I'm feeling pretty good. I haven't taken a pain killer in a few weeks, but I will need to take some Advil in the mornings or at night if swelling is hurting.
The last two weeks have been hard at times. This recovery is definitely emotional as well as physical. Luckily, there has been nothing like coming off the steroids like last time, but there were a few days where I just felt kind of down, like nothing felt normal or routine. That's bound to happen after two weeks of recovering when all you do is watch tv and movies and work through sudoku and word search books. Don't get me wrong, that's a great day, but it definitely gets old after weeks. I finally got to a point where I knew I needed make some conscious changes in order to get out of a funk. Going to the mountains with family and some family friends last weekend helped... except for the fact that eating delicious food is a high priority in the mountains, and I was stuck on liquids! I also put the living room back together by deconstructing the recovery camp I had set up, moved back to my room, and actually started back to work a little bit. I work in an office right now, so it is a lot of answering phones and interacting with people, so I've only been doing a few hours a day. It goes well, but it wore me out the first couple of days.
There isn't much pain, but I have had been a little sensitive to coughing and yawning the last few days. I'm not quite sure what it is, but on the upper gums on my right side something hurts, almost like a sting or burning, when I open my mouth. It stops after the initial "sting", so my guess might be that I'm getting feeling back in that area and a surgical hook might be catching on some tissue. That's just my guess though. The swelling is still there, and it will be for a while longer and reduce at a slower pace. Oooh! Once thing I've noticed and really like is that my relaxed mouth stays closed now.
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Today was my third post-op appointment with Dr. M. Again, he was very happy with how things are looking! That's incredibly reassuring! My bite has settled a little more, so teeth are touching on both sides. Woo! It is still hitting a little heavy on the right side, and I actually forgot to mention that today, but I know it will get resolved by one doctor or the other. I mentioned to Dr. M about the pain on the right side of my mouth, and he said that it could be some scar tissue that is being stretched when I yawn. He took a look, and didn't say if he saw anything, but he did say that the stitches up there may be restricting that skin that is trying to move, so he clipped and removed a lot of the stitches in my mouth. Continuing the warm, salt water rinses throughout the day will continue to help them dissolve.
One thing that has been worried me over the last couple of weeks is the fact I noticed my lower jaw was no longer aligned with my upper jaw (like in the image from a few weeks ago). That exact thing was a major reason I had the double jaw surgery and not just the upper, so, of course, I worried! Not to mention, it was perfectly aligned the day after surgery. I may have noticed it on an off day because I definitely stressed about it for an afternoon before mom finally called Dr. M's office. She was right to call because I would have worried about it for two weeks. One of the amazing nurses/surgical assistants called us back to answer some questions. She explained that the jaw is still settling, and it will continue to shift for a little bit. The swelling and scarring are affecting it right now, and it is normal for the bite to change at this point. When I was apologetic for being needy, she was more than comforting pointing out that I haven't gone through this before and how was I to know what is and isn't normal in the recovery process.
I expressed my concern with Dr. M this afternoon, and he didn't seemed too worried. He said that Dr. S will be about to shift it back into place. He also gave me the go ahead to set an appointment with Dr. S to get all of my surgical hooks and wires off. I am seeing them next week to get part of this grill out!
Old orders from Dr. M: Pucker and smile, pucker and smile, pucker and smile. This will break up some of the "stunned" nerves and get more motion back in my face. I try to do this, but I just don't do it like I should.
New orders from Dr. M: Keeping moist heat (hot water bottle, steamed towels,, hot baths... NOT heating pads) should help with the swelling at this point. He said no more ice packs, which I haven't used in a few weeks.
Leaving the office, Dr. M said that I am "still on a restricted diet with super soft foods". The sword still eally makes me feel like nothing has changed on that front. I feel like I'd be able to handle some more substantial food, but what do I know! So for two more weeks, I will continue to drink a lot of my meals. I can do mashed potatoes, eggs, and I started grits recently. Part of me thinks I could move to noodles, but I think that might qualify as a soft food, not a super soft food. Plus, I think I'll wait for that green light from the surgeon. I'm alright with it right now. I've gotten pretty used to this diet, and I've lost nearly 15 pounds since surgery. All that being said, I ventured out with my dinner tonight. We had some friends over for soup and salad, and there were Red Lobster biscuits. I broke off tiny little pieces and ate them. No chewing, but I feel sure that was a little overzealous.... Whoops! I'm paying for it now. I think it was a little too rich for my stomach after the diet from the past two weeks.
Since I am on the super soft food diet for two more weeks, if you have any suggestions or recipes, please feel free to share them in the comments! :)
Also!! This blog has been read on SIX continents! Thank you all so, so much for taking the time to follow my silly little experiences. It means so much to me.
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