Pictures 6 months post op!

I tried to publish a post today, and after the fifth time, I decided to give up and just post some recent pictures for you guys.

im still computerless and feel like the worst blogger/follwer ever. I read your posts but it never lets me comment from my ridiculous phone, so Im sorry, guys.

Ill try publishing my original post again later, vut for now this will have to do.

Hope youre

all doing super well, and thsnk you for sticking with me and putting up with my neglect!


Ps, braces are off and it feels amazing! :D

Forgive me?

Oh gosh. I'm terrible. But as you can see, it isn't just this blog I'm neglecting, it's internet in general. I was doing so well updating, and had like, all these recipes for recovery I typed up to share, that I thought Hey! I should make a real blog that anyone (family and the occasional stalker) can see! A "me" blog! Obviously that worked. I haven't had a computer in who knows how long, so I've been using my phone. and unless it has a simple little app like facebook and instagram, I'm not on it. But apparently blogger does... you just have to text your entire post... and it's proving to be a bit more annoying than a laptop. I'm just hoping it posts when I click the button. You guys deserve a blog post from me, dang it! That is, if any of you are still following me? What the H. Someone better be, if I'm going to be blogging from my tiny phone! Lol.

So this whole process has been a pain. I am finally out of bands, yay! No more rubber jail! But I am now having to see a Tongue Thrust Therapist. Who knew they existed? Not this girl! I can't get my braces off, until I correct my tongue thrust. What is a Tongue Thrust you say?

Apparently your tongue should be resting on that bumpy area of your mouth. You know, on the roof behind your front teeth. The tongue should not touch your teeth. Ever. Mine rests against my bottom teeth, and pushes against my top ones when I swallow.

It seems impossible to break this habit, but apparently it can be done. And unless it is, my teeth will forever be in braces. Noooo!!!  My orthodontist should have seen this when he first put my braces on (6 years ago) and I could have been correcting this problem all this time. But he's a horrible Ortho. And he didn't even know I had a tongue thrust.

I also will be having two more (though smaller) surgerys in the next few months. My swelling was happening too quickly durrying my jaw surgery, so my surgeon had to finish the procedure quickly. Because of this, my chin didn't get shaved off properly, and is still very jagged, making the scar tissue pile up. So, my jaw is fixed, but my chin is having major issues. They will be taking the tissue out in one of the surgeries.

My face is still numb, from the corner of my lips down. Mostly just the area they will be correcting.

I still have tissue all over, but it is going away properly. I just feel like it's taking forever. I want this all to be done already!

I forgot to mention, that because of my rapid swelling durrying surgery, my surgeon had to act fast, and stitch me up quickly. Which resulted in a terrible job. And he knows. I have a wonderful doctor. So it is all messy inside my mouth, and it will be nice to finally have things cleaned up ans back to normal in there. It's really a site for sore eyes, I'll tell you what.

I am recovering from a horrible sinus infection at the moment. Because I've been dick, I've had to cancel my last two Tongue Thrust appointments. My Dr. Emailed me and told me if I don't make it in this week, I have to start therapy all over. So I'm lying in bed trying to recover so I don't have to do that! I ate a clove of Garlic and drank a cup of garlic tea just to try and get over this. Yes, I am just that desperate guys. And I smell delicious! Lol.

Anyway, I'll try to be better at posting. Let's see if it posts from my phone though!

Brytt

Also, I don't know if this picture Im adding will work. It's a good side shot of my chin at the moment. People ask me about it a lot. It's really wierd and annoying right now.

Happy Monday, friends

Look who's alive!

Sorry the blog has been pretty neglected! I've been super busy lately, and out of town a lot for the holidays.

My face is still big with scar tissue, and my lower right side of my chin is still pretty swollen. It is also still numb, but it is slowly coming out of that! In fact, while I was at my parents house after Christmas, my chin was starting to itch and hurt. Later that night, I smiled and it was the best feeling in the world!! I cannot explain it, it felt so weird, but I was able to move the bottom right side of my lip! It has been too numb to move, but I now can!! Hooray!

(I took this picture right after I realized it was moving. I was so excited. Lol.)

If I touch my chin in a certain spot, it sends a shooting pain up into my bottom tooth. It is very similar to the feeling you get when at the dentist getting a root canal. Have you ever had them put one of those blue Q-tips in dry ice, and then hold it on your tooth, to see which one needs the root canal? Well it feels just like that! It's quite strange... slash painful.

As I mentioned before, I have a lot of scar tissue in my face still. Because the right side of my face is still pretty numb, and has so much tissue in it, I find myself biting down on it, and it hurts so badly!

(Snapshot from a few days ago)

As the numbness goes away, I am able to feel more of the screws, it's really strange.

I am still wearing my bands at night, and then two during the day. Everything is healing up nicely, just taking a long time. It's supposed to be gone, by July.

So much to say, but I'll save it for another post, as this one has become quite long. 

Hope all of you that are in recovery, are doing well! And good luck to the rest of you!!

I've uploaded some pictures from post surgery. Don't look if you're easily grossed out. I look mighty nasty.

 (Best husband in the world award, goes to my guy. There is no way I would have done that for him! lol)

 (Using wipe off markers on the mirror. Make sure you have good company, to keep you entertained while you're in that awful hospital room!)

 (I thought it would be a good idea to take a photo like this every day. But, The pictures went missing, so this is the only one I've got.)

U G L Y

Mike and I decided to go to church today, since we haven't been since I had surgery.

I thought I'd be able to get in and out without having to talk to anyone.. that didn't happen.
 I felt like a total idiot, trying to hold conversations with people with a barely functioning mouth.

A year ago, if someone asked me what my life would look like today, I never would have thought like this. I don't know what I would have thought, but I'm sure it wouldn't have been me, trying shoving sacrament bread into my  fat mouth at church.

I'm taking it all in though, and embracing the ugly.
And what better way to do that, than with an ugly sweater photo shoot?

Are these not the worst pictures ever?
 We were having way too much fun. We decided to drive around and find the biggest, fanciest house we could, and pretend like we lived there, and take our pictures in front of it!
The guy was watching us, and it was way too hilarious. We decided to act like we were really in to it. We tried to keep straight faces while posing like dorks, in ugly sweaters, on some guys lawn.

And Yes. You can bet your buttons, these are going to be our Christmas cards this year.

Happy Holidays!

FOUR WEEKS

Journal Dec. 6 2013
I went to see Dr. Egbert today. His face was priceless when I told him that Dr. Knoles had told me I could get my braces off in two more appointments. There was a kid there, Mike and I guessed he was about 16. He had his wisdom teeth extracted and was saying how bad it was, haha. Then he asked me if that was why I was there. Nope. I got jaw surgery. He said he could tell now. Then he mimicked my speaking through my teeth while squishing he cheeks together. Thanks kid. 

There was another lady there, "butter knife lady" DR. E. has  told me about her because she ate with a butter knife after surgery because her mouth wouldn't open wide enough for anything else. Anyway, she showed me pictures of herself after surgery, and we sat there comparing pictures. She is starting on week five now and is still numb. She looks really good though, and is only wearing her bands 4 hours a day and then at night. I wonder if that's what I'll get to do at week 5.. I hope so! I get so hungry. I'm sure that that is contributing to my lack of energy since surgery. I'm almost 4 weeks post op. The time has flown by. I feel like at 4 weeks I should feel a lot better than I do, but then I remember how big the surgery was, and realize my body is healing really well for it only being 4 weeks. Everyone else I hear about is just as tired as I am at this week. I just am afraid Mike thinks I am being lazy. I am, but it's because I can't help it! haha. Breclyn took me to see Dr. knoles yesterday, and then we went to the craft store. It was a lot of fun, but I got really sore towards the end, and was totally worn out by the time we got home. Unfortunately, even with Tylenol PM. I still can't sleep. I have been falling asleep between 4 and 5 every night. From what I've heard though, I'm not the only one. So that's reassuring. I guess.

Shopping last week.

...*...

This was my Journal entry last week. I had to copy it over here, because guess what? I'm 4 weeks post op now, and It is wonderful!
No more wondering what 4 weeks will be like.

At my appointment yesterday, he gave me the ok to sleep on my side, my stomach, how ever I like to sleep, I can! No more sitting up :)

I now take my bands off FOUR times a day for TWO hours each time! I wanted to throw a party right there in his office!!

He showed me a little exercise to do, to get my mouth to open wider. By Monday, I should be able to open it wide enough for my thumb to fit in sideways! Move over 2 year old. There's a new thumb sucker in da house!

Next week I will be wearing my bands even less than I am right now!

And on Christmas day, I'm in the clear to eat whatever I can! No more not being "allowed" to eat anything. If it doesn't hurt (but it will) I can eat whatever I want! I know I won't be able to bite into an apple, but it's nice to know that if I wanted to, I could. Lol.

I'm still recovering, and still swollen. I'm still numb and I'm still taking pain meds. But I can't believe how great things are :)

Oh happy day.

Hang in there guys, It get's a lot better!

Also! Did you see the date?I'm a little behind jumping on the bandwagon, But hey! It's got to be 12:12 on 12/12/'12 somewhere in the world :)

Deeeeelicious!

I'm feeling much like a raccoon these days. (not because of the pants) Sleeping in late and not sleeping at night. I don't know why this is, but it seems like a lot of people who have jaw surgery are going through this same sleep pattern..
Are you??
Mornings are the worst. I drool at night, and my face swells, and I wake up hours after I was supposed to take more medicine, so I'm in a bit of pain. All is well though :) This afternoon, (my morning) I am enjoying the delicious smell of bacon cooking in the kitchen. I obviously won't be eating it, but I'll be eating the eggs doused in fresh maple syrup from Grandpa's farm back east. Can you say yum?

I get my stitches taken out on Tuesday. I am both excited and dreading it at the same time. It's gonna be painful.

Thank you all for your sweet comments :) I love reading them, and knowing that I still have readers who care about what I have to say. Haha, sometimes I'm not sure I would even care about what I have to say... kind of like this post.

Oh! If you have a good BBQ place, much like the Dickies I get to live near, you must order their loaded mashed potatoes and their side of macaroni and put some BBQ sauce on it! It is such a good change from the normal "recovery food."
You're taste buds will thank you. I promise.