Back to Work!

[Guest guest]

Hey all -

It's been 15 days since my surgery. Yesterday was my first day back

to work. I must say, it was nice being able to sleep in a little and

not make the long commute in to the office, but it's also nice to

get out of the house and back to a normal schedule.

My surgery (upper jaw, lower jaw, upper jaw expansion/widening) went

extremely well. My swelling has gone down a TON, especially during

my second week off. My speech has improved a lot in the last 7 days

too. I still am wearing a retainer-like splint on the top of my

mouth but I can take it out as often as I want - just need to wear

it most of the time. I've gotten used to it and my speech has

improved with it in too (just a bit " lispy " ).

My mid-line has drifted slightly so they are having my wear bands

again for a few days to correct it. This has definitely been the

worst part of it all but tolerable. I had my first orthodontist appt

yesterday and he is really pleased with how everything looks.

Swelling has gone down a lot. My gums on my upper jaw are almost

completely numb to the touch. All other areas on the inside seem to

have almost normal feeling. On my face, my lower jaw feels

completely normal again. Upper jaw area, I have some

numbness/tingling on half of my upper lip and a small area of my

cheek. The bottom of my nose is also a little numb still.

I have some jaw soreness but mostly from when I really try and push

myself to eat tougher foods. My surgeon pretty much told me that I

can eat whatever I want, whenever I want. He thinks a lot of people

resist tougher foods because they're " gun shy " rather than

experiencing true pain issue. I've taken that to heart and really

progressed nicely. About 7 days after surgery, I managed to have

Fish & Chips which was awesome. It took me about 3 times as long as

usual to eat but worth every bit of effort. Since then, I've

added a lot to my diet and this past Sunday (Day 13) I managed to

eat a nice big cheeseburger with a fork and knife. My mouth opening

has increased quite a bit but not enough to wrap my lips around

something like that!

I've posted Before/After pics under " JT " so you can see the swelling

difference. I'll post some more soon. I've had a goatee for a long

time because I wasn't happy with my appearance without it. I shaved

it off the day before surgery to get a better idea of pre and post-

op changes. So far, I'm happy enough with the changes that I've

elected to go clean shaven for the first time in about 9 years.

I'm excited to see how everything shapes up in the coming months.

Hope everyone is recovering as well as I feel. Best of luck to

anyone with a surgery date on the calendar!

JT