3 weeks past

The beautiful gingerbread house Micheal made

It has been 3 weeks since I had jaw surgery. I can now say that I have retired my syringe to the drawer, as I can eat my soup with a spoon and drink my drinks with a cup! Woohoo, things are looking up. I still have swelling, the left side is more swollen than the right. It's weird, I look lopsided. the left side is also more numb than the right so when I smile, it looks like I had a stroke or bels palsy. Kinda crazy! One more thing to add to the plate of discomfort is that my face is breaking out. Which is weird, cause my face is never like this. It is filled with red sore bumps every where, which isn't fun cause my face skin already hurts to touch. yucky :( I don't really know what thats about, maybe my diet of soup and yogurt drinks. It could be all the dairy I have been drinking, I normally stay away from dairy, well besides cheese. I LOVE cheese. What ever the case, it better go away soon. Anyways, I can almost open my mouth wide enough to fit my pinky finger, hahaha which doesn't seem like much, but it is improvement for sure. As for eating mashed potatoes at Christmas, it might not happen, but my Micheal's mom is making me some pumpkin curry soup for me, which sounds yummy. And my mom is making strawberry mousse (she got aunty Connie's recipe), mmmmmm so yummy! Aunty Connie makes the best strawberry mousse. Hopefully I can get it though the opening in my mouth. I'll find a way, I know it :) As for being ready for Christmas, we finally are! Micheal helped me finish wrapping all the gifts, and He bought hooks to hang our new stockings on. I finished up the last of the shopping yesterday, and I bought the boys some cute shirts to wear to church on christmas eve, and hopefully to some after christmas parties too! They are gonna look so handsome, I'll try and take some pictures of them all dressed up. As for me, no pictures till I'm good and healed. Maybe I'll do a before and after type photo montage. So tomorrow the christmas festivities begin. It is Christmas eve with my family, where we will watch movies and eat yummy snacks, well not me, but the others will. Merry Christmas every one! See you after the holidays :) xoxo

Post op day 17

30 screws and 6 plates later, I have a perfect bite!

So it has been just over 2 weeks since the surgery. I still have swelling in my cheeks and have numbness from my top lip to just under my eye. The pain is under control, still have occasional lightening bolts of pain, but they leave as fast as they come. I only have to use the syringe for cold thinks like milk shakes and booster juice, because they are too cold for my front teeth. My main utensil is a mug. I can sip anything from it; soup, tea, coffee, juice, any thing liquid, I can sip it :) I just started sipping my soup from the spoon, I'll have that mastered in no time. I tried stuffing some perogie filling through the tiny gap in my mouth, haha didn't work too well as I can only open my mouth about 2mm. Still progress right. Maybe next week I will be able to down some mashed potatoes and candied yams. mmmmm that would be so delish, a change from my regular diet of drinkable yogurt, juice and soup. As for my activity level, I can say that I do not spend my days lounging around the couch anymore. It's sad, I know, I was starting to like not ever leaving my house. That was until I saw the Surgeon on tuesday and he said I should get out more. Part of the reason of staying in was because I didn't want people staring at me. But now I have been out to the musical White Christmas, the mall, to church and to 2 restaurants. And I must say, people only stare when I talk. Hahaha some have a hard time understanding and others just look at me in wonder or pity wondering what happened. I've gotten over it now, people can think what they want. Soon I will be able to eat and talk better than ever. I dream of the day I can eat a sandwich with lettuce on it, pizza with the toppings on every bite, not just the first bite, and bite into an apple instead of cutting it up. I know this day will soon arrive, I think that is what moves me forward each day. Well incase I don't get to blogging between now and Christmas, as it is in 7 DAYS!!! Have a merry Christmas! xoxo

Post op day 11

So it has been 11 days since my surgery. I can officially say now that the worst is behind us. I don't spend my days dozing in and out on the couch all day. I don't take med every 4hrs, and I don't need to use the syringe all the time. Everyday gets better :) I still don't find myself running around the house or climbing the stairs. But I do drink my water with a cup now, and I can change my own elastics and brush my teeth. Well the fronts of my teeth, still can't open my mouth wide enough to get the backsides, but I think some is better then none. I can also Pour myself something to drink or eat and read a magazine. I can now say that I can see myself looking back at me in the mirror. Sure it is still swollen and lop sided, but the swelling has gone way down. Let's just say I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Each day the tunnel gets smaller, which is good because for a while I thought it was never gonna end. I still have bad thoughts towards Langley hospital, it might be because I can still feel the exact place the nurse jabbed me with the numbing needle. I can feel the whole path the pain took down to my calf. It's a weird feeling, it's always there in the background adding to the other pains. I am pretty happy with the level of pain. It is tolerable during the day, so I'm drug free in the day. In the quiet of the night is when the pain monsters hit me. starts with throbbing and then gradually gets to sharp pain. Tylenol doesn't seem to cut it, so I reach for the codeine, which also helps me sleep. So all in all it's better, not perfect but better. I just hope that the lop sidedness is because of swelling and not because he was just focused on my bite and not the the whole picture. I guess time will tell, I just don't wanna do it again cause he messed it up. But maybe it wont be as bad the second time?? hahaha I'm gonna try not to think of it for now. xoxo