Day 29

Big leaps today! At lunch time today I decided to try mashed potatoes out of curiosity. Success! I even used a spoon! It was still difficult though, it ended up being easier turning the spoon upside down and eating it like you would peanut butter on a spoon. The retainer on the roof of my mouth is a constant hindrance. It's not that my jaw hurts when I try to eat, it's that there is no room!

I also had my one month post-op where the resident called me his favorite patient. They then measured my mobility and I opened my mouth a whole 28mm, even wider than the other day. That means I basically doubled it in 2 weeks. I also got the okay to start eating super soft foods hooray! I still have to be extremely careful but I can start adding soft fish, well done pasta, and other mush foods to my diet.

When I came home from class tonight I immediately went to grocery store and stocked up on smoothie ingredients, fish, go-gurt, and soup. I decided to take a stab at eating ravioli....and I did it! It wasn't the prettiest site but at least I got to eat something that I didn't have to drink out of a cup.

As for the swelling, it's getting better slowly but surely. The bottom left is sill bigger but my bottom right seems to be getting closer to normal. The main swelling is in the upper lip, cheeks and nose. Oh how I miss the use of my upper lip. Its really hard to smile properly when your top lip doesn't move.

After today I'm also going to only post every other day since the worst part is over and my next appointment isn't for another month.

Day 28

I didn't feel sick at all today! I made it through my third consecutive day at work without incident. After the holidays, sick leave, and then being out for a few days last week because of the infection, I actually haven't done a full work week let alone work AND school.

I've also learned to keep a stock of ensure at my desk to keep me going throughout the day. I did however forget to bring soup to work so I went home for lunch and treated myself to a raspberry smoothie.

On the recovery news desk: I can now drink out of a straw! I tried to a week or so ago but wasn't that successful. I'm not saying I'm a straw drinking pro, but at least I don't dribble all down my face when I try anymore.

Day 27

Today got off to a rough start. The mornings are tough because there is literally nothing in my stomach so the meds make me sick. By lunchtime I feel much better. I even discovered a new soup today at a bistro by my house: middle eastern lentil, yummy! I also bought a pint of fresh squeezed carrot/orange/beet juice. Lets just say this- you can definitely taste the vegetables. Beets are supposed to be high in iron so hopefully this will help since I'm not eating as much meat as usual.

I noticed today that when I do my jaw exercises, my mobility towards the right is much less than the left. I think because they had to do a lot more work on the lower left and remove a piece, that the muscles have a lot more recovering to do.

Not much else to report today unless you would like to hear about my first exam of the semester. Happy Tuesday!

Day 26

I went back to work today. I was about an hour late though because I got woozy when I was getting ready, these antibiotics are not fun! However, I made it through the entire day without any major problems. My work friends even said they thought the swelling had gone down since they saw me on Saturday.

Exciting news: I can now open my mouth 25mm! My mom was nice enough to measure my mouth for me yesterday. Isn't it so crazy that only 3 1/2 weeks after surgery I can open my mouth that far? I was told that my jaw bones are held together by titanium (which according to Schmidt on New Girl, is the coolest of all the metals). The joint itself can actually move pretty okay.

I was also told today by my cousin that my pictures from the first few days are so hilarious that she is saving them on her phone as my contact picture so that every time I call it will pop up. She also notified me that I looked like Fat Bastard from the Austin Powers movies! Omg she's right hahahaha! I've realized that you really just have to laugh your way through this whole process or you will never survive. Do i care that I looked like a morbidly obese man after surgery? Nope. I find it hysterical. In fact, I like to look back at those pictures from the first week and tell myself, "at least I'm not that bad anymore". 

I also put cupcakes in a blender on a daily basis so my pride has basically gone out the window :-p

Things you can and CANNOT put in a blender

Good Idea:

Cupcakes
Ice cream
Chunky soups
Berries
Bananas
Peanut butter
Super soft cookies
Sausage links with creamy soup
Girl Scout cookies in milkshakes


Bad ideas:

Egg rolls (the consistency is disgusting)

Day 25

Today was not much different than yesterday. The swelling under my eye is almost completely gone but my left jaw is still huge. This morning at my weekend bagel and coffee ( well now just coffee) spot, someone was sitting outside with a golden-doodle puppy. So naturally I had to go over and have a snuggle session with this adorable little ball of fluff. Unfortunately, I got head butted right in the face by this puppy. It was so cute though I couldn't even be upset.

After my outing for coffee and puppy snuggles, I tried to make a trip to Home Depot. Unfortunately , the trip wore me out more than expected and after almost passing out in the wood planks isle I had to go home.

I've decided that the number 1 most difficult part about a swollen face is having swollen lips. It's an incredibly odd feeling when your lip is twice its normal size, numb, can't move and is constantly stuck to your braces. I also noticed that my top teeth now have huge gaps between them from widening my top jaw. When I go back to the orthodontist in a week or so he is going to put on new wire and start working on getting my teeth in the right place.

Lesson of the day: cookies are not as good in the blender as cupcakes or Bundt cake.

Day 24

Sorry today's post is super late. I didn't get home until super late.

Today was another little step in the right direction. The swelling is almost completely down under my left eye. The lower left part of my jaw and my sinus is still swollen but it should continue to decrease a little every day. This whole infection thing basically put my swelling on the left side a week behind schedule. The doc had recommended we continue to flush out my incision site for a couple more days but I kinda stopped doing it. It really is a two person job and I can't see it. Here's hoping that its not a big deal....

My dad picked me up today to get me out of the house and into the fresh air. We took my dog izzy up to our town center, called Market Street, and had coffee, walked along the river-walk and relaxed in the perfect weather. For all you non-Texas folk, it was 78 degrees Fahrenheit...in January! This is why I love Texas.

I went to a friends housewarming party and even though I wasn't drinking because of all my antibiotics, I still had a good time. Thankfully my friends know about my face so they were not constantly worried I wasn't having a good time when they saw a blank expression on my face. During a few particularly hilarious moments I was laughing so hard they would grab my cheeks for me and yell " oh no! Stop making her laugh, it hurts her cheeks!" The bright side of not drinking was that I could drive everyone home at the end of the night instead of everyone waiting around for cabs that may or may not even show up.

Day 23

Today was a little better. When I woke up, the swelling under my eye had gone down a little more. I also spaced out my medicines combined with anti-nausea pills so now I don't feel sick all day long. I still have a headache and get dizzy when I stand up but in comparison to yesterday, I'm loads better! The follow up appointment went well, the infection is starting to subside. When they were flushing out the incision from 2 days ago, they told me I heal fast because the incision was already almost healed. In fact, all my incision sites from surgery are completely healed and the stitches dissolved! That is one of the perks of getting this type of surgery done when you are younger.

I also want to note that this type of infection is not common. As is consistent with my medical history (I'm always that .5% that gets a fluke illness) this only happens to about 1 or 2 out of 150 patients. Nevertheless, never ignore symptoms or increases in swelling after you have major surgery. The doc told me that if I had waited too long I would have ended up being admitted to the hospital. These things need to be caught early.

Over the course of the next few days the swelling should get better and I should be back in business by Monday! I'm going to have to rest up this weekend for sure. I can see sweatpants and season 4 of Breaking Bad in my near future.

Today's picture is on the less cute side...again. Makeup really does wonders but when your face is too swollen to wipe the makeup off, I've learned it's best to go au natural; even if I look like a zombie.

Day 22

The swelling went down a little bit today but I still felt awful all day. The intense antibiotics they have me on make me really nauseous and gives me a throbbing headache. It was an all day effort to try and drink enough fluids. I started to get worried when my symptoms got worse so we called the doc. He said it would take a few days for the infection to subside and the antibiotics were probably what were making me sick.

Sadly I had to miss my second week of my Thursday class. Thankfully my professor has been understanding so far.

I have a follow up tomorrow so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that nothing has gotten worse. On the bright side, the right side of my face is looking more normal in comparison to my left side...

Day 21

Today was the worst day! When my eye swelled up yesterday I thought it was just a normal part of the healing roller coaster. Well, I woke up at 2am last night in pain and intense discomfort. Oh, and did i mention my eye was almost completely swollen shut?! I took some pain meds and tried to go back to sleep. At 5am i woke up again and knew I wouldn't be making into work today. My friend Tiffany got my early morning text and was at my front door at 7:30am with frozen peas for the swelling. I called the surgeon's office later in the morning and they told me I needed to come in. So Tiffany immediately drove me downtown and as soon as the doc saw me he knew I had an infection.

It turns out I have a surgery site infection in my sinuses. Apparently this is rather serious and they had to do a procedure under local anesthetic right there in the office to reopen my stitches and drain the fluid. I was absolutely freaking out because I had to be awake for it. I had already eaten a smoothie that morning so they couldn't put me under. I was crying and shaking violently the whole way through. Not my bravest moment. I won't get into the details but it was not pleasant to say the least. I'm now on super strong antibiotics for another 2 weeks and have to flush out my sinus cavity with a syringe 3 times a day. This whole day has been traumatic.

I also have to say a huge thanks to Tiffany who has been the most amazing nurse today. Not only did she drive me to the doc, picked up my prescription, made me milkshakes, ran out to get me ginger ale when I was feeling sick....she also helped me when I had to flush out my sinus. She totally kept it together during this disgusting process even when I got woozy and passed out. I would not have made it through the day without her. I have the most amazing friends :-)

So the big lesson for jaw surgery candidates today is: if you notice different swelling, especially under your eyes, immediately call your doctor. It's kind of a big deal.

Day 20

Omg the lefty side of my face totally blew up today! It looks like I was either punched in the face or stung by a bee. Underneath my left eye is super puffy which is making my entire face look lopsided. Today was definitely one of the more uncomfortable days. The pressure under my eye is so annoying that I had to work from home in the afternoon. I'm wondering if the swelling increasing because of all the talking at work and jaw exercises I've been doing. Note to self: add that to my list of questions for my doc next week.

Then I got to drag myself all the way downtown for my first class of the semester. Energy Value Chain...riveting... I found myself hiding my face as i was walking into campus though. Its one thing to get used to being around people you know, its a whole different ball game when you are surrounded by strangers and feel like people are staring. After getting out of class at 9 and driving 45 minutes home, it was a looooong day.

Thought of the day: is it possible to make macaroni and cheese soup? I've decided that I'm going to try and start making all my favorite foods into soup form. I'm pretty sure anything is possible between a blender and a crockpot!

Day 19

Today was a little rougher than the past week. I think I accidentally rolled over on my side when I was sleeping last night because my swelling increased. I remember being desperate to sleep on my side last night and I think I found a position that seemed to not press on my face. I was wrong. To all future jaw surgery candidates out there - make sure you sleep on your back!

I also had a sad moment today when someone from one of our overseas offices (who I've met several times before) walked into my office to introduce himself :-( I had to tell him "mark, it's Meghan, I know you. My face is just really swollen from surgery". He had no idea. I didn't realize my chipmunk face is so unrecognizable!

My cheeks are really sore this evening and i had a random shock wave of tingly pain through my face so i dipped into my leftover pain meds. I'm looking forward to brushing my teeth tonight because I can finally use toothpaste! The toothpaste may be on a kiddie toothbrush but at least it's one step closer to grown-up dental hygiene. My swishing abilities are not quite up to par yet. I'm supposed to swish around Peridex twice a day: the surgery victim strategy is to simply clamp my lips shut as tightly as I can and just shake my head from side to side. Until the left side of my mouth decides to wake up, this is as good as it gets...

Today's magic bullet creations: strawberry peanut butter smoothie, ensure, mashed bananas, tomato soup, pizza soup and a chocolate milkshake.

Day 18

So today started off with about 4 cups of coffee and a trip to the dog park. My poor dog, Izzy, has been cooped up inside since my surgery. She laid at the foot of my bed every time I slept, keeping a watchful eye. Dogs really do make everything better.

It was a pretty lazy day as I want to make sure I'm rested for my first full week back at work AND school (I go to grad school at night). I also made it through a whole 3 hour movie at the theatre.

As for today's liquid food creations, I had leftover pizza soup (have I mentioned pizza is the first thing I'm eating when I'm back to solid foods?), a raspberry protein smoothie, wild rice and chicken soup, and leftover cupcakes blended into a smoothie yum!

Not much to report today so I will share with you a little story. At the movies, my mom was eating popcorn and it smelled so good that I was bummed I couldn't partake in the buttery salty goodness of movie theatre popcorn. Out of desperation, I, ummm I mean Tina, grabbed a piece of popcorn and licked it. My mom just started laughing. But what else could I have done? In total, I got to enjoy a total of 5 pieces of popcorn by licking the butter and salt off. Pathetic or resourceful? I'm going to tell myself it's the latter.

Day 17

I noticed today that I actually do have pain, it's just first thing in the morning. The pressure builds up and after approximately 8 hours of no jaw movement, my face is extremely tight and painful. However, after my morning ritual of mouth cleaning and coffee I feel like a whole new person.

I had a very relaxing day today. I started off my day making up for the missed cupcake opportunity yesterday. I threw a cupcake in the blender with some milk...And yes, you indeed can put cupcakes in a blender. I also decided that I could no longer go without pizza so I made pizza soup! I finally used my new crockpot and made a delicious soup! My friends came over later in the day for wine night. Even though I can't actually eat anything I still like to entertain! I made a bunch of appetizers ( including the now famous pizza soup) and played hostess. Even though I can't eat doesn't mean I can't feed my friends.

FYI pizza soup recipe: tomato soup base, green bell pepper, red onion, thyme, basil, oregano, tomatoes, pepperoni, sausage, mozzarella, and chunks of bread. Mmmm :-) throw it in a blender and its a jaw surgery blessing!

I also discovered that you can put egg-rolls in a blender: add a little chicken stock and perfection! My current theory is that there isn't anything you can't throw in the magic bullet. In case anyone is wondering, no I am not paid by magic bullet for endorsements...

Day 16

2nd day back at work today and it was a full day. Surprisingly I wasn't tired. I think I'm eating enough now that I can keep my energy up throughout the day. On the downside it was birthday cupcake day :-( Once a month the entire office gathers together for cupcakes to celebrate the birthdays for the month. If I had known I would have brought my magic bullet to work and thrown my cake in their with some milk and made a milkshake! Sadly,I just sat there with my can of diet coke and watched everyone enjoy their cake. Being surrounded by yummy food that I could not eat woke up my inner fat kid, Tina. So when somebody passed around the order sheet for Girl Scout cookies that their daughter was selling, Tina had to buy some. And by some i mean 9 boxes.... it's for the kids right? I'm now counting down the days until I get to treat myself to a thin mint milkshake!

After work I went out for drinks with work friends. Thankfully my beer of choice is Guinness so it basically served as dinner. I originally thought that being on a liquid diet would significantly decrease my bar tab. Curiously enough I think my body has gotten so good at processing liquids that the alcohol had virtually no effect. I'm not a doctor but that seems backwards to me.

I also did all 3 hours of my jaw exercises today. Infact, I'm finishing my last set as I type. I discovered that if you download a Tabata timer on your phone, you can set the intervals to 30 seconds. This way instead of counting all the time, I can just wait for my phone to blow a whistle at me. Genius!

Today the girls at my office said they thought the swelling went down a lot in a few days. I hope that's true, I don't notice a difference anymore.

Day 15

Big day today. It was my first day back at the office. It went alright. We are are in the middle of moving floors so I have been temporarily uprooted into a cubicle. It wouldn't be that bad for the 2 weeks ill be sitting there but when your face is swollen and you don't even feel like you look like yourself, it's a little uncomfortable. I'm still getting used to going out in public.

I then had my 2 week postop appointment. The doc said my bite is perfect! However, I did get in trouble for not exercising my jaw. Apparently I should be able to open my mouth 25mm by now....I could only open it 12mm. Sad face. When I saw him last week he mentioned I should practice moving around my jaw. I didn't know how much I was supposed to exercise! The resident, Simon, taught me what movements to do. I have to move my jaw to each side, forward, and then open as wide as I can and hold each position for 30 seconds. I have to do this for an hour....3 times a day! That's 3 hours a day! The purpose is to break down scar tissue. The longer your jaw is immobile, the more scar tissue builds up. Apparently if I ever want to eat a hamburger again I have to stick to this regimen.

While at the doc office, I also had to practice taking on and off my elastics. I had been avoiding this because I'm terrified of my own mouth. I learned where the stitches are but I have no desire to see them. Simon also had me take out my retainer from the roof of my mouth. After some maneuvering we finally got it! And oh boy that was the grossest part of my surgery so far! I have never had more of an appreciation for oral hygiene as I do now.

Day 14

I think I jinxed myself in the sleep department. I was awake at 2:30 am and couldn't fall back asleep until 5:30. I did however make myself wake up at 8:00 so I can retrain my body to wake up early again for work.

I then had an appointment with my orthodontist. The entire staff at the ortho office knows me because I'm one of the few non-12 year old patients. The doc took a look inside my mouth (he had to use an instrument to hold up my fat whale lip) and said everything looks great and that I now actually have a bite! He didn't do any adjustments this time and I will be going back in 3 weeks. He wants to wait until its more comfortable to open my mouth so they can change the wires.

I then treated myself to a movie with my friend although when you have jaw surgery, there a more criteria to consider. For example: how much laughing might be involved? Are my cheeks too sore to handle comedy? This narrowed down the choices from 5 to 1.

Holy cow I ate (I mean drank) a lot today! My appetite saw a huge increase today, I just couldn't stop drinking all day! Wow that sounded bad... Anyways I splurged today and had 2 glasses of juice, coffee, ensure, a smoothie, blended chunky soup, a half cup of leftover soup, and a milkshake. My inner fat kid ( her name is Tina) took over, I had no control lol

Well tomorrow I'm back to the grind. I'm going back to the office for a half day then down to Houston for my 2 week post-op. stay tuned....

Day 13

Today was about the same. I didn't really notice any change in the swelling. The only pain I have is in my cheeks as a result of talking and laughing. When someone makes me laugh I literally have to grab both my cheeks and try and hold them in place. It's not that it is super painful but it feels like they are tight and being stretched too far. If you see me impersonating Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone, then know that whatever you just said is hilarious!

My friend Tiffany picked me up this morning and after a breakfast smoothie we headed out into the real world chubby cheeks and all. After a manicure, errands, and some light shopping I was quite proud of myself. I'm getting less self conscious about going out in public. She also lent me her microwave heat wrap thing. I tried it out and it really helps with my sore cheeks. I hope she doesn't mind me commandeering this for a while ;-)

Today's liquidy goodness: my usual morning smoothie with peanut butter, cup of tomato soup, veggie fruit juice and a blended chunky pot roast soup.

I also noticed that no matter what ingredients are in the soup, when blended it is ALWAYS the same color. It's like when you figure out that mixing all colors on the color wheel together always makes a weird brownish grey color.

Happy Tuesday!

Day 12

Today was a day or big accomplishments! I finally went back to the gym today. I work out at a small crossfit style gym and the trainer made me a special light workout for my first day back: rowing, leg extensions, assisted chin-ups and dips, and step ups. It felt so great to get my blood pumping again and actually use my muscles. I think going back to working out is an important part of recovery.

I also drove for the first time. Now that my neck isn't as sore anymore and I can actually turn it I felt safe to drive. I'm also no longer taking pain pills during the day which is equally as important.

Today's menu: peanut butter/banana smoothie, veggie juice, tomato soup, and blended Moroccan chicken soup yuuuumy :-)

On a lighter note i will now tell you The story of the Magic Bullet: one of my best friends who I call Twin, and her boyfriend sent me a Magic Bullet for Christmas. This was the most awesome present for 2 reasons:

1) I literally have been blending all my meals in this phenomenal kitchen appliance and has probably kept me from starving to death!

2) she remembers The Zach story:

I was in a terrible on and off again relationship for 3 years. One Christmas I brought over my gift for him. After 2 years he had never given me a single gift for holidays, birthdays etc but I never cared. I gave people gifts because it just made me happy. Well that particular Christmas, after he unwrapped his Calvin Klein sweater I gave him, he told me a story about how he ordered me a magic bullet because he knew I wanted one but it was on "back order". Needless to say that was a load of c**p. I never got the magic bullet.

Well Twin never forgot this story and so when I was preparing for the epic jaw breakage of '12, she knew she had to get it for me. So a special thank you to Twin and Silver Fox! I freaking love this thing!!!

Day 11

Still on the up so that's a good sign. I was able to sleep again last night so I think I finally have that problem solved.

I realized today that I can now brush all my teeth! I probably have been able to for a few days but because my face is partly numb and I'm petrified of these mysterious stitches inside my mouth, I have been avoiding it. Well I can now fit my kiddie toothbrush in between my teeth and can open my mouth enough to brush the tops of all of them. I never knew you could take brushing your teeth for granted. Now I understand what those Orbitz gum commercials are all about.

Swelling seems to be about the same and no new pain. So pretty much a continuation of how I felt yesterday.

Today's selection of drinkable goodness:
~ strawberry banana smoothie
~ kale/cucumber/pineapple juice
~ chocolate milk
~ blended Mexican chicken and rice soup, tastes just like Mexican food but you know...liquified

I was also gifted a stack of coupons for free smoothies at Smoothie King and a bottle of my favorite wine (booze is a liquid ;-))

Happy Sunday!

Day 10

Today I feel like I turned a big corner and I finally feel like I'm improving and can function as a normal human being. I slept a lot better, at least a solid 6 hours. Even before the surgery sleeping was an on and off again issue so for any jaw surgery candidates out there - you're gonna need that Ambien if you don't sleep that well to begin with.

I also made myself have a normal morning and showered, did my hair, put on something besides pj pants and actually put on a little bit of makeup! Man, I felt so much better. The swelling went down a little as well. However, I did wake up with a little black eye forming. I knew there had to be some bruising eventually.

I had an amazing friend filled day including:
~ morning phone call with my grandma ( I'm getting much better at talking)
~ A field trip to SAMs club to stock up on ensure and chunky soup
~ trip to redbox for movies
~ homemade Dahl soup, super yummy. They even put it in the blender for me so I could drink mine

When I was leaving my friends house they went through their pantry and took every can of soup they had and sent me home with it because they never eat it. Lol my oversized purse turned into a mobile soup kitchen. I love it how my friends are so concerned that I am going to starve on a liquid diet.

Random realization of the day: laughing hurts. I literally have to grab my cheeks and try and stop myself when I laugh. I guess I will have to avoid funny movies and my new Tina Fey book for a while. Talking also tires out my cheeks, I have a feeling I'm going to be sore tomorrow from all my gabbing today.

Enjoy today's photo, at least I don't look sickly anymore!

Day 9

Today was a busy day for me. After sleeping about 3 solid hours, I wasn't feeling too hot this morning. However, my dad spent the afternoon getting me set up back at my house. This was my first outing into the real world as a chipmunk. I decided that Walmart was the best place to go to stock up on juice and soups. Also, I figured I would stand out the least at this particular store. What's a swollen face compared to people with exposed butt cracks and cath bags strapped to their legs ( seriously, why would you wear booty shorts in that situation?!)

I also sat outside in the fresh air and had a cup of coffee. The caffeine actually helped my headache a little bit. I'm going to make sure I keep doing this. I tried my first go at blending soups today with my new magic bullet! Today's specialty was cheesy bacon potato soup which I then drank like a champ. Small victories :-)

I also learned why my face is so shiny! After talking to the surgeon my mom works for, she told me that swelling stretches your skin so much that it looks super shiny. When the swelling goes down, my face will most likely peel. It's like getting jaw surgery and a chemical peel thrown in for free!

Speaking of the swelling, holy cow my top lip and left side blew up today! it seems like every day it shifts back and forth, gets bigger then smaller then bigger again. Having whale of a top lip makes brushing my teeth a 2 handed task. Chipmunk problems.

Well after 4 hours of running errands and packing, even at the speed of slow, I was wiped. So naturally my nearby friends stopped by with a movie. They were so worried about bringing over food and eating in front of me. But surprisingly, I've noticed that it doesn't bother me at all. I'm rarely hungry weirdly enough, even drinking an ensure drink fills me up. I know that guys who have had the surgery are starving all the time so maybe it's a little bit easier for women? I would be curious to know how other women who have had the surgery have felt hunger-wise.

Well that's enough for today!

Day 8

Today was my one week post-op with my surgeon down in Houston. We live about 45 min north of the med center in Houston so it is quite a trek down there for each appointment. He took off my old elastics which were super tight and right at the front and back of my mouth and replaced them with longer ones that go from my back molar to my canines. So now I have a little more wiggle room. He said I am still pretty swollen but not abnormally so. Apparently most of the swelling will go down over the next month. Yippee! I get to be a chipmunk for a good long while! He also took more x-rays and said everything looks good.

He answered a few of my questions:
~ it is safe to use a water pick even though I was worried hitting stitches with them. He said they were originally invented for wound cleaning so not to worry. Hmm, I learn something new everyday.
~ I can take Ambien woohoo! Hopefully I will actually sleep tonight. Apparently almost all patients have this same problem and it takes weeks to get your body back on schedule.
~ I will come back every week for 4 weeks and get new elastics and check alignment. As you can see in my pictures below, I got promoted from kangaroos to penguins ;-) He said I won't be in elastics under his directive forever, after a few weeks it will be up to my orthodontist

The trip to Methodist hospital was interesting. This massive flu epidemic had my mom all worried about be catching something because hospitals are full of sick people and so close after surgery, the flu would be about the worst thing that could happen. So I talked her out of making me wear a SARS mask(because that is ridiculous) and I agreed to keep my face covered with a scarf. I call this look the pashmina terrorist.

The pain isn't too bad anymore, its just pure discomfort from swelling but I'm used to it now. It may actually be a weird feeling when I'm NOT swollen anymore! I decided to stop taking the hydrocodone in hopes of getting my sleep back on track. And now that the anti-inflammatories are done, I'm just on the antibiotics. Only 8 pills a day instead of 17!

Day 7

Last night again was a sleepless night. The combination of discomfort, drainage in the back of my throat, and not being able to sleep on my side has really thrown me off. I'm a baby, I need my 8 hours. I probably only slept 1 hr last night so I am making a note to ask the doc tomorrow at my post-op if it is ok for me to take Ambien. If I get the all clear you can be sure that I will going to bed at like 7pm tomorrow. This, in conjunction with my friends' recent suggestion to try "sit and be fit" may successfully awaken my inner 70 year old.

It was another day of thunderstorms so I spent the entire day on the couch watching movies. From not really eating and becoming so weak, my legs felt like they were constantly about to fall asleep. This was such a strange feeling that I ended up doing squats in my kitchen for a few minutes to get blood flowing again. For anyone that is thinking about doing this surgery and is used to being active like me - remember, you need to keep moving around even if you are just vegging out at home. One of the things I already miss so much is crossfit. I've never gone this long without doing some sort of physical activity :-(

I also discovered a way to describe the discomfort I feel: it's like having balloons blown up under your skin in your cheeks, lips, and jowls. Yes, I also now have jowls, super cute! The swelling does seem to have switched from my left side to the right. Weird how it changes around everyday. My bottom lip seems to be closer to normal size with just my top whale lip. I can also flare my nostrils and move my bottom lip to give me that cute fat-kid smile.

Random note: the insane number of pills that I take everyday also became extremely annoying today as 1 of my 17(yes, that's 17!) pills got stuck in my throat and decided to hang put there all freaking day!

Newest successful recipe: 1 cup milk, 1/2 banana and a big scoop of peanut butter in the blender. This has become my new breakfast favorite.

I had a really nice surprise this evening when 2 of my best friends, MegO and Kim stopped by with goodies and girl talk. It was a spirit-lifter for sure. You may look below and ask yourself "are those sponge bob squarepants mashed fruit pouches?" Why yes they are! Jealous lol?

Day 6

So today was a little better and this is the reason why: I accepted that I am going to be like this for at least the first 2 weeks and I finally just gave in. I think I was so miserable the first few days because I thought the swelling and discomfort was unusual and I thought it would be over in a few days. I mean, I knew swelling lasts months but after seeing other people's blogs they didn't look too bad so I didn't think it would be. I now realize that I am just a bigger weenie than the others! Now that I have accepted this and gotten used to feeling like my face is a blimp, I will just deal with it. You can do anything for a few weeks right?

I think the swelling is still ridiculous but maybe a little better than yesterday? You know when they put prosthetics on people's faces in movies to make them look fat? That's me kiddos. I look like Mrs. Clause from the Santa clause 2 movie. ( yes, I know that is a terrible movie but the first one was such a classic....)

In th Fine dining section of today's post, I actually drank more and am not dehydrated anymore!
~large glass of fresh squeezed orange and carrot juice
~ensure
~1 cup of butternut squash soup
~ a whole bottle of propel!
I may even give my mom the puppy dog eyes and see if she will make me a watered down smoothie with peanut butter ;-)

It's my favorite weather today, thunderstorms and rain. Movies and sweatpants are in order. Oh wait, I've already been doing that for days.....good thing all my friends and family got me sweatpants and pjs for Christmas.

Day 5

Ok so I think the swelling started decreasing the tiniest amount on my right side. But at this point I am still going to be a chubby bunny when I go back to work in a week and a half. I can't even imagine going to to work right now. This is the first time I've been on leave and actually have not even checked emails on my blackberry.

Well, the past 2 days my face has been getting tingly. It randomly feels like there is a doctor stitching up my face, like its being pulled in all directions. I've realized that I am so dehydrated that when I have to take my pills (all 5) followed by nose spray and blistex, I'm so exhausted I have to take a nap.

Sleep is a whole other issue, it may look like I'm sleeping but the truth is the pressure headache is so intense that I'm sensitive to loud noises and lights. So I just lay there, half asleep with my eyes closed waiting for time to go by.That's the other thing I've noticed, when you don't really sleep time goes by sooo much slower. In the hospital I was getting so cranky because I thought we had already been there 2 days, but really it was only the first night. I feel like this process would be so much more comfortable if I could just veg out drinking smoothies all day while watching game of thrones.

On the bright side, I don't really have an appetite so at least I'm not starving all the time. My mom even had the audacity to eat pizza next to me last night! If she hadn't been taking such good care of me I might have even been annoyed seeing as it is my all time favorite food.

And as we can see in today's picture, clean and brushed hair courtesy of the mama lady. Don't I look pretty?

Day 4

So I posted this morning, not sure if I would be up for posting again later in the day. I may be a good writer and could probably make this blog a lot more humorous, but to be honest, I feel too much like crap to be funny. So I'm going to be real instead.

This surgery is brutal. I guess I didn't think it would be this bad because other people who have had similar surgeries seemed to bounce back and keep their spirits up. Well seeing as how my procedure was more intense than most, my recovery is the same. I'm hoping that today is the worst and that the swelling won't get any worse tomorrow.

There were a few small victories today: I drank a whole 12oz of fresh juice (cucumber, strawberry, apple), used a water pick and got some of the gunk off my teeth, and drank 2 mugs of tomato soup.

A few random things I've noticed: I've lost 9 lbs, I burp a lot because I can't drink anything without taking down a bunch of air, I have a super bad headache because of the pressure in my sinuses and my stomach is constantly making noises because there's only liquid in it. I also have terrible breath! I'm not a rocket scientist but I'm pretty sure my dating life is going to go into hibernation lol.

Days 3&4

These are supposed to be the worst days because the swelling peaks and so far, yep this is terrible. My face is so swollen I don't even recognize myself, I can barely breathe because my nose is full of blood, and I can barely swallow because they put an expander type thing on the roof of my mouth. I sure hope this is the worst of it because I have never been so uncomfortable in my life.

I know I should be drinking more to stay hydrated and get in enough calories but it is so difficult to drink that I get exhausted!

My goals today: watch a movie no matter how tired I am, drink a whole can of tomato soup and a bottle of propel water.

Day 2

Most of day 2 was spent in the hospital. Mid-morning they did a test to confirm corneal abrasions and after half a day of ointment, I could finally see enough to get released. I was miserable most of the day as the swelling started to increase. They say day 3 is the worst and I can definitely feel it setting in. On the bright side, my bite is perfect :-). You can't really see it past my huge chipmunk face but its straight!

I also have a few apologies for the day:
1) to the nurse I almost hit when he put anti-inflammatories in my IV too close to my hand and I thought my skin was burning
2) to the hot optometrist who I'm sure had to endure some nasty postop breath during my eye exam
3) to everyone who texted me and I couldn't respond to

Got to leave the hospital around 7:30 last night looking sexy...

Day 1

Sorry these posts are a little late. I honestly though I would be up for writing. Well, the surgery took a little longer than usual. Usually it's 2 1/2 hrs but because they had a little more work to do on mine, my mouth is tiny, and then they had to cut some wire (and then lose it) it took about 3 1/2. When I woke up my eyes and throat hurt more than anything else. I had to be intubated so long I could barely swallow. Then apparently my Corneas got scratched so not only was I in pain, I felt like I was blind because I couldn't open my eyes!
I guess I didn't think the hospital portion could be that bad but for me, my surgery was more intense than most people. Not only were they realigning both jaws, but also removing a portion of the lower left mandible.

The pictures below aren't pretty, don't say I didn't warn you!

January 2, 2013: The night before

Ok so I've got everything prepped and ready to go for tomorrow. I attempted to wrap everything up at the office for the much anticipated 2 weeks off. Apparently you are up and about after a week but most people choose to take 2 weeks off just because of the swelling.

I've officially moved into Casa de mi Madre for a few days and I showed up packing various kitchen appliances, children's kitchen utensils and vast supply of sweatpants.

~ juicer
~ Blender
~ water pick
~ baby toothbrushes
~ sippy cups (cut the hole bigger with a knife)
~ Flonase
~ Peridex
~ per-op medicine ( I have no idea what's its for)
~ recipe book ( Pinterest was a life saver)

I'm currently eating my "Last Supper": pepperoni pizza. This is probably my most favorite food in the entire world and will be the first thing I eat gain when I'm back to real food!

The doc said to go to take an Ambien and go to bed early tonight. I found it strange that they insist you get a good nights sleep before they put you back asleep but apparently it's extremely important.

Tomorrow's the big day...I will be waking up at 4:00am to drive down to the Houston Medical Center and when I wake up I will have a non-crooked face, swollen but not crooked anymore!