6 weeks

I scheduled my 6 week appointment for exactly 6 weeks after surgery, not wanting to waste a day! During my last appointment, they said I would need local anesthesia for the splint removal. I'm not sure why, but they never mentioned it and didn't give me any, which was fine. I don't really like those huge needles!
The splint removal started out easily enough. The OS just clipped each of the many wires holding the splint in. Pulling them out was more difficult and much more painful. They were really in there, so he was really pulling. And pulling my lip up and back, which was fine in a few spots but really hurt in some sensitive spots. (yup, the feeling is coming back1) A few wires were really tough, and the pliers slipped and slammed into my lips or gums. There were a few whimpers of pain involved, and I am not that type. Unfortunately, he couldn't do it any slower, because my opening was getting smaller and smaller as my mouth got tired. After a few minutes, they were done and I got to brush my teeth, thank goodness. Underneath the splint the teeth were really fuzzy and the gums were swollen. They felt like the skin after you take off a band-aid. Icky.
He took a look and, unfortunately, had fairly mediocre news. I had a 3 piece Lefort, so the bone attached to my front 6 teeth is one piece, and the back teeth on either side ae pieces two and three. The front section is not healing to the back ones as quickly as it should be. When he pressed on one tooth, I felt the whole section move just a little. So I have to be very careful with those teeth. No biting anything with them. He asked if I could remember that and I laughed. I've never been able to use those teeth for anything, so there's no reason why I would try now!
I've also had some relapse, but nothing to worry too much about yet. It can probably be corrected by the orthodontist. I'm glad he told me, but that is definitely not something I can put off worrying about! I do not want to do this again!
He confirmed that I was not to eat anything harder than pasta until my next appointment in February, and I was on my way.
I have to say, there are some things that really disappointed me. My bite is awful right now. I can only touch the very back molars on the left side. Before surgery, I could at least touch two molars on each side! I guess it has to get worse before it gets better. My orthodontist can't see me until January 5, which is too bad. I want to get started as soon as possible! Also, I still can't close my lips or talk very well, and I'm still drooling. He said that that will get better, I just have to get the muscles re-acclimated. I would like them to re-acclimate, like, last week. I'm supposed to go back to work Monday, and I can't work while drooling or not talking.
We went to Noodles & Company for dinner and brought it home. I got my favorite, pesto cavatappi, with sauteed tofu. I cut everything up really small and stuck it in the back where those two teeth meet. It took me an hour to eat a third of my small order, but it was delecious and felt really good to be eating like an adult again. A very slow, messy adult, but an adult nonetheless.
As for everything else:
Pain: Very manageable. It's bad in the morning, but a few advil takes care of it.
Feeling: My mouth is getting feeling back, and it's pretty uncomfortable. It feels like it did when I first got braces- all my teeth are really sensitive. I'm very aware of them all the time. My top lip is most of the way back, my bottom lip is still getting creepy crawly feelings but nothink when I touch it. My chin still has nothing except for the occasional phantom itch or shock of pain.
Swelling: Still swollen, but not terribly. Once I can close my lips I think I'll look fairly normal. Please, please let that be soon!!
Drinking: Without the splint, I can drink, but I'm not that great at it! I lose some off my lip fairly frequently. So much for taking a Starbucks break during my Christmas shopping tomorrow.
Well, Merry Christmas everyone! I hope that you're all doing well, wherever you are in the process and have a great holiday!

The other day a college friend came and picked me up for a walk around the mall. At one point, I saw a childhood friend, one of those that you don't necesarily keep up with, but always run up and hug when you see them. I looked at her, she looked at me, smiled, and looked away. It was a bit uncomfortable- did I want to go "introduce" myself? I decided against it, considering that I'm still not looking so hot and still not being understood by people outside my immediate family and close friends. But it was an odd feeling, not being recognized by someone I've known for years!
In other news... two and a half days until I can talk, (sort of) eat, and (hopefully) drink from something other than a syringe! I can't wait. I hope all of you with recent surgeries are doing well, and if you're in my area, enjoying the snow!

5 weeks

Finally I can show you results! So here I am... come on lips, close already! Looking like a monkey is only cool for so long! My nose is definitely looking wider, but I can breathe so much better that I really don't care! And... I have a chin! I'm just so amazed looking at profile pictures. I'm so much more comfortable with the way I look! I had a rule when I was driving people- whoever rides shotgun is not allowed to look at me. I hated people seeing my profile, so I would wind up driving with one eye on the road so I could turn towards them while they were talking to me! Now that rule doesn't need to apply, which makes me so happy.

So, at week 5:

Pain: is the worst in the morning. I have a lot of pain right where the cuts to the bone were made. Also some in the joints. It edges towards bad at night, but it's definitely worse in the mornings.

Feeling: I have most of the feeling back everywhere but my mouth, my bottom lip, and just below my lip. I'm starting to get feeling back in my mouth. It feels like my teeth are really sensitive. I'll probably be glad to have anesthetic to get the splint out next week!

Food: Ick.

Drinking: I have switched into overdrive on Operation Learn to Drink Like a Normal Person (not from a syringe.) I am trying like crazy to drink from a cup, but since I can't close my lips, I typically dump half of the water in my lap and choke on the other half. I'm starting to get a little nervous that I might be drinking from a syringe for the rest of my life. Can't you just picture me at the office Christmas party, sipping my martini through a syringe? I can. Also, I can picture a ton of weird looks coming my way. Not pretty. COME BACK, LIPS!! Anyone used to watch Veggie Tales remember the I Love My Lips song?

Etc: I can finally laugh again! My brothers are very, very funny, and for the last few weeks I've been doing this "Haha,ow,hahaha,oww,hahahaowwwww" It hasn't taken much to make me laugh until I cry!

Oh, and since my mom has been dragging me out a lot more, a lot more people have been trying to talk to me. Since I can't really talk, she usually jumps in with "she had surgery on her mouth." which naturally prompts, "Oh, yeah, I had my wisdom teeth out years ago. Let me tell you..." Meanwhile I'm all set to mumble, "Yeah, I had mine out years ago too, and let me tell YOU, that sucked a lot less than this!" Of course, it would sound more like "eeh, iha ine owears gotoo" and nobody knows what that means. But anyway, it reminded me of this clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruBUSZ2ctyw

Don't worry, fellow ortho patients. We will ALWAYS be able to beat a 4 wisdom tooth story.

In a perfect world...

...eating would be an optional activity. After 5 weeks, there is absolutely no joy in eating soup, smoothies, or other assorted forms of mush. I prefer going hungry to choosing between 4 different kinds of mush. Unfortunately (realistically, probably fortunately) I have a mother who isn't a fan of my plan not to eat until next week, when I am allowed some things which are not mush. So the mush continues, at least when she's around.
Although, let's get real. In a perfect world I would have perfect teeth without all of this. Also, I'd probably be married to Jake Gyllenhaal.

4 week follow-up

Still can't put up after pics, ugh! But I can put up some good before ones. There's one before braces, one horribly close up, one horrible profile, and one sideways picture that I can't figure out how to change or remove.

Not much to report from this visit. Things are going well, still no rubber bands needed (YAY!!!!) and I've been doing a great job keeping everything clean, which was really good to hear. And I have an appointment to get rid of the dreaded splint! It's going to be a long one, because it's going to require local anesthesia. I'm not sure why, did anyone else need that? From reading other people's blogs, I thought it was pretty easy and painless! Unfortunately, I only found this out on my way out, so I couldn't ask about it.

He wants me to schedule an appointment with the new orthodontist at the practice I go to as soon after that as possible. He says I still have quite a while left in braces :(

And the first 8 weeks after the splint comes out I'm limited to food no harder than french fries. I'm pretty sure I'll put back on all the weight I'd lost immediately, because most of the things I can think of softer than french fries are not particularly healthy!

Oh, and I applied for a local job in a special ed program today... praying that I get that and don't have to go back to my old job and commute! I'm dying to get back into swimming, and I just won't have time between work, commuting, and school.

I hope everyone is doing well!

Day 28

Four weeks today!! Amazing to think that four weeks ago I was still in the middle of being operated on! I'm so glad to have made it to this point!
I just got a really sweet package with, most importantly, chocolate chip cookies from a teacher I worked with last year, with the note, "for when you're better." Does she know me, or what?
Last week was a tough time. I knew I wouldn't be eating for six weeks, but I really thought I'd be able to get back into my life, sans eating, after just a few. I wasn't anticipating that I would still be stuck at home at this point. I was getting really down, so on Friday my mom dragged me out to errands with her, which included Joann fabrics.
There I was, browsing the Christmas goods, when I notice a little boy staring at me. Now, I try to avoid mirrors these days, so I hadn't checked out my smile at all. I'd been compulsively checking people's pictures and seen that, for the most part, they can smile pretty well after a week or two. And I've smiled (or so I thought) in the past few weeks and felt like it was somewhat of a decent smile. So I smiled at him.
He burst into tears.
So, naturally, I ran off, got the keys, went, sat in the car and looked to see what was so terrifying. I can't smile. It looks more like a grimace that probably says to a four year old, "Yeah, I totally AM about to eat you!" which kind of freaks me out. Everyone else that I've seen looks really good at this point! Why am I still making small children cry??
Well, other than being a menace to society, things are going okay. I've found that blended up spaghetti with lots of sauce, mashed potatoes, smoothies, and blended up hot and sour soup can totally make a complete diet. Oh, and peanut butter. Which almost feels like my mouth is working, because I used to eat peanut butter off a spoon before all this!
I had been numb up to my eyes, now I have almost full feeling back down to my mouth. My mouth is starting to have some feeling, but my chin is still completely numb. My speech is still pretty impossible to understand. And I'm still hoping to get some pictures up- they go onto my computer and just disappear! So I'm hoping that those that are still saved on my camera can go up sometime soon.
Tomorrow I have my 4 week appointment, I'll let you know how that goes!

Day 21

Like I said in the last post, my swelling doesn't seem to be going down much right now. In fact, I woke up this morning and it was worse. Ugh! And that made my talking and drooling worse again too. Can we just skip straight to the part of this where it's all OVER??
But, on the plus side, today was the three week anniversary of surgery, which means I'm halfway to being rid of the splint! Of course, that also means I have three more weeks with it. My opinion on that being a long/short time varies greatly with my mood.
Basically, I'm bored out of my mind. I did get out on Friday to drive around and see Christmas lights with my wonderful best friend. I'd be okay with people seeing my swollen and yucky looking, but I'm not up for walking around drooling in public. I love Christmas, and usually go to every Christmas tree and exhibit in DC, so I'm bummed that I won't be able to do that this year. And man, what I wouldn't do for a piece of pizza and a chocolate chip cookie!
I'm surviving... but I miss real life and can't wait to have it back!