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!!

Day 10 - Something to be proud of!

Finally I can look in the mirror without grimacing.
So the bruising is receding, the swelling is going down. My reaction to the morphine is resolved. My hunger for real food.... not so much.
But today the only issue is that one of the appliances they inserted onto my braces to hold the strong elastics that keep my mouth shut is now piercing through my lip.

Despite that I'd say it's a good day today.

Here are some pictures I just took of Day Ten!

Catch Up; Days 5-9

Wow definitely didn't think it had been THAT long since I updated this little ol' thing. My bad.

Although the past few days, my swelling HAS gone down, in a way, it's almost been harder. I have been much more aware of the state of misery I am in. No talking and no eating real food. Those of you that know me quite well know that those two combined are the equivalent of a Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events book starring moi.
Well okay. Update update.
Everything had been going fine.

By the way. I now have a HUGE list of food items I will consume immediately upon being able to open my mouth. My Lord.

Anyways, everything had been going fine. The medication was doing wonders, I was resembling a water balloon and the world was at peace. And then came the migraines. Yes they came and came and came. Morphine wouldn't do it, large insane doses of Children's Tylenol wouldn't do it. My two other prescribed meds for post-op wouldn't do it. It was bad.
And then came the night terrors which we later learned were hallucinations. Wonderful. Hallucinations from hell, of hell, of demons, of slaughter houses, of everything. It's awful. Two, or three nights, days. I couldn't be in a dark room, the shadows started my head going on these horrid things yet the dark soothed my migraines.
We called the surgeon and he said it was a reaction to the morphine so we went off it but it still takes a few days to pass through my system. Yesterday I hope was the last day for the symptoms.
I also vomited my guts up on the side of the road one day. Two of the days I slept. Full out. Until around 6pm, woke up for a couple of hours and went back to sleeping soundly.
I've been exhausted.

And now I'm frustrated because yet again my stomach grumbles for real food. Not pureed food and juice.
Cake would be nice, steak, a good burger, pasta, even some ice cream! I must stop.

Obviously I am feeling better enough to complain. Poor mom.



I took this yesterday, the swellings gone down a bit more. Another week and I'll be able to open my mouth a bit more (I'll have looser elastics so I can open enough to stuff gagging scrambled eggs into my mouth and choke on them ;) ) and hopefully after the week, I'll be looking relatively normal!

P.S. Oh! I ALSO got my stitches on the outside of my face removed the other day. That hurt a bit but it's nice to have them not poking now!

Day 4 - Sleep Time

Well apparently my body needed a complete full day to catch up on sleep.
I woke up around 6:30am to take my meds with a liquid meal (these liquid meals are growing old real fast. Give me some chips or something. Dear Lord!) Fell back to sleep till noon. Took a quick, but EXTREMELY refreshing shower praying the whole time that the heat and humidity wouldn't make me faint like the nurses had warned me about. It didn't. It DID however feel so good to get the clumps of blood out of my hair Finally!! Yayyy!
After that I quickly fell back asleep and just woke up.
And I STILL feel like I could remain in sleep bliss until tomorrow morning. After these next doses of meds/liquid meals, I just may do that.
The next two weeks of no talking and liquid meals are going to be a royal pain in my.. butt.

BUT my swelling has gone down a LOT today. Drastically. I don't look as obese! (Yay!) The yellow-orange-green bruising is spreading however but it's better than having an excessive amount of swelling! =D


beautiful flowers from my amazing aunt! I love them.



this is my favorite post-op picture so far =DD looking good now that the swelling is going down and my head doesn't feel like a living, walking, breathing water balloon!



quick look at the bruising. this was taken on my webcam though so most of the details get blurred out. in real life the bruising is more extensive.



Did I mention that today I got to start warm heat pads instead of cold? That was an odd but warming-feel-good switch!

Day 3 - Prayer IS Helping

Today was supposedly the day of dread.
Yesterday we had my surgeon and nurses calling to warn us that today the swelling would be so bad I would just have tiny slits for eyes because it happens to EVERYONE.
But here I am today with eyes wide open. SO yes, you're prayers are working so much and are very very appreciated.
Swelling is spreading down instead of up though. It is now moving down through my neck towards my chest. I had some blood coming from my nose today but that's still from the breathing tube. My throat isn't as gucky as it has been, now it's only hurting because the swelling is spreading there.

I'm looking rather rough today but I did make an effort to look good although in the pictures you would think it's the opposite. But I pulled my hair back and changed. It helped haha. I have moved downstairs for the daytimes though and am finding the couch to be quite an ideal place to hang out.

I got BEAUTIFUL flowers from my Aunt today. My scatterbrained mind forgot to snap a picture of them just now but I will tomorrow or later on today. Daisies. So beautiful. They're now next to "my couch" downstairs.


Swelling has started to not progress as quickly.




bruising on the left side of my head. you can also see the stitches and the sores above my lip and on the bottom of my lip.




I just wanted to get a shot of the sores on my top lip since it makes me queasy to lean into a mirror to get a close up look at it.




right side of my face. mm yum. gotta love those bruises and stitches!! viva la vida!

Afternoon of Day 2

I've realized that having to eat a liquid meal before every single dose of medication (I'm taking 3, anti-biotic, anti-inflamatory and morphine) is a huge pain in the butt.

Everything continues to swell, the bruising increases. Tomorrow, I might not be able to open my eyes. The swelling is starting to move down my neck towards my chest area.

Did I mention that when they did the surgery, that they have to cut the nerve that is attached to the lower lip and my chin. 5-10% chance I will never get the feeling back. If I do, it takes 6 months to get the feeling back. Please pray for that too because I would really like to be able to feel if there's water or food falling down my chin.

I'm not allowed to talk for a while. Boo.


The bruising is still spreading, and the sores on my lip are getting more painful.


Swelling is increasing and will continue to until Sunday or Monday.

What these pictures don't show is the yellow-ish bruising that is also covering my lower half of my face.

First Night and Day 2

Last night was pretty rough. The swelling and pain kept waking me up. I had to wake up twice during the night to stay on schedule for my antibiotics and morphine (which I have to eat a meal with every dose).
The swelling has increased DRASTICALLY overnight. I can no longer have liquid with a thickness more than water. Eg. I can't even have something like Campbell's Tomato soup. According to my surgeon's office, tomorrow I won't be able to see my eyes whatsoever.
Yesterday I could talk but due to the increase in swelling, I can no longer talk.
We also discovered that the latex tape the used on my arm to keep my IV in has caused an allergic reaction. The area of my arm where the tape was is now red, irritated and rashy but Polysporin is helping with that.


Guess who gets to look like an obese woman until the swelling goes down?!?!! Me!!


Day 2. Bruising is growing along with swelling.




Day 2 . Swelling is increasing. I can no longer talk due to it.



My neighbor was nice enough to bring some beautiful flowers over that have a small teddybear attached. =)




My orthodontist also dropped off a nice pot of flowers and beautiful greens. =)

Corrections From Day 1

I now know the stuff with disorientation/thrashing doesn't happen to most people only to a few but it is not uncommon.

Also to let you know I was not administered morphine at first - I was given 3 types of anaesthetics for my general then when the surgery was completed they administered a freezing into the surgery sites to minimize pain and a morphine injection; then another morphine injection once more just before my mom got there. It is hard for me to remember some of this stuff because I was quite drugged, my mom just informed me of these corrections - also, one of the 3 anaesthetics was the one that Michael Jackson's doctor was giving him (wrongly) - it starts with a p something like propanol. (I don't know exactly.).

Day 1

7:45 AM. I meet my Anesthesiologist. He briefs me as they put an IV into me, pumping my blood with NaCl, along with giving me shots of some chemical meant to relax me. They then give me a shot to put me to sleep and I am adminstered high doses of Morphine. They also put a breathing tube up my nose and way down my throat which has now caused me to have quite a sore throat.

Sometime around 10:00 AM. The surgery is complete. I remember NONE of this as I had just been awoken from the General Anesthetic but THIS is what I was told by the nurses. I had blood covering my face (this I figured out for myself because when I woke up, fully conscious the second time, there was blood on my face, covering my hospital gown and on the sheets and pillow case. Wonderful.) The nurse told me she cleaned my face quite a few times. Apparently when I woke, I was thrashing about extremely hard. I was disoriented and in a panic. I thrashed and hit, kicked, etc, in a panic for a few minutes before I dropped back into a near-unconscious state. This apparently happens to most people as they come out of the anesthetic.

Sometime around 1:00 PM. I wake up for the first time fully conscious. I remember everything that has happened from this point on. My mouth is tied together but surprisingly I CAN talk. I just have to move my lips and tongue but not my teeth and I can mumble enough that people understand what I'm saying. I joke with the nurses and they help me get dressed, stand up without collapsing, etc. They take my IV out and give me a HUGE shot of morphine. They then wheel me out to the roof of the building where my mom is waiting. I have blood stuck in a big clump in my hair.

I've slept off and on since then and I've managed to eat a cup of soup as well. Eating is difficult as I cannot open my teeth so the liquid has to, somehow remarkably, go through the teeth. I am quite awake and have taken my antibiotics and morphine again since coming home. I feel relatively good. My orthodontist personally sent me a huge thing of beautiful flowers. I have four stitches on the outside of my mouth and up to, my guess, a hundred inside of my mouth but we are waiting to hear that from the surgeon when he calls. I'm icing my mouth constantly and I am quite bruised. I also have quite a few sores over and around my lips which remind me of when my grandma was in the hospital and had them. I am able to take pictures and will post some daily on here for everyone (or close to daily). Please remember though. This blog is not for social purposes. It is for those who care about me to see my progress. That does not mean that these pictures and meant for been laughed at and spread about the web and Facebook. This is a very painful difficult time and respect in that would be appreciated.

Thank you so much for your prayers.


7 am. morning of. lower jaw in "natural" position almost an inch back from the front teeth.




smiling with my jaw back in its natural position




jaw back. thank God that's gone forever.




6 hours after surgery. pretty drugged. swelling not too bad.




the bruising has started. the dots you see on my cheek are sets of 2 stitches. of course there are WAY more stitches than this that are on this inside of my mouth.




pretty good shot of the bruising but it's grown since then.




self portrait. 10 hours after surgery. swelling continues to increase.




when all else fails, Smile =))

My Surgery - Corrective Lower Jaw, or Orthognathic, Surgery

Corrective jaw, or orthognathic, surgery is performed by Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons to correct a wide range of minor and major skeletal and dental irregularities, including the misalignment of jaws and teeth, which, in turn, can improve chewing, speaking and breathing. While the patient's appearance may be dramatically enhanced as a result of their surgery, orthognathic surgery is performed to correct functional problems.

Following are some of the conditions that may indicate the need for corrective jaw surgery:

difficulty chewing, or biting food
difficulty swallowing
chronic jaw or jaw joint (TMJ) pain and headache
excessive wear of the teeth
open bite (space between the upper and lower teeth when the mouth is closed)
unbalanced facial appearance from the front, or side
facial injury or birth defects
receding chin
protruding jaw
inability to make the lips meet without straining
chronic mouth breathing and dry mouth
sleep apnea (breathing problems when sleeping, including snoring)

Your Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon will reposition the jawbones in accordance with your specific needs. In some cases, bone may be added, taken away or reshaped. Surgical plates, screws, wires and rubber bands may be used to hold your jaws in their new positions. Incisions are usually made inside the mouth to reduce visible scarring; however, some cases do require small incisions outside of the mouth. When this is necessary, care is taken to minimize their appearance.