1 Year since Jaw Surgery

Fast forward to my 1 year mark since Jaw surgery last October in 2018. I can't believe its already been One year already.

my face feels so thin and I am loving the confidence back in my smile. I also got my braces off last August. I am loving my new smile!!! :D 

I really do appreciate my orthodontist Doctor Thompson and my oral surgeon Dr. Viehwig. I know

I am not alone in this i know what its like to have a screwed up jaw and to have TMJ and a jaw that is not connected right. When ever I hear someone had jaw surgery done I can only feel for them because i been there done that. It wouldn't surprise me if there is support groups for this issue. I sometimes get a little discouraged and wish there was someone that I could talk to about this that knows exactly how I feel. I have had a lot to adjust to in just one year alone my jaw is adjusting to the weather. My screws counteract with the weather so I know when a storm is coming before it even hits. I can tell my screws are finally getting used to the weather. Its been a hard first year trying to adjust to this but i made it through and now that i am used to weather hopefully it won't counteract so freaking bad this year.  I am very happy and satisfied with my results I don't regret it no more jaw pain no more struggling to eat right. I've been strong enough to share my story because I know I am not alone in this. Its amazing to go through something like this and find out more and more people are having Jaw surgery done. I can only hope I am so far the only one in my family that had it done because I wouldn't wish it on anyone. I am very grateful for the love and support I have received through this journey. This was hard on my parents but it was harder on me to put myself through the stuff I had to do. But it was well worth it. :) 

8 Weeks

Yay! I can finally say i freaking finally made it 8 weeks into recovery. :D This has been a remarkable recovery for me. I can finally eat again and let me say it feels weird to chew cause i haven't used those muscles for 8 weeks so i can only imagine it will take some time to get used to. I saw my oral surgeon for my 2 month check up and had the surgical splint come out and i am no longer " wired" shut. I'll admit yes i did lose a lot of weight and i hope to gain a little bit of weight back on cause i look skinnier than normal. I really do love and appreciate everyone's love and support and concern during this time. I know everyone's been so worried about me which i understand. Now my grandma thinks i will start throwing up foods cause i haven't ate a normal solid diet in 8 weeks but nope i get a little nauseated but i don't throw up. Its been a learning experience and its been hard on my family especially having to cope with it but i will say it is 10 x harder on me. Its crazy how its been 2 months since i was brave enough to put myself through this surgery. I see my orthodontist next Tuesday and i don't see my oral surgeon till February 2018. It feels so great being able to talk more clear and be able to chew. I can open my mouth wide again but because of my surgery my two top teeth are a little lose which is to be expected after this type of surgery so it will take a little time for my teeth to tighten back up again. I'm just so happy to finally eat and believe me i ate like i never ate before. I've been having dead blood clearing out so yay i get to look forward to that for the next 3 - 4 months that's so fun right? LOL not even funny when all i can smell is blood in my nose. I am done with this part of the chapter. Here goes to the next part of recovery its going to be really fun if i ever fly on an airplane LOL! I am very happy with my new smile. I know i am not alone in this cause there has been others that had jaw surgery done. I am just one happy girl to finally eat again. I am basically done updating my Jaw surgery recovery blog for now. I can chew foods all i want but my top jaw still has a full year to fully heal itself. I really do encourage anyone going through this to consider getting your jaw fixed. It would be worth it. I am really happy with myself. I know i made the hardest decision in my life to get this surgery and here i am pulling myself out of it. I will wait probably a year before i can chew gum and eat salad and steak cause i want to be careful and let my jaw fully heal before i decide to chew gum or eat salad cause they are very chewy foods. I'm so excited for Christmas Dinner. Like no joke i can't wait to make up for a lot of the yummy food i missed out on for Thanksgiving Dinner. That's it for 2017 this is the last post for awhile. I will post a few more times in 2018. :)

Seven Weeks

I am seven weeks into recovery going strong and i have 14 days left to go till i can chew again. I can only pray and hope and stay positive that my top Jaw will be ready for me to chew on December 12th. It's crazy to think 2 weeks from yesterday this will be over with and i'll be able to eat normal again. So far about 6 random customers at work noticed and asked me if i broke my jaw in an accident. Hahaha sure if you want to put it that way but nope my oral surgeon broke it and fixed it all for me. People ask me how my jaw is doing? I guess its healing good so far i don't know what to say. It's healing the way we want it to so i guess that's what matters most. I don't have an x - ray system to look at it everyday and believe me i get so tempted to freak people out and tell them i have screws in my head. LOL! I do get sick of this insane liquid super soft food only diet too.

I can say if you end up having Jaw surgery done right around the holidays like i just did. Sure i had surgery before Halloween but i had to miss out on Halloween candy ( candy all together) I haven't had a candy bar since before my surgery and my Thanksgiving dinner was a little different i had to miss out on Turkey but i was okay with out eating turkey. I was able to still enjoy Thanksgiving dinner just with yams, mashed potatoes & gravy and cranberries ( i am not one for canned cranberries) and i also got to enjoy stuffing. I was able to enjoy pumpkin pie without crust and chocolate pie without crust. If you want turkey and like i was advised if i wanted to i could purify the turkey and eat it that way but it wasn't worth the hassle of trying to purify it.

I am excited to have my surgical splint taken out on December 12th it will be a good day to enjoy foods again. Christmas Dinner will be a big meal for me and make up for the foods i missed out on during Thanksgiving dinner.

1 Month

Its crazy how it is already been 1 month since I had my jaw surgery done. I saw my Orthodontist last Tuesday and he was very happy with the results and said Dr Viehwig did an amazing job. I am so very happy and i love the new results. Now that we are onto the 5th week in this i have about 3 and a half weeks left to go. I also saw my oral surgeon for a check up yesterday morning and my top jaw is healing and the numbness is now all gone so i can feel everything and since i know my oral surgeon went through my nose i know i can't blow my nose so i asked him when could blow my nose again? and he said i can blow my nose just very gentle and i can't block both nostrils at the same time because my nasal cavity tissue is healing he doesn't want me to blow to hard when i blow my nose. He told me in the next 3 to 4 months i will be experiencing some nasty stuff coming out of my nose too. So that will be fun to deal with as time goes by and i went back to work for the first time since October 9th 2017 and that was a nice welcome back. Everyone was surprised and they were happy to have me back. Some of my co workers had no idea i was having surgery so they all thought that i went on vacation. They asked me where did you go? did you go on vacation? hahaha yeah sure if you consider surgery a vacation. LOL! I go back to see my oral surgeon on December 12th and my surgical splint will come out and i am sure by than i will be back to chewing again. :)

I still looked cute before surgery but now i look 10 x better. You can tell i had surgery done and i loved my smile ever since i was little so when i lost all my confidence in my smile i ended up not liking my smile. Now i love my new smile and i have so much confidence back in my smile. I don't know how one simply enjoys this insane diet? i'm dying over here and yes i have lost some weight in this which is to be expected. I'm just glad not much longer to wait to have my normal food again.

Three Weeks Down

It is so crazy how 3 weeks went by and i had my check up with my Oral surgeon on Halloween. Things are going very well and he is so happy and pleased with the way I am healing and recovering. I couldn't be more happier with the results and I am loving my smile again. I can now brush my teeth but i have to be gentle of course. I can suck out of a straw i just can't use one with milkshakes or smoothies. I have 6 weeks left to go and with that i get to start eating again on December 10th. I will be honest nobody understands what this is like and of course nobody will understand cause they have never been through this. If i met someone that went through this i can only say i understand what its like cause honestly i know how it felt to go through this alone while my family tries to understand why i did this. I am a little on the lactose and tolerant side so I can tell when i have to much milk in my system cause i automatically feel sick to the stomach. I have to drink Vitamin D milk which is my choice over nasty skim milk. I honestly can't wait to drink 2% milk again when this is over with. I drink water like its going out of style. I have found i enjoy hot showers because i can't blow my nose so that hot water really hits good and really helps get things loosened up so it comes out easier. I am glad i have a love for drinking Gatorade because Gatorade is a big help in keeping me hydrated. Yeah this is a torture being on this crazy diet but i deeply enjoy it. I get to enjoy eating ice cream, yogurt, pudding, Jello, scrambled eggs, smoothies, milkshakes, cottage cheese, soups, mashed potatoes, applesauce and protein shakes. My mom has made a few dinners that she has been able to purify for me and some of them are a hit and some of them its like gross don't blend that ever again. My Thanksgiving dinner will be different for me i will only get to eat mashed potatoes and stuffing and hopefully pie. This has been a remarkable road to recovery and honestly it has helped me personally grow and it helped me learn that i can remain strong through other difficult trials in my life. I see my Orthodontist for the first time tomorrow since before my surgery happened and i am excited i can't wait till he see's my new results. I am going to shock everyone at his office tomorrow and it will be a  good one. :)

A lot Happens in Two Weeks

During the 2 weeks recovering i have learned i have my good days where i feel good like i can get a ton of stuff done than i have bad days where i don't feel so good and i feel like i will pass out or throw up. I've been advised since i came out of surgery to not blow my nose and that's driving me crazy right now not being able to blow my nose. Its impossible to not yawn and believe me its hard to not yawn with my mouth wired shut. I sneezed for the first time since my surgery and that hurt like hell. I can't brush my teeth right now so i just use warm salt water and a special mouth wash that was prescribed to me. I'll admit this has been super hard on me lately i really do miss my normal solid food diet. I know i am alone in this cause nobody i know has ever gone through this and i wish i could meet someone who went through Jaw surgery to help me get a better understanding in this. I had read a lot of other Jaw surgery stories as i went through the journey to my Jaw surgery and honestly i thought i was prepared for it and deep down i wasn't prepared enough for it. My mom hasn't been very helpful or supportive as she keeps saying to me " you expected this to happen after your surgery" well no duh! Yes i expected this but i didn't know it was going to be harder on me more than i expected it to be. I tell my mom i am still new to this and clearly its new to my mom and dad too especially when she says this is new to me too. I can tell that Jaw surgery is not a common popular surgery right now or else there would be books and even more information about it. I am basically learning as i go and i know i am not the only one who had this done. Until someone i know goes through this and has their mouth wired shut for 8 weeks than they will understand but for now nobody will never understand what its like. I'm basically purifying everything and i can't suck out of a straw till next week. I will say its not easy eating with a spoon and its challenging to eat with rubber bands in my mouth. I have a surgical splint in my mouth and it will becoming out in a short 4 weeks.
I am beyond blessed with all the love and support i have gotten through out this its been freaking amazing and i am sure loved. Now that i've been through this i can tell someone else what to expect if they have this done. 2 weeks down and i have about 6 weeks left to go so i really hope i can try and chew food again in December and i return to work in the middle of November so its going to be really good to go back to work and let everyone see me for the first time since before surgery. 

One Week After Surgery

I can't believe its been ONE week since I had surgery last Tuesday.😀 This was a traumatic surgery that I went through and I've had to adjust to this and I won't lie it is hard. I actually cried and couldn't believe that its been a week since I actually had food to eat last Monday. I had to give myself a pep talk like okay I can do this, I can make it through this. I am "wired" shut with rubber bands and that means I am "wired" shut for 8 weeks. I can't chew anything for 8 weeks my oral surgeon put me on a strict liquid soft food diet for 8 weeks. I am recovering for 2 weeks and it's going well. But it will take a good full 6 months or even up to a year for my top jaw to fully heal.

I had my one week post surgery check up appointment with my oral surgeon and he was happy with the way recovery is going for me. His staff was so happy to see how i looked and i got compliments like crazy and i am happy the results are showing, I got a new updated x -Ray done and i got to see the screws and plates in my top jaw when i looked at it on the computer screen. Yeah it was kind of weird LOL but so cool however it was weird for my mom to see the screws and plates in my top jaw and I'm sure its weird for her to see it especially since all she could ask was " are the screws and plates really in your top jaw?" as she would look at the screen. So i could tell it was weird for her. When my oral surgeon saw me he asked " Who beat you up?" and we both laughed. I get to go back on Halloween for another check up and i have a good feeling i will love the new results as i recover. :)