Double Jaw Surgery

Day 251: Do you recognize anything about me?

Can you believe it has been 251 days since my double jaw surgery? Recovery is going well. I reached a huge milestone. What do you not see?

Did you guess NO BRACES?! You are right. I was so excited to reach this great milestone. Eating is so different. Seeing my beautiful smile for the first time made me want to tear up. The wait for this moment has been so long but so worth it. All my teeth meeting together is a priceless feeling.

As far as recovery, I still do not have the feeling in my chin or bottom lip. In my latest x-ray, my chin is still not fully healed. It is still broken but oh so close to coming close together. My hope is once the chin fully grows back together, maybe the feeling will come back in my bottom lip and chin. I keep a paper towel with me at all times when I am eating so I can constantly wipe my chin as I do not feel when something is on my chin. Slightly embarrassing at times for sure.

The opening of my mouth is still not where it should be, but maybe this isn’t a bad thing? HA! I can still yell with the best of them though. The biggest complaint is I cannot bite into a sandwich or eat a banana without shoving it in my mouth. Stretching my mouth will help this and I do the stretches quite frequently. At times the jaw feels tight so the stretches actually make it feel better.

Overall, the healing is exactly where it should be for 8 months. Honestly, it doesn’t seem like it has been eight months. What an incredible journey it has been!

My goal is to bite into a sandwich by my year anniversary on March 26, 2015. I can do it!

Day 84: Exceeded Expectations #JawSurgery

I cannot believe it has almost been three months since my big surgery day. Thankful and blessed are two words that come to my mind first when I think of my surgery team.

Yesterday was my three month check-up. Three months will not actually be until next week, but the appointment albeit early was a huge success. Dr. Turvey walked in with Dr. Shirley, Chief Resident. They both were amazed. Swelling has went down to almost minimal. My range of motion far exceeded expectations along with the opening of my mouth. I can currently get 13 sticks in my mouth.

When someone gives me a goal, I am going to push as hard as I can to achieve that goal. Dr. Turvey said there wasn’t anything he could tell me to continue working on as I was doing so well with recovery. He doesn’t want to see me back until 1-year post surgery. Hooray!

I can eat pretty much anything as long as it is cut up as chewing is still a bit challenging but I am making strides. Dr. Turvey said to not bite into anything with my two front teeth for a few more months. He said to stay away from bagels, kaiser rolls, whole apples etc. Healing will continue to take place up until a year post-surgery. Swelling will come and go as well.

The next goal is getting my braces off. I am currently wearing two rubber bands at all times except when eating. One band on each side of my mouth that forms rectangular boxes. The bands are suppose to close all gaps and finish bringing the bite together. After the splint was taken out, there was a gap on the right side. I can already see the improvements with the gap from wearing the bands. Hopefully, by Thanksgiving the braces will be removed!

Overall, I am doing awesome. Like I said, chewing is challenging at times but I can see baby steps each day. I was able to bite into a thin pretzel and a potato chip this past weekend. My feet was ready to leap off the ground with joy. The pain is none. No popping, clicking or headaches in my daily life. Friends, this is HUGE news. The surgery was so worth it. The changes each day are so worth it. Happiness spreads across my face.

I will continue to do my facial massages to keep muscles working well and keeping scar tissue minimal. The numbness in my bottom lip and chin is still refusing to leave. Dr. Turvey told me to be patient and it should come back. I really feel like it is on the edge of coming back. Time will tell.

Exceeded Expectations. That is two awesome words!

Day 49: Progress every single day!

It doesn’t seem quite possible that tomorrow will be 7 weeks from surgery. It will be two weeks since I was unwired from my splint. Getting the splint un-wired did not hurt but it tasted awful. I could not have ran faster to the sink to brush my teeth and the roof of my mouth. GOOD BYE splint. I was ready to take on the world by eating and talking….. well maybe not!

I was in for a rude awakening. After my splint and wires were out, I thought all would be normal in my world once again. Ummm no! I couldn’t hardly even chew up a piece of grilled chicken. Talking was just way too weird. My mouth wouldn’t open far. Sad feelings rushed over me. You are not able to talk normal or chew normal.

Two weeks have passed and so much progress has been made in the past two weeks. Dr. Turvey and his Resident Doctors sent me home with popsicle sticks. I need to get 12 to 15 in my mouth by the time I see them on June 17th. It’s not easy but guess what? Tonight, I was able to get in 11 sticks. Go Jen! My daughter M was cheering me along the entire way.

Happiness. True happiness. Who knew sticks could make someone so happy? Food is still a battle. Each day though, I feel like I can chew lightly a little better. I am only able to chew soft foods such as pasta, oatmeal, muffins, etc. I tried to bite into a banana and it was a no go. My mouth just cannot open that far yet, but with time and exercise it will.

Each day I do my exercises and the heating pad. The heating pad wrapped around my jaw helps relax the muscles so I am able to do my exercises. Throughout the day my face gets really tight. I am hoping over time this will stop. It is a question that I am going to ask Dr. Turvey when I go see him next month.

Tomorrow will be back to work full-time for two weeks. Work is going well. There have been days of pain, but I finally quit being stubborn and take my ibuprofen. It helps me get through the painful days. Tiredness still gets me though around 6:00pm. I am ready for bed. My iron levels still could not be back to normal. I need to have them checked again. My coworkers help talk me through the days but I feel like I complain to them too much about my jaw recovery so I try to keep the recovery talks to a minimal. Several coworkers have told me they can see a difference over the last two weeks with how I am moving my jaw. It is moving more freely. This definitely makes me smile. I tried to tackle phone calls today but realized quickly, the feeling of my jaw was making me feel weird. Maybe a couple more weeks?

Dr. Turvey says it takes a full year to recover. I didn’t believe him but after the last two weeks, I do. Most of the recovery should be complete by six months. Overall, I think he will be pleased with how far I have came so far and I still have another 4 weeks until I see him. I have most of the feeling back in my face except my cheeks, bottom lip and my chin. This morning though was a big breakthrough when I could finally start licking my lips. This was HUGE. I feel like I am just right on the edge of getting my feeling back in my lip and chin. My waterpik is still my best friend after every time I eat. I have no idea how I lived with braces without it.

If I can say so myself, doesn’t my jaw look awesome?

Day 9 – 19: Recovery is going awesome!

Each day gets better. After the emotional blues on Day 7 and 8, days began to get so much more brighter. There are not huge changes like Day 1 through 8, but the small steps lead to big changes.

On day 10, pain began around the surgical incision of where they took out the condyle bone. It lasted for about two days. I realized that I was probably trying to talk too much. Once I scaled back on the talking, the pain was gone and has not been back. That was really the only pain that I have experienced. I am now off all of my pain medicines and antibiotic. The only medicine I am taking now is my nose spray two times a day.

Day 15:

I am still numb in my cheeks, my chin and bottom lip. I keep feeling tingling in my bottom chin so I think that is a good sign? Finally on Day 15, the drooling stopped. I was so happy. This was one big key that was making me feel depressed. It was so embarrassing. The towel is no longer my sidekick.

Pureed foods and smoothies are getting old very fast. I have moved on to oatmeal, coleslaw, crab salad, potato salad. I just make sure that it is all mashed and cut up pretty good so I will not get chocked since I am still not able to chew. Also, I prepared one of my Grandma’s favorite desserts and have been eating it each day.

1 16 oz. cup of cottage cheese
1 small tub of cool whip
1 small box of favorite jello

Mix altogether and keep in fridge. It is so good and goes down so easy. I used a mango flavored box of jello.

The bruising is now gone. It was so great that I didn’t really bruise that much. Most of the swelling is gone except on the right-side.

Day 19: Big difference 🙂

Amazing transformation. I smile so big each time that I look at this picture. Jaw surgery has been so worth it for sure.

My favorite gadget right now is the water pik. I’m not sure what I would do without it. Every time I eat, food gets caught in my braces and splint. I use the water pik and brush my teeth. The water pik is such a faithful friend to help remove all the food.

Tomorrow is my 3-week check-up with Dr. Turvey. I am looking forward to the appointment. I will do a blog post to update you. I have a feeling he is going to be impressed. My only complaint right now is that I still get really tired. Two naps a day have been a must-have. Going to see if this is normal.

My jaw surgery recover collage. One great journey!

Double Jaw Surgery

Footer