Well I'm back!
Here's an update on the week... I felt pretty down and depressed on Monday and Tuesday (days 6&7 post-op). I was home by myself and felt isolated because I couldn't call anyone and didn't really want to go out in public by myself and have to try to communicate with people... But I watched silly movies and went for walks and of course things turned out ok.
On Wednesday, I went in for a post-op appointment with my OS. They took a couple of x-rays then the surgeon cut off the bands! He warned me that some people feel light-headed once they come off, but I didn't experience that. An assistant cleaned out the little pieces of the bands and commented on how "clean" my teeth appeared--sure didn't feel that way. Anyways, they had me brush and then rinse out with diluted Scope. It was easier than I expected, and it felt nice to have clean teeth. I realized then that my upper gums are almost completely numb. It was odd to see my upper teeth fit over the bottom ones. I'm still not used to it.
When I looked in the mirror, I also realized that my lower jaw is horizontally misaligned. Instead of my two upper front teeth lining up vertically with my two "lower front teeth," the lower teeth are over to the right by about half-a-tooth (nice accurate measurements, I know!) I pointed it out to my surgeon when he came back in, but he said it was an "orthodontic thing." The surgery aligned my upper jaw in the centre of my face so it's just a matter of pushing those bottom teeth into place I guess. I have a feeling this will mean longer in braces.. NOOOOO!
![Crying or Very sad :cry:](./images/smilies/icon_cry.gif)
I've had enough! But there's not much I can do, it definitely needs to be fixed. Has anyone else experienced this? How long did it take to fix? I'm sure it varies from person to person.. but still. I guess I was hoping that my teeth would look way better after surgery; neither my orthodontist nor surgeon mentioned that they would be assymetrical.
He put on two lighter elastics, but he placed them before I pointed out the misalignment... They're not symmetrical on my teeth... Do I keep wearing them exactly on the hooks that he placed them? That's what I've been doing so far. My ortho originally wanted to see me 5 weeks post-op, but my OS said it shouldn't be any longer than 10-12 days (I guess to get the elastics moving my teeth properly?) so I managed to re-book an appointment that actually works with my job schedule (this is nothing short of a miracle
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
).
Anyways.. For the first couple days food felt really rough on my hard palate, which wasn't much fun. Since then things have improved; I've had banana pancakes with heated frozen berries (the juice really softens them), omelettes, scrambled eggs, corn bread and black bean soup, baked beans, french toast, etc.. Eating is nice. Equally good is not crushing up all my meds or taking them in liquid form, YUCK. I hope I never have to do that again!
I'm going out for dinner tonight with colleagues I don't know well at all.. What should I order!? Hopefully there will be a vegetarian soup on the menu.
I'd like to post pictures; could someone please recommend a good (simple and easy to use!) site to host them on?
Also, how long should I expect to wait before running again. I ran through the rain to my car yesterday and after a bit it started to feel jarring and uncomfortable on my jaw. Will this go away in a couple weeks?
Thanks for reading, sorry this post is so long!!