Day 18

Not too much to report. I still have a lot of swelling and pins and needles in my nose and chin. There is an aching pain on my top gum line. I have a lot of discomfort inside my mouth, for example certain teeth are hurting and the retainer on the roof of my mouth is bothering me. My gums hurt and keep getting this sharp annoying pain on the roof of my mouth--It lasts only a second but it's very annoying. I got some meatloaf hoping I could eat it but it was a little too tough for me and I ended up just going with the mashed yams and chicken broth again. I did eat a salmon filet yesterday and that was tasty. I'm so ready for this to all be done. It feels like I will never get out of feeling like this. Today is Saturday so I'm taking it easy. I went for a long walk and got some sun but for the most part I've been lounging around all day. I worked 3 half days this past week and it was hard to do. I may have gone back a little too early because my mouth was really aching by the end of work each day. I had/have a lot of work to do and I feel like it would be fine to just do the work but it feels best to not smile or talk, ha! It's really hard to work like that though, because I want to smile and talk to people but by 5pm I'm rushing home for pain meds and bed. Putting a hot wash cloth on my face helps the aching stop.

Day 16

I had an appointment with Dr. Franco yesterday. I told him there was a wire that was sticking out and stabbing me in the lip and he said he couldn't bend or cut it but he had a tool that he could buff it down so it was smooth. Luckily that worked out because that wire had been catching my lip and making me bleed for days! I don't have an appointment with Dr. Simon until June 20th so it would have been a long time with that annoyance. Franco said I did a good job with the first round of rubber bands and he put only one on this time. I could have cried I was so relieved. The bands are the worst part of this ordeal. They're so painful that I had trouble sleeping! Speaking of sleeping, I have't mentioned that I have NOT had a hard time sleeping this whole time. I've read other blogs and people talked about not being able to sleep or get comfortable. Anyway, after my appointment I actually went to work for a few hours. Everyone seemed pretty thrilled that I was back and I told them I'd work some half days and ease back into it. I'm still in some minor pain but I'd rather just go back to work. There are five girls that work there and we all answer the office phones. I was planning on letting them get the phones until I was better able to talk but then I found out they're all on a 7:30-4:30 schedule now and I'm the only one that will be working to 5. For 30 min. I was answering the office phones and just mumbling and spitting but nobody said anything or seemed to care so I'll just go with it. I can't smile well and my face is so tight feeling and achy. I went to the store yesterday and bought some groceries. I bought a few packs of spinach ravioli but when I tried to eat it I realized that it was a little ambitious and I have to stick to soup a little longer. When I tried to chew I felt a little pop, it didn't hurt it just felt scary. When my mouth is banded shut for hours it's hard for me to get it open after I take the bands off. When they were off that whole week I was able to get my mouth open quite a lot. I can drink out of a "big girl cup" now but occasionally I'll feel liquid running down my neck an chest and realize it's spilling out. Here are some photos of the only rubber band I currently have and the position of my bite now and my best effort at a smile.

I got an X-Ray and took a photo of it so it's bad quality but at least you can see the pins and the 'break' which is the dark arch over my top gum line and the dark lines between the back molars. Gross huh!

Day 14

It's been 2 weeks now since surgery. My swelling is still pretty bad. The area around my nose is stiff and tight feeling. My lips and chin feel like they were burned. I have more movement in my mouth but scrunching my nose up feels weird and I can't really smile or laugh well, it kind of hurts. Inside my mouth the roof is pretty numb but feels more like a recovering burn and the line where my top lip meets my gum is sore and swollen still and the bottom front teeth hurt due to the rubber bands. There's still some swollen areas around my ear from the TMJ surgery and I keep going to scratch it only to realize that it hurts to do that. I don't know what that's about. I can eat mushy food. My mom made me some vegetable soup with the veggies pretty chunky. I tried to eat that but it was difficult so I put it in the blender and it was easier after that. I got some almond milk chocolate pudding that I'm really into. Scrambled eggs, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, protein shakes, omelet, soups. Brushing is such a bore. I have to brush, rinse with my waterpik and swish with a mouthwash and add my bands after every meal. It takes forever.

Day 12

I'm in pain. 7 over 10 for sure. I stayed in bed all day today. The rubber band-pins and needle combo is torture. I was crying this morning. I had some chicken broth and eggs and stayed in bed. The swelling is the same today although I can feel a tad more sensation in my cheeks than yesterday. Hot washcloths to the face and neck for the rest of the day.

Day 11

My face has the feeling of pins and needles CONSTANTLY. It's very annoying and it's the strongest in my chin and lips. I'm starting to get some movement back in my lips. I've been using the moist heat (aka hot wash cloth) on my neck and face like Dr. Franco told me to do. I hate the rubber band situation. I don't feel like I'm putting them on right because my teeth are moving and it just doesn't feel right. They hurt too. my bottom gum line is throbbing all day from the pull of the bands. I'm able to eat more now. I can have eggs and chili and rice. My boyfriend just went to pick up some Shepherd's Pie. It's pathetic looking and sounding when I eat. I'm slurping and sucking the food but I can get it down so that's the important part. I'm a little more mobile, I've gotten out to the park a lot and I've gone to the store and can do things here and there. But I get very tired and need to come home and nap after a couple of hours. I have some pain but I'm trying to lay off the pain killers if I can. I just want to take 1 a day now and try to use Advil instead during the day. My mouth feels really overcrowded at this point. With the retainer, braces and bands I feel really trapped. I can't wait for all this to be out of my mouth. The shifting around of my teeth has also made a wire stick out and is stabbing me non stop. I got some tools and tried to bend it until I go see Dr. Franco on Wed. but it didn't really work. Here's the swelling process as of today!

Day 9

I saw Dr. Franco today. He banded me back up and gave me a small bag of rubber bands. I'm supposed to take off the bands for food and then put them back on myself. I tried it after my supper and it's not as easy as they make it look when they're putting them on you in the office or at the orthodontist. I really struggled to get the little suckers on and didn't have any coordination to do it. Also my gum line where the inside skin of my top lip meets really hurts. They made incisions there and it's swollen so when I'm messing with it I get stressed easily. What if I'm doing the wrong teeth anyway? He showed me but I'm not confident I did it right. Dr. Franco also removed those single stitches that were on both of my cheeks. He said that I needed to get really into the moist heat rule and make sure I'm doing it all day long so the swelling can drain. I told him what I did with the crock pot by my bed and he said I was smart. :) Before I banded myself back up I brushed and used my waterpik on the lowest setting. Dr. Franco said not to use it the first week but after it's ok. I was so grossed out by what came out of there even after I brushed! There is stuff stuck under the retainer and in between all the cracks and swells. Yick! But it feels clean now. After my appointment I went for a long walk around the park and through a neighborhood I like.

In the photos you can see some of the yellow bruising I have on my neck and chin. You can see how my chin is a little longer, although its still hard to tell with all the swelling. The one of my face is to show you how much i can smile. Not much but much better than the past week. That little dot in between my eyes appeared the day of the surgery. I'm not sure what it is. My skin is pretty gross and I'm looking forward to a good facial when this is said and done.

Day 8

My healing process is inching right along. I still feel like a have a huge face and I noticed that my open bite is kind of back. I think it's because I haven't had the rubber bands on for the past couple days. I'll see Dr. Franco tomorrow and let him figure it out. I have a crock pot that I filled with water and put beside my bed and set it on low. Dr. Franco kept telling me in the last surgery and in this one to put moist heat on my neck, chin, cheeks for 15 min a spot several times a day. But, the problem is that if I go to the sink and use hot water on a rag, it only stays hot for about 3 minutes, then I have to get up again. That's very boring to do consistently all day long. Now with the pot next to my bed, I can sit and watch a movie and when the rag is not hot, I can dip it in the hot water by my bed! I dropped a few drops of tea tree oil on the rag and was surprised how much my cat loved it. She keeps getting in my face and trying to lick the rag.

In other news, remember how I told you that I was thinking of that chicken fried steak in Rockwall? Well, the chef died! My friend told me yesterday that he died and they closed the restaurant and I can never have his chicken fried steak again!. This is Texas and chicken fried steak is not hard to come by but still...I wanted that one. My breakfast was an egg, cup of asparagus puree and water. I started using chopsticks to scoop the eggs in and that works well for me. I guess after tomorrow I can't have eggs anymore after Franco bands me up again.

Day 7

So last night I was brushing more aggressively like Dr. Franco told me to do and those darn rubber bands broke and flew away. Now my mouth is open. I text Dr. Franco and he said that it was no big deal and he'd fix it on Thursday. Yay me, I took the opportunity to eat eggs. My entire mouth is numb. I don't like it at all. I know there are sores and when I brush I know I'm irritating them but I can't feel it so I'm worried I'll open a stitch or continue to brush over something that needs to heal. I got in there with a tiny flashlight to see what's going on in the back and it was pretty gruesome. I can see stitches and blood and slime and chunks of flesh. I just did what I could to try to get it cleaned. My top lip hurts when I move it up to brush. My bottom lip is loose and I'm constantly drooling. My chin and around my mouth and nose are really active. I feel a lot of nerves regenerating. There's pressure on my face and yellow bruising is starting to show up around my neck and jowls. I'm still not getting enough calories. I really need to work on that because it's just such a hassle to eat anything. I'm slurping and drooling and my nose is leaking and I'm still for the most part having to use a syringe to eat and the syringes have a plastic smell. This morning I had 2 eggs. That's 200 calories then I didn't have anything else until just now at 6pm. I had a shake, I put whey protein powder, collagen powder, cocoa, cinnamon, strawberries, blueberries, 1/2 banana, handful of spinach and a little water. I drank the whole thing. Maybe I'll try to get some broth and rice in before bed, since I don't have the bands. The problem with not getting calories is that I'm losing weight but it's good weight! Muscle tissue including my heart muscle! When people lose weight they want to lose fat slowly over a period of time then it stays off. But if you're starving you can't get better and you lose energy and get headaches and lose weight fast and when you finally do get better, you get that weight back plus an extra 10 pounds in case you need to starve again. Sigh. My pictures today look exactly like yesterday so I'm not going to bother with them.

Day 6

Good Afternoon! I went to see Dr. Franco today for my first post OP. He said that the surgery went very well and my recovery shortly after waking up was really good. He mentioned that he was surprised how "smooshed and slanted" my turbinates were and said that I'll be able to breath so much better now. On Thursday I'm supposed to go back and get those small stitches removed from my cheeks. He said that I could start brushing my teeth more aggressively. My lips are so numb and there is so much pressure on my face. He took off the loose bands and put some tighter ones on so now my teeth are pretty well closed and there's no hope of stuffing some eggs or hummus in there. It's all liquids. It's funny because I have the usual things that I like to eat and of course some favorites but I can't stop thinking about this chicken fried steak I had a year ago at a Fancy restaurant 30 minutes outside of town. It was really the best chicken fried steak I've ever eaten and I think about it a lot now. It came with mashed potatoes. As soon as I'm able to eat I'm going to go there and eat that. In the meantime I'm stuck with liquids. If you're in the Dallas area and you're having jaw surgery there's a place called GREENZ that sells pureed soups. I stopped by there today and got a few bowls to go. Chicken enchilada soup! It was delicious. That's about it. Pain is about a 2 and discomfort is around 5.

Day 5

Today is Day 5 and I'm just sitting around waiting to get better. I hate waiting. I'm taking my medication (1 antibiotic and 1 Hydrocodone) every 6 hours so I'm maintaining this "dream wake". I'm not very functional but I'm trying to do things to feel better. I'm hungry but everything I eat tastes gross. I'm not getting enough calories and so I have a hungry headache constantly. I'm trying to vamp up my shakes and soups with coconut oil, peanut butter, etc. so that I can get more fats but I just feel gross. Today we went for a walk around the park which was a one mile walk. That felt nice but again, I'm kind of dizzy and headachy. My boyfriend told me that my breath smelled disgusting. I noticed all this gross slime building up on my braces but I couldn't get it off without a good brush and I was having a hard time. Finally though I thought I could use the pick I have for plaque, you know the sharp one? I used that and pulled all this gross, chunky stuff off my braces. I was able to get pretty much all of it off and brush my teeth and rinse with the bacteria cleansing rinse I was prescribed and my boyfriend said I smelled so much better after that. Ha! That is so gross!

Dr. Franco said not to blow my nose and I have been very stuffed up. It's not quite as bad as what I was expecting. I read other blogs and was expecting to not be able to breath, but it's on a level with being stuffed up with a head cold. I don't think I'm experiencing quite as much pain, problems and discomfort as others. I'm not sure, but this just doesn't seem that bad to me. I felt my TMJ surgery was worse, more painful and I had nausea which I don't have this time around. I made sure to tell my Anesthesiologist about it and she said she'd look at what I had and decide what she thought would have made me so sick and not use it. I think whatever she did worked! I'm not saying that this is fun by any means, I guess I was expecting worse. My nose has gross dark dried blood crusted in it and I keep trying to clean it out. I don't want to mess with anything too much. I'd rather nature take it's course. Speaking of nature...Dr. Franco said I wouldn't get my period but I did. Talk about bad luck. It's a small one and barely noticeable but still it's here. I got it for my TMJ surgery as well. Today's food was the same stuff shakes, pureed soup, fresh juice. I did have a miso soup that had tiny tofu and seaweed in it that I was able to get down. That was pretty tasty.

Day 4

Hello! I'm doing fine. I've been sleeping a ton and overall pretty boring. Lets see..My lips are gross. They're covered in slime and I'm drooling and just gross to say the least. I still haven't eaten much. I usually drink 3 syringes of something before I feel kind of sick. I have a terrible headache that I think is coming from not getting enough calories. I added 2 TBS of peanut butter to my shake this afternoon to try to beef up the calories and fat. I went for a walk in the park today! My mom said she can't believe I was able to get up and go for a walk in the park on the 4th day. It was breezy and nice outside so it felt good. By the time I got home though, I was in bed right away. Here are today's shots:

Pretty scary huh! I got a baby toothbrush in there enough to brush my tongue and the inside of my teeth. It wasn't good enough to be satisfying. I'm only taking an antibiotic and a pain pill every 6 hours. Today I took a Colace for constipation because I still haven't gone and I know Dr. Franco wants me to go. My pain is low, in fact it's been low the whole time. Discomfort is high though because I have bed sores and a headache. Here is the pain scale:

I'm a 2 for pain and a 6 for discomfort.

Surgery Day plus 3

I'm finished with my surgery! I went to Baylor on Wed. at 5:30 am. They took me to the pre op area where they had me change into my gown, tight socks and bottom tape. Yes they put bottom tape on you to help with your skin while you're on the operating table for so long. They had a lot of trouble finding a vein and stuck me all over both arms trying. My mom and fiance were with me but as soon as my doctor showed up they were wheeling me off.

Because they spent so much time on my vein search I wasn't able to get a relaxing shot so I went to the OR completely lucid. It was really terrifying. The OR was freezing and pretty much the second I was in there they were rushing me to get on the table. I don't remember anything after that so I guess the last minute relaxing shot kicked in right around then. I woke up in the post OP area which was the same area as the pre OP. I couldn't open my eyes but I could hear and I was NOT in much pain thank goodness. My mom was invited in and she sat with me while I recovered a bit. I was barely awake during this time so I don't remember much. At some point they took me to my room. They gave me massage socks which were wonderful

They also gave me a syringe to drink my liquids from

I got an oxygen band on my finger that reminded me of E.T.

The first day in the hospital went fine. I wasn't in much pain and I was able to drink a lot. I have been drooling which is really annoying but better than being in pain! My mouth is not closed all the way. Dr. Franco left loose rubber bands so that I could fit a pill in between. It's too swollen right now to show you pictures. But the first day's swelling was like this:

I haven't had much to eat. Just little sips of soup or drink here and there. They released me from the hospital yesterday and I slept ok last night. I took a shower today. I'm really tired so I think I'll write more later.

T-1

I have one more day until Surgery! This morning I had pre-admitting and everything went smoothly. I sat with a woman who registered me and she said that I was to pay $1900 for my copay. I told her I'd given that portion to Rachel because that's what she told me to do. The woman said that Rachel knows that I'm not supposed to pay her. Whatever. Rachel has been a mess since the beginning of all this. The bottom line is that I really like Dr. Franco and I want him to be my surgeon. After I registered, I was introduced to a nurse who took me to another room and asked me a series of questions about my health. She gave me a little card and wanted me to write on it what I wanted on the day of surgery the most from my nurse. I wrote that I wanted them to make sure I got some water. To me, being thirsty for water is worse than pain from broken bones. I talked to her a little about how I vomited after the TMJ surgery and I'm so worried about vomiting after this surgery. She said that I should talk with my Anesthesiologist and see what he thinks. After, I went to a third room and had blood drawn. After work today I stopped at the store and got a big back pillow, a Nutribullet and a soup mug.

Tomorrow is my last day at work of course. I'll stop by the store for some soup and juice and then I'm done! It's finally here. I can't wait to be on the other side. I hope it all turns out ok and nothing weird happens. It's been raining and lightning here. I really wanted to go for a run in the morning so I hope there's no rain so I can go one last time for a while!

T-7

I went to Dr. Franco's office today. I was fitted for my trays and signed the paperwork. Rachel gave me some literature about my surgery and asked for my final payment. I'm supposed to include the Baylor deposit with the final payment and give it to her. I feel like something will get messed up there, but we'll see. My pre-admitting appointment is Monday at 9am. I'll let you know how it goes!

T-9 Days

My surgery is next Wed., we've been through this song and dance before but I think this time it's going down. I went to see Dr. Simon a few days ago for my broken bracket. She replaced the bracket and put the surgical wires back on with the hooks. She wanted to get a little room in between my incisors for Dr. Franco. I have an appointment with him this Wed. for molds. It's funny because last time I felt very consumed by the surgery. It was hard to concentrate as I got closer to the date. But this time, I'm barely thinking about it. I keep forgetting it's coming up. I guess it doesn't feel real or maybe it feels like it already happened because I was just out for surgery 6 weeks ago. Also, there are a lot of things going on at work and I've been really busy and I don't want to leave work right now. There's never a good time to take 3 weeks off work I guess. I still have all my stuff from last time. I have a couple pairs of button down PJ's, a hand mirror, a small flashlight, Vaseline, face wipes, a jaw bra that I bought online. It came with pockets for the cold/hot packs. I used it the whole week I after my TMJ surgery.

I also bought a HoMedics Swedish Massage Pillow with a heat button because after my TMJ surgery I had bed sores. I think that's about it. I learned after the TMJ situation that I didn't really like any of the food I'd gotten for myself. The applesauce and eggs were good but I hated almost all the soups except pacific tomato. So, I'll just stick to that and the juices with collagen powder and whey protein shakes.