Re: Hi Katja- Hi Connie.....

[Guest guest]

HI Connie,

I hope your numbness will continue to recede and that you get feeling

back in your lip sooner than I am getting it back! I think there was

a discussion a few days ago here about kissing. I can completely

comiserate with everyone! The idea of a numb chin long term is much

more tolerable than a permanently numb lip. I've observed that

getting feeling back has been very slow. Every now and then I will

notice that I have gotten feeling back where I didn't have it before.

My lower lip and chin are not totally numb... somewhat with altered

sensation.... sigh. I sort of half smile to myself when people ask

about my surgery and are surprised to hear that I'm

still " recovering " . People don't realize the length of the process at

all or the extent of it, or the nature of it. I know that is stating

the obvious, but every now and then I am sure you too are hit by

that. I certainly don't blame them, how would they possibly know to

begin with? It's just interesting all the same....

That is funny that people attributed the difference in your

appearance to braces. 3 or 4 weeks post surgery I went back to work,

part-time for a week before transitioning back to full-time. My job

was primarily interacting with people on a face to face basis. I

still had my splint at that time and talked like a grandpa with no

teeth. Thhhh and ssshhhh for everything! People would ask, of have

you just had a tooth pulled? Or a cavity filled? Or Wisdom teeth

pulled? NO!!! Laughing to myself, I would explain. My response on

more than one occaision to my explanation, " Oh you just had that done-

today, yesterday? " WHAT?!?!?! " Yea, " I'm thinking, " I had my head

sawed open with bones broken in say 6 different places, all screwed

and plated back together, but am so dedicated I had to come back to

work only after taking the morning off. NO, this is what I look like

after recovering for 3 weeks! " People can wrap their mind around time

off for a simple broken leg, but jaw surgery is apparently too

abstract I guess!!!

I'm really glad you got such a positive response at your ortho

office!! That is great and definitely very affirming for you, I am

sure. Congrats on the weight loss too. My ortho office didn't say

anything about my changed appearance. I don't know how to interpret

that! Probably because I live in upstate NY, they are too reserved to

say anything like that. OR!!! The improvement is in my mind only. Oh

well! I heard second hand that my surgeon told my manager's

husband (whose son had jaw surgery with the same Dr.) That when it

was all said and done I would be beautiful. That was sweet of him,

but now that you mention that the surgeon isn't very impartial, I'll

have to rethink that compliment too!!! LOL

A HOLE IN YOUR GUMS!?!?! Wow! That must have been very disconcerting

to discover! I will be interested to hear what your surgeon said

about that. YOu saw him today??? I hope it is ok and not a problem or

anything serious?? Goodness!

I am six months post-op as of sept. 9th My bands are not for

guiding however, they are for moving my teeth into a better position-

just for ordinary orthodontic purposes. Surgery-wise I am out of

bands and all that. My teeth need to move over by half a tooth- we're

almost there! It was supposed that I would be in braces for about

6 months post-op. But, my recovery was delayed by slow healing of my

upper jaw. So I got started on post-sx orthodontics a little late in

the game- 4 months post-op. So I will be in them for a lot longer

than 6 months. I don't care as long as they get it right in the end.

I've had them twice now and that's it! I don't ever want them

again!! I am hoping by my 27th birthday to get my braces off. That

will be just after my one year anniversary. Part of the problem is

because of so much assymetry to begin with, my teeth were not in a

perfect position after the surgery. There is still a lot of tweaking

left to be done and now I'm worrying about getting this canted bite

corrected.... sigh again. What is the projected time that you will

be in braces post-surgery? Do you have very much left to be done

orthodontically still? I hope you'll be able to get out of them soon!

Introducing new foods has not been frustrating overall, although it

had its moments. It only was in the very beginning... I was cleared

to eat soft, mushy foods 2 weeks before my splint was removed. I

wasn't ready at that point and stuck to my recovery diet. I tried,

but I was still so numb and my bite so strange because remember, my

teeth didn't match up at all then, so I felt like I was totally in

physical therapy to relearn how to eat and chew at every mealtime-

THAT was extremely frustrating. And that was just for macaroni type

foods. By the time I was ready to have my splint removed, I could

tell that I was READY to chew! I could just tell- my mouth was ready

to masticate SOMETHING. So, the splint was removed and I was given

the go ahead to start with soft easy to chew foods for the time

being, then I was cleared to chew what I was able as I was

comfortable with it. After 6-8 weeks of an excessively

limited " menu " , I went to town enjoying trying new foods, enjoying

new found eating ability to bite through a slice of pizza, a cookie,

etc. Just enjoying solid food again... I was frustrated when we

discovered that my upper jaw wasn't completely healed yet and I was

put back on a soft mushy diet. That sucked and I had a hard time

sticking with it. It was starting to improve when I went to Russia-

still on the restricted diet. But by the time I came back a month

later, I was pretty much back up and running and my surgeon said my

upper jaw was finally good to go. Now I've just been dealing with

matters of a partially numb tongue and getting my bite in place. Each

time I introduce something new... that I couldn't eat before surgery,

or at least couldn't chew very well and would swallow whole, or

something I simply haven't had since before my surgery, etc, I eat

that item with great relish and completely enjoy it! THAT is NOT

frustrating!! Brownies were an important step in my recovery, I might

add! They are soft and easy to bite and chew and WONDERFUL. There

haven't been a lot of foods I've wanted to eat that I couldnt...

except at that one point when I was set back to a soft diet.

Otherwise, if I haven't been able to eat something, I haven't wanted

it anyway. A lot of time, I try things to see if I can eat them and

view it as an experiment. Some of the things I anticipate as possibly

being difficult to eat I haven't attempted because I am restricted

from them due to braces. So I haven't tried nuts or bitten into an

apple or things like that yet. All in good time! But, because we are

moving my upper teeth over on one side, as usual with ortho work,

those teeth are sore and tender... not as a function of the jaw

surgery, but because of ortho, so I am also restricted that way. I

was freaked out for a while about my upper jaw (if it hadn't healed,

I was facing a second surgery to graft bone from my hip) so I've been

very hesitant to reintroduce things in that regard.... eating pizza

without a fork and knife for example, or biting a hamburger. Mostly

though, it is wonderful and strange to appreciate eating in a new

way.... just to be able to eat again after not eating for so long,

and for me, also the improved function of my mouth- to be able to eat

better than I've ever been able to before. I can chew rice! Wow!!

lol Or to be able to eat things that I couldn't eat before, or to

bite through food for the first time in my life without " tearing " it

or breaking it off first. Biting through things is wonderful (don't

worry, I'm only biting food!! Ha ha). You are right, as you ease into

a soft food, it will be wonderful and your jaw sort of communicates

with you... as you are ready you'll progress. Your jaw strengthens

steadily. That first bite of anything beyond jello or mashed potato

soup is great! You will have to tell me how eating goes for you! I

understand that you are still on a liquid diet right now? What are

you eating mostly? What are you dreaming of eating? When will you

get to graduate to a soft diet- do you know yet? I forgot offhand,

you are still splinted at this point, right? Tell me how it goes for

you and ask whatever you want.

Well Connie, I've written you back a novel! I will look forward to

hearing from you and hope that you have only good news to report

about your gums. Have a great weekend!

Katja