January Buddies

[I love my teeth]

HI Suzy!

I totally hit the wall today

I think the trip to Seattle on Wednesday, and yesterday I was out most of the day with a girlfriend, then went grocery shopping, and both kids went on playdates after school, and I had a nice social coffee with another friend....I slept like a baby last night, but have felt exhausted all day today.......I think maybe I overdid it a bit, since I was feeling pretty good.

My jaw is stiff and the numbness hasn't changed. I have an acupuncture appt on Tuesday...so we'll see if that helps anything..the numbness is driving me crazy---it' defintely the worst part.

I am doing my stretching exercises, my swelling has increased a bit because of that I think. I ate some pancakes and sausage for dinner last night...tonight chicken fajitias--but I doubt I can eat the chicken or the shell..I think I'll make some rice, and the homemade guacamole with the rest of the "fixin's"

I am obsessed with my bite--the surgeon said keep in eye on it, if it changes to call him....I don't think he meant check it 500 times a day!!!! But I find that when I massage my TMJ's and temporalis muscle, especially on the left, my bite levels off a bit and I can close better, I think I am having a lot of muscle tightness--which is to be expected...so I am diagnosing and treating myself at this point. I am not a TMJ physio, but I know enough..and I am not going inside my mouth to stretch it out...I did put my finger in there, and it's like a tight rubber band

I imagine it's all normal, I just don't like it!! Expecting a busy weekend--with a hockey game tonight, 2 tomorrow and 2 on sunday. my husband leaves for a business trip Sunday to Wednesday.....

talk soon, hope you have a good weekend!
Christine

[amandapanda]

Hey everyone

My lower lip and chin is still numb as well, and I've got some numbness all on the left side of my face. My teeth are looking a lot better and I can actually see all my teeth now. My jaw was a bit stiff before which made it really hard to eat but it seems like the pain has gone away now. I'm wearing elastics still but when I take them off to eat, my jaws don't feel loose whatsoever... I guess that's a good sign, I hope The only problem I'm having is that it's still really hard to talk. Maybe I'm not trying hard enough but I guess it's because I'm still probably a bit swollen so I'm unable to pronounce some words properly. Is anyone else having a problem with their speech? I'm also having a problem smiling... my smile looks so odd at the moment but it's probably because everything is still healing and I am still a bit numb in places. I miss smiling! I used to smile 24/7 and now I can barely do it Oh well, hopefully I should be able to in a few weeks!

By the way, I've been sleeping on my side for ages! I hope I'm not causing any problems... I cannot sleep any other way. Even if I fall asleep on my back, I will almost always end back on my side.

[suzyscientist]

Hi ladies!

Christine - I feel your pain! I had a date last night, went home early by my usual standards (at home by 10... I felt so old!) but it was a long day... went shopping in the morning too. So today I just couldn't wake up! I got out of bed around 1pm, but just sat on the couch all day.

Tonight I have to go out to a superbowl party tonight that STARTS at 10:30pm! I have no idea how I will survive Thankfully I am staying at the host's house so if I get tired I can just sneak off to bed

It's quite frustrating how the impact of the surgery is still lingering, and we're almost 3 weeks post-op! But I guess we just have to have patience

How are you feeling about your husband going away? Have your kids promised you an easy ride while he's away? I think bribery might be in order here

Amanda - I'm having speech trouble also! I've developed a bit of a lisp, and in general talking is just more difficult and I get tired of speaking a lot quicker than usual. Doesn't help in my job (I'm a PhD student and teaching assistant at university!) that I have to talk a lot... Thankfully teaching doesn't start for another week so hopefully it will get easier.

My smile looks W-E-I-R-D as well! I think that just comes in time, once the feeling comes back and our muscles recover... I think half the problem is that I'm not used to the way my face looks yet, so even if I was smiling normally it wouldn't look the same as it used to... does that make sense?

OK - I'm off for a 1hr power-sleep (hope it works!) before I have to get ready for this party. Luckily I don't have anything invested in either team (usually my sporting loyalties lie with whichever team wear the nicest colours...) so I won't mind if I fall asleep before the end of the first half

Hope you both had a lovely weekend!

Suzy

[I love my teeth]

Hi Ladies!

Had an OK weekend, busy, but I got some rest too! Starting to eat more--went out for Greek on Saturday--lamb was super soft! and had some fish and chips yesterday.

still numb, not much change there---I have an acupuncture appt tomorrow--maybe that will get sorted out. Starting to open my mouth a bit wider (29mm per my 10 year old)--I was only 22mm post op day 16. So, that 's some impovement. My complaint of the day is all the TMJ muscles are so incredibly sore--why does no one tell you about these things?? I had no TMJ problems prior to surgery--but everything from my shoulders to my neck (and throat muscles) to the top of my head---

I guess I am just ready to get back to being me, and that just can't happen yet. It's hard to look so normal on the outside, and feel so crappy and not yourself on the inside......

Sorry for complaining, I think I am just over all of this and I am not patient enough to wait

Thanks for listening to me today!
Christine

[mine]

Hi ladies!

I just signed up for this board, and I wanted to join in on the conversation as I got double jaw surgery done on January 28 (by Dr. Bloomquist as well, what are the odds!).

Looks like you guys are making great progress. At 11 days post-op, my swelling is mostly down -- I think I'm still puffy on the cheeks and around the nose. I look super-strange when I smile... I used to smile all the time too and now I feel a little depressed that I think my new smile looks ugly. It also looks like my nostrils have widened a bit. But it's really hard to tell whether all this is permanent or whether I look different because of the swelling. I'm crossing my fingers and hoping it's the swelling... but if not, then oh well, I guess I'll adjust eventually.

I'm also numb on my right cheek all the way up to my eye... and my gums and the roof of my mouth on the right side are numb too, which feels weird when brushing or eating. I'm trying not to worry too much about that, as I know that the numbness is supposed to last quite a while.

I've been eating pretty adventurously --I had meatballs and pasta today, which required quite a bit of chewing even though I cut up the meatballs to minuscule size. I even bit into a little cookie I had with my coffee. I've been assuming that as long as it doesn't hurt, I'll chew as hard as my jaw strength will allow me to... but I wonder if that's the right thing to do. Should I refrain from overworking my jaw even though it feels like I can handle it? Or is it good to use my jaw as much as I can? Every so often I'll freak out and worry that I'm doing everything wrong, and I'm going to mess up my recovery.

Looking forward to hearing more about your recovery!

-Mine

[suzyscientist]

Hi everyone!

Mine - welcome to the thread and congrats on your surgery! It's great to have another January buddy, I think we must be the smallest cohort of the year

What did you have done? Are you banded shut? It's great that you're able to eat! I think as long as your OS says you can eat you're ok to try whatever works... I know I'm on a "mush only" diet but I've been trying soft cheese and stuff that I can nibble, not really at the chewing stage though.

Don't worry about your smile - it will come back! I'm just starting to smile again and feel like it looks 'normal' (at first it looked really weird...) My muscles are getting used to moving around my new jaw so I guess it will be the same for you. On the down side, the more I smile the more my braces are ripping the inside of my cheeks! That's another thing for the muscles to get used to!

Keep us posted on how you're doing - day 11, you're really making progress now Almost 2 weeks!

Christine - I'm getting a lot of muscle strain as well... it's really annoying I've been trying to eat soft cheese to get some fat (managed to put on 3lb but I'm still 12lb down on my normal weight) but it's like my jaw is trying to not move... feels like the muscles are made of wood or something!

Interesting that you're having neck and shoulder pain. I got that for the first few weeks but it's been better since I started sleeping lying down (although now my back is really sore, I think it got used to sleeping sitting up!). Wonder if your posture has changed?

I guess I am just ready to get back to being me, and that just can't happen yet. It's hard to look so normal on the outside, and feel so crappy and not yourself on the inside......

I completely and utterly 100% agree. This is meant in the best possible way, but I'm glad that other people feel like this too because it means I'm not going crazy! But we'll all get through this, especially because we have each other for support and understanding

Let me know how the acupuncture goes - I'd be interested in trying it here. Anything to bring back the feeling!

Did your husband get away on his trip ok? How are you getting on so far?

It's morning here and I just woke up after a cr*ppy night's sleep. So yet again I'm in a bad mood But guess it could be worse *sigh*. What's really starting to irritate me is the reactions of other people. So far I've had these type of reactions:

"Wow you're so lucky to get so much time off work, I'd love to watch TV all day"

"Oh you lost weight that's great I might try jaw surgery hahaha"

"You look like you always did... Why did you bother?"

As much as I'm really happy I had the surgery, it wasn't a big party, and I would rather have never *needed* the surgery in the first place, if that makes sense. Watching TV all day is so frustratingly boring, and the uncontrollable weight loss is scary, especially when I was really trying to eat normally. And why did I bother? Seriously? I bothered because a severe underbite was having negative impact on MY life, not other peoples, so they can stick their useless opinions.... grrrrr.

OK rant over I did a full day in work yesterday, after the superbowl party, where I managed to stay up til the end of the game! Go me! Although all the talking and shouting at the party meant the swelling in my face has gone up a bit over the past 2 days, and it feels a bit more painful than usual. Not painful enough for pain meds yet though, I'm trying to stay off them so my poor stomach can recover!

Off to work again today. Trying to get back into a routine. Oh but I have to stop by my boyfriend's house and make him chicken soup... he has a little cold (he thinks he's dying of flu) so I'm going to try and cheer him up. I'm such a good girlfriend

Hope you're all doing well today

Suzy

[I love my teeth]

mine-welcome and yes, totally weird that we had the same surgeon on only 1 week apart----for all I know you could have been in the office on my post op day 2 visit!!! Small world! Anyway--welcome. Not sure what he told you, but he told me "don't be afraid to use your jaw"---so that leads me to believe you can and should use it. the problem is, none of my teeth fit together right and I can't really chew anyway....so I am chewing very little. at my 2 week post op visit he said to start stretching my mouth open and chew and stay on a soft diet...not sure if he's the same for upper and he is for just lower. I don't follow up again until March 9 (about 7.5weeks post op). I take it you live in the Seattle area? I am up in Vancouver, BC, but we are american and have US insurance-so I went down there to avoid the ridiculous wait list up here. We are actually moving back to the states in about 2months

Suzy- Hubby comes home tomorrow So, far the kids have been pretty good--last night was tough--piano lessons, haircuts, then home to do dinner, then homework with both of them (had to read with the little one, big one was confused on some math-which took us a long time to get through)....that's the first time I've had to do the afterschool stint, plus cook and clean up, plus homework and bedtime routine...usually hubby cleans up the kitchen and does the little ones bed stuff....so I was wiped at 9pm when I finally got them both to bed.

The week is shaping up to be super busy--older one may have a hockey game at 8-9:30pm on Wednesday (it's a playoff game and it's about 30min away), and the little one has a first grade friendship dance on Thursday night...so I should be pretty wiped again by friday...but if I feel better than I did last Friday I guess it's an improvement.

mine-happy to have you on the thread-keep updating us on your recovery, maybe we'll end up at the surgeon's office together one day!

talk soon girls!
Christine

[bracedfaced]

Post some pictures, ladies! Please!!

[I love my teeth]

oh bracefaced-

My pics are so scary!! I looked like an "ugly chipmunk" for the first week or so (according to my 6year old-nice huh!!) I'll have to figure out how to black out my face and show just my mouth area!

[bracedfaced]

oh bracefaced-

My pics are so scary!! I looked like an "ugly chipmunk" for the first week or so (according to my 6year old-nice huh!!) I'll have to figure out how to black out my face and show just my mouth area!

At 22 days post-op!? Yikes! I have to go back to work and face the world after 3 weeks.

[I love my teeth]

oh no! Now I look fine---it was my pics up to about day 10 that were a disaster! to people that don't know I had surgery I don't look any different, to people who knew I had surgery some have noticed a change in my jawline (for the better!)...I was able to be in public on or about day 11.

[bracedfaced]

oh no! Now I look fine---it was my pics up to about day 10 that were a disaster! to people that don't know I had surgery I don't look any different, to people who knew I had surgery some have noticed a change in my jawline (for the better!)...I was able to be in public on or about day 11.

Awesome, thanks!!

[suzyscientist]

Chipmunk is such a good comparison, that's what I looked like too! I have a few pics on my camera... one immediately post-op, a few of my awesome bruises, and I'll probably take some 'after' pics this week - so I'll try and upload them soon I went 'public' around day 11 too, and it was fine. I'm getting a bit annoyed with some of my less tactful colleagues but I think that's just because I'm very sensitive (to a fault).

Today I realised - I actually have to see my 'normal' dentist first thing tomorrow! I completely forgot! Tried to call them to cancel but the office was already closed, so I guess I just have to go and surprise my dentist! I can open 2 finger-widths so hopefully that will keep him happy

I'll update more tomorrow - had a busy day and need some sleep

Suzy

[amandapanda]

Hey everyone,

Welcome Mine Good to see that your recovery is going well!

My surgeon said that I look like a chipmunk on my second post op appointment By the way, are we allowed to post photos on this forum? I feel a bit weird doing so because of all the warnings. My bite is looking amazing... I'm just so amazed at how the doctors could fix my teeth. I had one of the worst overbites. I think I'm having trouble eating too... it doesn't hurt to eat but it feels so weird to have all my teeth touching. Flossing is incredibly hard because my fingers keep getting stuck in places they normally don't I had a pretty massive overbite so it was really easy to floss before. I guess that's just one of the other things I have to get used to.

I actually think I looked pretty good one week after surgery even though I had bruises on my face. (I have some photos as well and will try to post them soon ) The trick was to wash my hair, put on some makeup and wear the nicest dress I have It really lifted my spirits for some reason. I was feeling a bit gross before because the temperatures here were exceeding 40 degrees Celsius almost every day and it was so hard to get a good night's sleep.

I went to see my surgeon yesterday. He's pretty happy with my progress. He said that in a week's time, he will probably be able to take off my elastics and make me only wear them at night. That would be so awesome if that happens I can't wait to be able to talk normally again! He also told me to start eating real food again and to throw away the blender, but I love the blender! I know it sounds crazy but I don't want to stop eating mushy food!

Mine - I think it should be fine to use your jaw as long as it doesn't cause you any pain. My surgeon said that I should try to chew so that I get back to normal and only to stop "when it starts to hurt".

[mine]

I had lower and upper jaw surgery to correct an open bite, maxillary constriction and retrognathia. I was banded shut through my hospital stay (only overnight) but they sent me home without any bands. At my 5-day follow up they gave me elastics to wear on either side. I'm pretty comfortable but with the elastics I can't open wide and my speech sounds muffled, and it doesn't help that I have a slight goofy lisp with my splint (kind of like a retainer without the metal front). I think I'm supposed to wear that for a couple of months.

Christine, that's what Dr. Bloomquist told me too, "I want you to use your jaw". And I've definitely been using it! As you guessed, I live in Seattle. I've been to Vancouver once and I thought it was like Seattle but larger and nicer.

I made a video call to my sister today who said I barely looked any different, which alleviates some of my worries about having a "new" look. I wonder if anyone will really notice a change at work on Monday (I work a tech job with a LOT of men who never pay attention to these things anyway ). It's weird, because in the mirror I feel like I look completely different, but when I compare before and after pictures of myself, it's really hard to tell what changed. In fact, comparing pictures of my profile pre-op and post-op, it looks like my nose is the only thing that changed! You would think I had a rhinoplasty, not jaw surgery.

Anyway, that's about it from me for today. Good talking to you!