The post-op check ups

I still slept for 12 hours but I woke up feeling pretty good on Monday. I didn't wake up still feeling tired and I took only Motrin for the first time yet.

I called Dr. Roger's office to ask about getting my rubber bands put on again. When I called Saturday, they said it would be fine until Monday. I made the appointment for 2:45pm since my Orthodontist appointment with Dr. Jim was at 1pm. Since I was supposed to go for my post-op checkup tomorrow, they just moved it and did it while I was there.

So I saw Dr. Jim first. Everyone at the office stopped to check out the results. I was smiling sorta but since I still can't feel half of my face, I'm still swollen and bruised and sore, a smile is hard to pull off. Still, it was nice to see them all after all the time leading up to this.

Dr. Jim was very pleased with the results. He said that it came out better than he'd even hoped for. This was great news. He also said that my recovery is doing better than usual which I'm happy for. Before he had pictures takes, he introduced me to another guy there who had had double jaw surgery. Top and bottom.

His mouth was wired shut for 6 weeks and he had all sorts of pain. It made me appreciate how lucky I've been.

So after that, I went home for a little while and then off to Dr. Roger's. He was also happy with the results and my progress. He took his hemostats and pinched my chin in a few places. He'd ask if I could feel it. I almost could but not really. Then he got to a spot I could feel. I winced a little because it actually hurt! It hurt where I could feel it and I couldn't even feel it where I couldn't.... that's strange. He did say it's a good sign that I have feeling in some spots now.

We had the x-rays taken that I posted. He told me about how my nerve was in the way of the one angled bracket and that's why there's a curve in my chin and in the bracket. I asked about how strong the brackets are and he said they'll hold up just fine.

He gave me some more rubber bands and then showed me how to put them on. It's a good thing, I already broke the new ones. Putting them on myself was pretty simple. The hospital gave me a pair of hemostats which made it all possible. I couldn't have done it without those.

I asked if I could eat anything soft yet and he said no tougher than pasta. Even chewy bread is too tough yet. I was thrilled because I was craving macaroni and cheese all day for some reason. I stopped at Sidetracks because theirs is delicious. I got it with the sausage and cut it into tiny bites. I got my dad a burger.

After about half way through, I couldn't do it anymore. I was eating dreadfully slow already. After a while, I was just sore and my jaw was aching. I put the rest in the refrigerator. I haven't really eaten all day besides that. I have bean soup warming up right now. I'm looking forward to that.

It's late but I slept 12 hours last night. I've slept more than I've been awake in the last few days. I may try to play more Halo. I've gotten better and not clenching my jaw. I'll probably play for half an hour. Maybe more. I'm going to try to be productive tomorrow. I haven't had the energy before. I think I will be in better shape tomorrow.

It's that time again. Pics.

The money shot

X-rays from my post-op check up with Dr. Roger. You can see the fixtures that hold my jaw to my face and how much of a gap was created. He said that the bone will grow back to where you wont be able to see those gaps after a few months.

The weekend

The weekend was strange. I slept until 1pm on Saturday and 2pm on Sunday. I didn't go to bed late really, 11pm maybe. I had these intense, stressfull dreams. They were long and seemed to last all night. I'd wake up sometimes just briefly and then fall back asleep into the dreams.

Saturday morning, I woke up with blood running from both corners of my mouth. There was a small pool of it on my pillow. There wasn't so much that I was worried. I knew what caused it.

I'd chewed on the corners of my lips all night. I think that's why I was having the dreams. Without the rubber bands, my mouth was opening more. It was enough that my big swollen lip would fit between my teeth and braces. Since I can't feel my bottom lip, I chewed on it for most of the night I think.

The wounds weren't that big or bad looking. It was just some of the skin and not much even. I was fine and so I took some of the liquid pain medicine.

I was groggy most of the day and didn't feel good. I had a headache and didn't eat much. I went to bed early but this time, I packed my braces that were near the corners of my lips with wax. I tried to make it so that my lips would be lifted up by it and not get in my mouth.

This helped a lot but I still had some blood on my mouth Sunday, less Monday.

Sunday was pretty much the same. I did play some Halo 4 over the weekend. I couldn't actually play for long. I seem to clench my jaw when I'm playing. I get real focused and don't breath and clench. It doesn't feel good after a while and I get sore and stop playing.

I watched Taken 2 on Sunday. That was pretty good. Spy movies are always great. I just remembered that Bond was the other one I watched. Go figure.

Pic time.

This is from Sunday. The bruising just gets worse every day. The swelling has come down a decent amount.

The day the band broke up

Friday was quiet for most of the day. I slept and ate more broccoli milkshakes.

Around 8pm, I watched the Bond Skyfall movie that I had rented the day before. For the first 40 minutes, I cycled on the exercise bike going very soft. I was basically just moving my legs. By the end of the movie, I was tiered and it was time for bed.

That's when my bands broke. I was taking my meds, antibiotics and a little of the good pain liquid. They gave me a plastic measuring cup that looks like a shot galss. All the meds are liquid except one very small pain pill. I call it the Super Motrin. It's a 'nonsteroidal antiinflammatory'. I looked them up. It turns out that the lip cream they gave me is steroidal and it has warning about using it on your mouth. Still, the stuff works. My lips would be cracked and chipping away by now. I can't lick them.

So I went to knock back my medicine cocktail and my elastic bands all snapped like a chain reaction after the first one went. I swallowed one by accident. Another one, I saw and got out. The other two, I didn't find until the next day and was able to pick them out with my fingernails.

I got worried that my whole surgery was in jeopardy now and started Googling. Finally I read a message board post on an old, inactive forum for adults with braces. They were talking about bands and he said that he's noticed that some surgeons aren't putting them on everybody anymore. Mixed with them telling me that breaking a rubber band isn't an emergency, I went to bed.

I was still a little about messing it all up while I sleep but I did go to sleep finally.

Here's the pics.

Here's me. I don't look so bad in this pic.

This is my ultra-awesome laser star projector. That's the ceiling with the lights off. I had it on during the movie.

The outside world

I left the house today. I was feeling a little stir crazy in the house so I went with my dad to the hardware store. I looked a little better but still bad. No one really knew what to think of me at the store. I tried to act as normal as I could because I didn't want people to think I was 'special'. They probably did anyway.

We stopped at an old fashioned video rental store. It's like Netflix only in a building and you have to pay per movie, and drive it back a few days later. My dad has a membership there so I rented a few. It turns out that the red and yellow label on the box meant that I got to pick a forth free. I only watched two.

I got a Tom Cruise movie called Oblivion that looked pretty bad but I rented it anyway. I meant to watch it but never did.

The drive home was a little bumpy. My pain meds were starting to wear off and every crappy piece of road made my jaw ache.

I was getting nervous about the air bags. I've found that every time I'm in the car now, I worry that something's going to happen to deploy the airbags. That would be epic fail for my face. I think it would break my jaw right off the titanium fixtures.

By the time we got home, I was getting tired again. I made a broccoli, carrot and strawberry milkshake and took a nap.

I took a shower for the first time before we left. That's when I really noticed that my face, neck and chest had turned yellow. I mean, crayon yellow. There's a purple outline around the entire bruise that spans my cheeks to my... nipples. The chin bruise is larger and more gross now. It looks like Gorbachev's spot migrated to my chin.

I still can't feel the bottom of my face. Everything from my cheeks down are numb. I can feel my top lip, but the bottom still feels swollen and numb.

So that's Thursday. Just like any other.

Here's some pics.

This is my profile with swelling.

You can see the bruise and almost see the yellow.

This is gross. That's the only face I can make and still show the rubber bands.

Knife and Fork

This is how I eat. This is what I eat. You get used to it.

Correction

The first day post, I wrote my surgeons name wrong! His name is Dr. Roger, not John. I don't know who Dr. John is, but if he's reading this blog, he might as well close the tab. I was on a lot of drugs when I wrote his name.