And now... More pain!

Alright alright. It's really not that bad.. I think.

I am into my therapy, post-surgery exercises, physio, whatever you wish to call it.
That consists of, nightly, stuffing as many tongue depressors into my mouth in a stack as I can. I am up to 16 and it kills. It hurts like hell to be frank. (Sorry mom, I said hell! Yikesss.) To relate it to, sadly enough, another orthodontic procedure, it feels like when I had my pallet expander in that ripped the cartilage from my upper jaw area (think sinuses) and broke it into two pieces to make my upper jaw wider. Not pleasant you think? Yes. I know.
This exercise is doing something similar. While it is not ripping and breaking cartilage, it IS stretching muscle, which at the moment feels almost the same.
A couple of nights ago, the pain was so bad that it sent me into hysterical sobs which didn't stop until long after even the pain had faded. Uncontrollable and wretched.
I must admit, after that episode, I haven't been brave enough to do my exercise again. I should tonight really, I do want to be able to yawn without pain someday soon.

Let senior year begin..

Well I am back to school, back to my amazing friends. I am so truly blessed to have finally, after 16 years, found genuine amazing friends.

I went and saw my orthodontist yesterday - everything's looking great. He gave me non-latex elastics for my mouth.
Update: I have a latex allergy.
If you remember from a few days after surgery I had the sores on my lip, we now know that was from the latex tape they used for the breathing tube.
As well I have a scar on my hand from a few years ago from a reaction as well.
The reason we found this out is that I recently developed very painful sores on the inside of my mouth where the latex elastics had been rubbing. It made it painful to talk and just to function.
The sores are now gone and I am now in the "know" about my allergy. Yay me. ;)

Being back to school is great. I love the atmosphere and being around everyone again. My last year. Wow.
Only problem is that I am talking A LOT more than I have in the past month. My jaw and it's new position aren't liking talking this much though. The muscles and the jaw joint is quite sore and aren't cooperating with me very much.
E.g. I'll be standing there, talking or not, and my jaw will seize up, causing me to loose control of my jaw which normally ends up in it painfully jerking to one side, open or closed, and usually ends with it clamping down on my lip. All looks very odd especially to those that don't know my story.
OR today I was drinking something only to have it squirt out the other side of my mouth - that is thanks to me still not having any feeling in my lip/chin. (This no-feeling issue also causes me randomly to not be aware of having something on my face or to have a squeak slip out of my mouth. . Rather awkward and embarrassing, especially at school)

But despite this I am quite content. I constantly am getting compliments on how I look. I have a jaw line for the first time in my life and I actually look my age. How nice. Trust me. It's fabulous.

Don't Eat Steak! (5 weeks & 2 days post-surgery)

Okay okay, I know I'm not supposed to be eating most solid foods, let alone steak for another two weeks but what's a girl to do?!
We had a well-traveled Australian, AMAZING barbecuer on the grill. I just couldn't say no.

Foolish girl, I know.

I spent the entire night waking up due to the pain.
I then spent the morning freaking out that I had lost my anti-inflammatory. Trips up and down the elevator for my dad to search the vehicle.
Luckily I found it later on and that has definitely helped a lot.

But argh. I just wanted a little red meat!

A little more on the swollen and sore side today. I deserved it though. ;)

Just keep swimming..swimming..swimming..

I am now officially a month post-surgery. Yay me.

I had another orthodontist appointment today. He did nothing really, just checked everything, made me open my mouth until it hurt - thanks for that.

What I've learnt today: My horrible headaches are for sure from the surgery. So no, there's no brain tumor or something tragic, just the muscles freaking out and spazzing over the jaw change. My anti-inflammatory helps with that, the rare time I remember to take it.

My swelling, although it won't completely be gone for another 5 months, looks like it's all gone so that's a positive.

I can eat a lot more than usual, e.g. I had chicken thighs last night. Mmm.

Until I can eat a burger (mmm a burger) I'll keep on keeping on.

Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. . I feel like Dorey.

T-Minus 24-ish Days & Counting

Cactus Club - pesto chicken quesadilla
Earls - clam chowder
Mon Thongs - world's best chicken curry
Fatburger - one decent hamburger and fries please
Genjie's - Super Crunch sushi

All these join my ever-growing list of food items I am more than ready to consume. But as the title of this blog states, I still have a few more weeks (3 actually, and then some extra days) to go. Until then, my swelling will continue to go down, my cravings continue to grow, and the days continue to pass. ;)

I won't be updating this blog as often anymore for the obvious reason as progress has slowed and there aren't any substantial day-to-day activities worth mentioning (unless you wanted a play-by-play on what I am eating on my limited diet!). I'll probably update it once a week now is my guess.


Not very swollen, although the picture works to my benefit for sure. I find I am much more swollen for the first half of the day and then the swelling goes down a bit as the hours pass.

Two Weeks Since Surgery

Alright, it's been exactly two weeks since my surgery now.

I went to see my surgeon today. Yayy. I can now open my mouth (see picture below) but it is limited. I can eat overcooked pasta and rice, ice cream and scrambled eggs for the next month.

Good news though as well. My surgeon is AMAZED with how I am doing. Not only did he say I'm doing fantastic but although I am only two weeks post-surgery, I have the progress of someone who is 1.5-2 months post-surgery so I am WAY ahead of the game here. Praise God. That's awesome.


This is how much I can open my mouth for the next month. Not much, just under half an inch probably but it's definitely better than before (not at all!)


Today was a very good day though. Two of my friends came and visited me which helps with the .. down-in-the-dumps feeling that I was told to expect as I recovered. I can now eat more than just soup and juices and I can talk a bit better now. In other words, no more baby talk. It was disappointing to find out I had to have such a limited diet for a whole entire month still (we thought it would only be two more weeks like this) but at least I can have some protein and heavier foods. I've lost around 8 pounds so far and am hoping not to loose anymore weight.

Day... Million? (13)

The days are starting to go by faster lately. Whether that is good or bad, I'm not sure yet. Haha.

We had an appointment with my orthodontist yesterday just so he could check my bite and make sure nothing had came loose during the surgery, a general check up. He said everything looked "fantastic" and that the sites were looking really good and clean. (Sites as in where they operated on me) which is good because I've not been as religious with doing the salt water rinses to purify the sites this time compared to when I got my wisdom teeth removed so I have been slightly concerned.
Apparently my bite is looking really good, both Dr Bell (my surgeon) and Dr Allan (my orthodontist) have commented on how good it is looking. I am desperately praying that this means I only have a few short months left with my braces on. That would be the best thing that could happen to me this year - to get my braces off before second semester starts in January.

I'm feeling pretty good. I get weak easily if we go out but my stamina is getting better. I get very dizzy very easily as well. But I was able to drive yesterday (did about 30 minutes worth of driving) so I think that shows that I am improving. Yay! It's been so long since I've driven I was worrying I'd lost the ability to drive!!