyes are pretty much back to normal and my top lip is about half way there. 

If you'll notice, the brusing on my neck and cheeks is getting worse, but it doesn't bother me that much. If you'll also notice, I REPLACED MY BANDAGE AND WASHED MY HAIR. We'll I guess you couldn't see my hair, but anyways, my parents forgot that they gave us another head bandage so that I can wash my hair and change it, but I could only do this once and had to be very careful and may need to see a specialist in our area to help. So I figured today would be good because it's just a day over the halfway point to actually getting the wrap removed on Friday. The hair washing was amazing, but I was really excited about getting a glimps of my new lower jaw and chin, and let me tell you, I was a little freaked out. It looked...strange. I know that it's hard to tell because of all the swelling, but my chin didn't look that much more foward rather then deformed. I would panic but in just about every single blog I've read or video I've seen, the people always say that it's going to look very strange during the healing process, but you'll never know the actual result until you're fully healed. Which is very reassuring. 

And speaking of the healing process, feeling is definitely trying to return to my chin; I've been feeling lots of tingles and, unfortunately, sharp little shots of pain. 

I also have a new worry: weird pain inside my mouth. 

I noticed it yesterday when my tongue felt very rigid and it felt like I had scratches on the roof of my mouth. Then today, when I tried to drink my orange juice and later on my tomato soup (I'm thinking anything acidic) it burned my tongue, roof, and even my throat. The rigidness of my tongue is worse, too. If you've ever had an orthodontic appliance in the roof of your mouth (like an expander, retainer, etc.) and sometimes you wake up in the morning to find that you're tongue was mashed up against the appliance all night, and now you're tongue feels like its coated in gravel, then you know how I feel. Except, there's nothing on the roof of my mouth; not to mention the feeling of little cuts everywhere. I don't know if this is dehydration, something not right with my diet, or just the fact that I can't brush my teeth, but it's getting very uncomfortable and making it hard to eat. I'll probably do some research tomorrow and see what I can find, and if I turn up with nothing, I'll email my doctor. 

That's it for now, can't wait to see what kind of progress I make tomorrow!