Here is a before picture. I know it's blurry, I took a picture intot he mirror and of course the flash made a nice reflection. But the reason I show it is becaus it is the best picture I have ever seen of myself that shows how off center my jaw is. Keep this one in mind when you look at the after ones!
That being said, I had my jaw surgery on December 3rd - I meant to update this more over the last two weeks but everytime I sat down to do it I'd get sleepy or it wouldn't make sense so I'd delete it. I think that's what pain meds do to you -- always felt pretty damn good though... :) Anyway. I go back to work tomorrow... Boo! But I am actually a little bit excited to be able to put on real clothes and makeup and of course to see my wonderful coworkers! Things have been rough the last two weeks - most especially the first week, but it's getting better!! Here is a picture of the first night..
It was definitely hard - I woke up feeling like it would be ok with me to just die or at least be in a coma for awhile! Mostly because my throat hurt so bad from being intubated. I was absolutely refusing to swallow which worked out for awhile since I had a tube to suck everything out. I tried to talk but that hurt quite a bit at first too so I gave up and just started writing out everything. I remember writing to my mom to get the surgeon and tell him that I take it back and changed my mind. It took them awhile to get the right pain meds for me since the morphine didn't really seem to do much. Regardless, I survived and learned to eat/talk with my mouth rubberbanded shut. I spent the first 5 days at home with mom and then have spent the last week here in Indy with Kyle. When I left the hospital the surgeon kept telling me he couldn't believe how very little swelling and bruising I had. That changed pretty quickly once I got home and wasn't getting the steroids to keep the swelling down. It put a lot of pressure on my face to have it so swollen
and I felt like a freak so I tried to stay away from civilization as much as possible! My mom and her boyfriend, Greg, and I watched several movies and just spent a lot of time chillin. It was hard for me to see a difference with all of the swelling even with everyone saying they could already tell. Kyle told me the night of the surgery that he could already see a difference since my chin didn't stick out as far as my nose anymore... God love him (insert angry face). When I came home from being with my mom he asked me if they did anything to my nose during the surgery because it looked different too. I wasn't sure whether I should tell him that it was probably freakin swollen or just punch his lights out. But he said it looked smaller not bigger. haha. So I spared his life. It was definitely a lot harder being at home with Kyle being back at work and having to deal with the dogs. But we managed. I've gotten most of my Christmas shopping done and have even had some time to do a little bit of scrapbooking! I, however, have not managed to find time to clean... Bummer. I got a good report from the surgeon last week when I went in for a follow-up, which was good to know. They took the bands off that kept me shut and now I only have a few that are just restrictive, but I get to take them off 3 times a day for an hour each time so that's nice. It really helps with being able to eat, still can't eat much and still no chewing for another 6 weeks. I've lost about 8 lbs in the last two weeks so I can't really complain about that. Got to get a new pair of jeans this weekend when I was shopping with my mom, I've never been able to wear jeans from this store because they didn't carry them in my size. Now I can, and it was absolutely exhilerating! The only thing that is bothersome anymore is not being able to feel my bottom lip or my chin. I am starting to get some sensation back in both, but very very gradual. It's frustrating and I know it will take months before I get all the feeling back, just weird. Enough talking though, I need to get some sleep so I will just leave you with a few more pictures of my progress over the last 2 weeks!
This is my first day home from the hospital at my mom's house. The ice bags on my shoulders and I were BFF. For some reason after I got up from a nap that evening I was all red and flushed but thankfully didn't have a fever!
The swelling had really started to take over the next day. The round band-aid on my lower cheek is where the stitches are. They had to put the screws in through the outside of my face...
This is about day 4 I think. Still at home in Rochester. And if you can see on my grey shirt I had just spilled water all over myself trying to take a sip. The whole not being able to feel your lips and chin is a bit bothersome at times.
This is the day I got my stitches out and they took the rubberbands off! This is a good shot of the bruising that had started to appear around day 6 and got worse over the next few days. It was on both sides (the yellow part toward the bottom of my face - not around the steristrip).
Also from day 6 when they removed the bands and stitches! FREEDOM!!
In the morning on day 8. My first time wearing makeup in a week! I went to the funeral for a coworker who had died over the weekend... :(
Still day 8 I think, but in the evening. I just liked pictures from this day since I had makeup on, I guess :)
Side shot from the same day. The bruising has gone down tremendously on both sides. The side you're seeing is still pretty swollen but a LOT better than it was before.
This is from day 10 at Kyle's grandparents for Christmas. I wanted to include at least one of me smiling since I haven't taken many of them since it looks so funny right now. But I figured I would humor you with just one.
