Day 23 and the REAL images!

It's been 3 weeks since my surgery! It feels longer but at the same time it doesn't. It's a strange thing. I did pretty good last week, had quite a bit of energy. My Mom had come back to stay with me a bit longer which was so nice. We did some shopping and went for coffee. I enjoyed it quite a bit! The down side was I think I overdid it a bit. This past Sunday I was wiped out and until yesterday I basically didn't do anything. I slept and watched TV. Very boring but didn't have energy to do anything else. Yesterday and today have been much better! I am still trying to remember I need to take it easy. It's hard for me to do sometimes cause I love cleaning and organizing things but I realize if I do too much I'll pay for it later. Not really worth it at this point! 

I've been reading a lot of other jaw surgery blogs. And to be honest, I think I'll take a break from that, it's starting to depress me a little! The updates on these other blogs show just how long this recovery truly is. I'm a little discouraged that I am not able to eat any soft food yet with a spoon. I can open my mouth about half an inch now. Other blogs and videos show that people are able to open their mouths a lot more by 2 weeks after and I feel a little down when I see that. I have to keep reminding myself I am not a common case. The last time I saw my surgeon again he mentioned I am an extreme case. So I will keep that in mind and remember I will heal as I should and there is no specific timeline I need to measure up to.

Here are the real images that show exactly what's been done with my jaw. They look a little creepy! My lower jaw was moved forward 12mm. The most my surgeon has ever done is 14mm. I'm in the top 3% of how extreme my case is and how much it needed to be moved forward. I'm also trying to keep that in mind that a lot of other people who have this done only have their lower jaw moved forward between 3 to 5 mm. The only other higher one I've seen online is 8mm. So it's only normal that I may take longer to recover with my muscles being pulled that much more! 

                   

Here's the side view BEFORE: My back molars are barely touching. Those are the only two teeth I had to chew with. It was very difficult!

Here's the side view AFTER: I have a plate in the lower jaw on each side with the three screws holding it in place. And there are also screws in my upper jaw as well. My teeth line up very nicely now! It was so strange to feel my front lower teeth matching up right behind my front upper teeth.It's been a few years since I felt that.

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Front view BEFORE: As you can see, I had quite a big gap between my upper and lower teeth. Amazing how this just starting shifting in 2006. Before that I had a regular bite and could chew normally.

 Front view AFTER: Here's the beauty picture. All the screws in place and bite is nice and closed. The screws and plates are titanium so I won't beep through the metal detector. It'll just look interesting (or freaky) to the security at the airport haha.

Here's an updated picture. Face is still very numb, still have swelling in my nose and cheek but I look a little more normal. It'll take a couple months for the swelling to disappear.

  

This one was taken last week on Thursday July 8, 2010.My Mom and I.

I'll add more updates more often (at least I will attempt to!)