Just an Update (& a lame cartoon...)

I travelled to the Royal Kingdom paying homage to My Liege yesterday. I'm still grinning! The word 'wonderful' got used a lot. Normally, he'd want to see me again at 6 & 8 weeks post op, but said these visits would be waste of time as I'm already at the 8 week stage now; that my recovery has been WAY beyond average! I told him about the "I 'heart' my Surgeon" t-shirt I'm having printed. Wow, I knew I was feeling really well, but how wonderful to have such encouragement from the One Who Should Know.

I'm allowed to do anything I want, physically, and eat whatever I choose; that my head would inform me of poor decisions quickly enough. COOL!!!! (I've basically been doing this anyways, mind you, with the odd caveat.....) With a grin, he asked when I was resuming orthodontics and getting the Surg hooks off already? Ohhhh he's a funny one. He knew I was just waiting for his omnipotent nod.

So of course I called dear OD the moment I got home and snagged a cancellation appointment for today. NO MORE SURGICAL HOOKS! I've got new active wires and fun non-latex elastic configurations to wear 24-7 for the next four weeks. Bite settling time~ I will wow them with my compliance.

Having my mouth reefed around for and hour was not fun and pulling & snipping the old wires out beyond creepy feeling; putting that much pressure on something that's just been relocated made me feel a bit queasy, actually, but no real pain. I cringed the odd time, but from instinct more than necessity. Everyone was as gentle with me as possible. I think they want t-shirts, too...

It's rather exciting to have that initial orthodontics discomfort again. Progress!

Sentimental Nostalgia: If you've read the early days of this blog you might recall this is the same OD office I went to as a kid. With the exception of a couple new additions, the majority of techs and reception are all the same. It is *SO* cool to walk in there and be swarmed by these ladies who "knew me when" and the encouragement and excitement of this post-op visit was pretty special. Awwwwwww....

The Hungry Frog

Four weeks and feeling pretty good~ I wouldn't say I'm back to my pre-chop self, but it's such a drastic improvement from a couple weeks prior I'm feeling like a million bucks. Odd annoyances are there; stitches poke & pull, braces are annoying as always, wooden numb teeth, cleaning takes hours, when fatigue hits it hits HARD, etc. For the most part I can distract myself to ignore these inconveniences that could otherwise drive one a bit batty. I figure if this is the worst I have to complain about then life is good :)

The only thing that's REALLY gotten to me is the darned allergy thing, which is not only uncomfortable, but makes me rather nervous given I've developed adult allergies to shellfish & NSAIDS which started with hives and now anaphylaxis. Very unnerving.

Anyhow it looks like the culprit is latex! I'm allowed to have the elastics out during the day now, and when I put them back in at night, within 45 minutes I exploded into a rash of itchies all over again. I've now got non-latex band and things are improving wonderfully. (You can still see the rash remnants on my face, but apparently it can take a up to a couple of weeks for the histamine to clear your system)

It's so freeing to have those bands out during the day! At first I was nervous about it, but opening has improved bigtime (2 fingers, now)without even thinking about it and now I can actually and truly BRUSH MY TEETH!!! ALL of them! I'm still quite attached to the glories of my water pick, but the combination leaves me feeling like my mouth is actually CLEAN with nary a fuzzy spot ANYWHERE by the time I'm done. NICE! *Angels singing* The swelling is still slowly sinking. If you didn't know me you wouldn't be able to tell it's there, but I can still feel it deep midface and have a lovely little double chin of puffy if you catch me at the right angle. It' s coming.

I had a horse, 'Snortin' Nort' growing up and he was a strange creature.
He walked around with his neck stretched out, shaking his head at you and clicking his teeth together, the most eery sound; whether in greeting or warning (or both) I could never quite figure out. He scared me a little.
I think I might understand him a bit better now, as I stretch out my neck to hide the double chin, shake the head to check out new angles, and am constantly clicking my teeth together with the joy of teeth that FIT together! So if you see or hear me coming, don't be frightened! That clickety-clicking teeth gnashing is pure bliss!

I've been practicing sticking my tongue out and am proud to say I can now lick my lips! It is slow, often tedious and cautious lip licking but it can be done! (And as requested, I've got the picture to prove it!) Let's just say : Ice Cream mustache is no longer a given but if my sustenance depended on catching flies I would starve.

Finger Lickin' Good

Guess what?... It's been three whole weeks since 'Operation Jigsaw'! Snap, that's hard to believe. There are times a single moment seems an eternity, then you blink and *splat* you've been dumped somewhere in the future and are picking yourself off the ground with a head shake, pondering how the heck you got there. Crazyland.

It's evening now, which is why I can give you a big smile which I have to say I'm pretty impressed with for 3 weeks, mobility-wise. This would be impossible in the morning; the swelling paralyzes the right side of my face. I'll add one in tomorrow for giggles.

Ha, I meant to share a question Mom posed to me before going home: She asked if there was anything I really wanted before she left. For whatever reason, when I replied, "Lick my lips!" She was unable/unwilling to see to my plight. Hmph! Guess that wasn't quite what she had in mind... All the kid chauffeuring, meal-cooking, cookie baking (*whimper*), garden-tending, housekeeping, rant-listening was MORE than enough, thanks Mom ;)

~Daily Jaw~

Junk: Being the "Spontaneously Erupting Human Hive" is ticking me off.

Assess: Thank goodness for Benadryl.

Wow: Awesome day hanging out in the sunshine with El (Sis) at the kids' Bball tourney today!

Poser? Poseur?

Do not for a second think this face is easy, 'cause it takes a LOT of work to look like this, baby:

No pain no gain. It's the weird stitch pulling sensation, both top and bottom; that almost indescribable tingly burn feeling tugging at both nose and chin from the inside-out that gives me the creebles *shudder*.

This pic is actually quite lovely in what it symbolizes (ahhhh, deep moment), which is the slow but steady demise of Stone Face Syndrome. The mobility being displayed has been rewarded with pudding.

The numbness is now limited directly where bone cuts were made. That's kind of creebley too, as before it was just an over-all throbby, tingly, stone numbness. Now, it's quite specific. For example: On the surface my nose feels touch and I can scrunch & wiggle it. But underneath it all, the foundation my nose sits on? Dead. Very strange to describe. Everything else feels like just before the Novocaine wears off at the dentist.


It's bizarre how time of day makes a HUGE difference to what shape my face takes. Morning and evenings seem to be puffier for the obvious lying down+ more swelling blah-blah reasons, and it's still more dramatic on my right, but there's a sweet spot in the afternoon where time stands still, the birds stop singing and things melt away a little bit more. Today I even have a nose/mouth crease back! Wahoo for wrinkles! The nighttime "botox fairy" will be erasing it again shortly till tomorrow afternoon's teaser.

~Daily Jaw~

Junk: Nocturnal muscle spasms (the knife-in-the-ear kind) do not a good sleep make. Spontaneously teary at times.
Assess: Bit by bit, little by little.....
Wow: Starting to feel more human(e)

Humourless

Okay, so this stage of healing really is harder than waiting for surgery. The first couple of weeks things change rapidly, improvements happen quickly. And now? The big stall where everything D-r-a-g-s on. Note the capital D.

I haven't written as not much really changes; nothing is tickling my funny bone & I hate to disappoint. A whole lot of boredom blah with random moments of cheer. I'm not unhappy, just...blah. My skin is still nasty. Residual swelling makes me look duckish and knowing it's here to stay for a bit is, um, something I have to get used to. I can do quite a bit more but get tired easily, yet sitting around is getting old. I'm antsy to get out and DO something, but part of me wants to hide out a bit longer.

The cold from my kids is great fun: Sneezing is even more fun than coughing. Do you know the PSI of your average sneeze? Through your MOUTH my friends, not your nose. Bite teeth gently to stabilize your jaw and let it out your mouth. Hold paper in front of face and marvel at the spray patterns. Pretty! Sneezy, coughy, stuffy. Blech.

My goal was to not lose any weight, and I'm proud of this accomplishment, but GAINING weight? Yeah, leave it to the over-achiever.

Aimee, I feel your pain. I'm developing allergies. I'm pretty sure the full body rash flares the worst with peanut butter (this and a banana in the chocolate shake SJP recommended is a flavour sensation! MMMmmm~TRY THIS!) but I'm not ruling out the banana and noticed the strawberry shake last night also sent me in search of Benadryl. I don't think the drugged out Benadryl hangover is helping my mindset.

I'm going for a good long walk outside in the morning to clear my head :)

~Daily Jaw~

Junk: Blech, Yuck, Blah
Assess: Time to regroup & refocus
Wow: I need to lighten up!