Tomorrow is 8 weeks post-op!!!

Hey everyone!

So so sorry that I haven't been posting lately. I don't actually remember the last time I posted... How sad is that?

Anyways I wanted to do an update because up until the last couple days, everything has been normal with my jaw and my life. But since a few things have arisen with both my jaw and my day-to-day life, I figured it was time to make an update. So yes, this will be an update on both my Jaw Surgery progress and my general life happenings.

So first I'll start by saying that tomorrow I will be exactly 8 weeks post-op!! And everyone knows what that means... I finalllllyyyy get to chew!
I've been pretty bad when it comes to eating though. I've literally ate everything I'm not supposed to. Bread, Meat, big chunky pasta, you name it. Well... I haven't ate crackers or pizza, so I guess I haven't been too bad. And I never actually chewed any of this... except the bread. I took little pieces and mushed it behind my back molars where my wisdom teeth used to be, the gummy part. So actually I have been pretty bad.
My next appointment with my surgeon isn't until Tuesday and I know that most people would wait until they see their surgeon to start chewing food but when I saw him last week I said "So I can start chewing 2 Fridays from now?" and he replied "Yes, but start off with the soft foods you've been just swallowing. You can't go straight to meat and raw veggies. Cooked veggies and pasta are a good starter." So That's exactly what I'm doing. Tomorrow Evan is coming down and we're having lunch together so he can see me chew my first meal since surgery. I'm so excited it's not even funny.

Now onto pain. The last couple days have been weird... I'm not sure if I mentioned this, but after surgery I developed pain on the left side of my head, right above my ear and in my temple. It was never that big of an issue for me, because I only felt the pain if there was any pressure on that side - if I leaned on my hand with it, if I pushed it, etc. But today has been strange... I've been getting bad pain in my temple / side of head, and I can even feel it behind my eyeball. It's more irritating than painful, but it still bothers me that there's something wrong there and I don't know what it is. I kind of consider myself a... Hypochondriac? If that's the name of someone who thinks they have every disease and issue in the world then that's definitely me. I don't think looking at this screen is helping either. When I see my surgeon I'll bring it up and maybe he'll do a 3D scan of my head. Who knows.

Numbness! I'm actually really excited to talk about the numbness in my face and I don't really know why. Over the last couple weeks there has been a dramatic difference in numbness. Originally my lower lip and my chin were completely numb. Now, I would say I have about 90% feeling back in my lower lip, and 80% back in my chin. There is a spot right in the middle of my chin that's at about 30% but it's getting higher every week. I have an optimistic feeling that I'm not going to have any numbness in my face in a few months. But here's the really cool part - I was putting on lip balm the other day and every time I got to this one spot on my lip, a hair that had fallen off my head and gotten stick to my lipbalm kept tickling the same spot in my chin... or so I thought. Turns out that it wasn't a hair at all, it was just my nerves! It was the coolest feeling, and since then the feeling has intensified, every time I touch that spot on my lip the nerves in this one little spot on my chin go crazy! They go even more crazy when I rub the edge of my lower lip under that one spot. Oh, and I put something cold on that spot on my lip the other day? I felt the coldness in that spot on my CHIN, not on my lip! It's amazing.

Onto other surgery related things. I can fit 2 fingers in my mouth, and almost 3 if I really push it, which I don't want to do. I can easily move my jaw side to side, and I can shift my lower jaw forward enough that my lower teeth are actually significantly more forward than my upper teeth. I think I'm pushing it too much though, and that may be why I'm starting to get noticeable pain in the side of my head. My surgical hooks are still on but I'm praying they come off soon. I'm so done with these elastics, let me tell ya. Still wearing 4 of them, still wearing them when I'm asleep. The shitty part is, I don't even need my bottom surgical hooks so I don't even know why they're still on.

When it comes to my looks, I'm really on the fence. I love how I have a defined chin and it seems to fit my face well. I love how I have defined cheek bones as well. However I absolutely hate my nose. It's so upturned that it looks too short and very piggy. And I dislike that my lips aren't noticeably closer together. If you've read my old posts, you'd notice I talked about how my biggest desire out of this surgery was for my lips to close. I knew they couldn't be closed all the way without making myself look unattractive but I was hoping for a bit of a difference. Since I am able to pucker my chin muscles a little bit without making it noticeable, I can make it look like my lips are naturally closer together, when in reality I'm actually putting the same amount of force into it than I used to.
All in all, I'm on the fence about whether or not the surgery was worth it, but I'm leaning more to the "Yes" side. My bite is beautiful, I'm generally pleased with the "new" features of my face, and my numbness is almost 100% gone.

So that's pretty much it. I'm really lucky that the car accident didn't affect my jaw at all. Going through another surgery would be hell.

Other than that, life has been pretty basic, with a lot of random drama. For one, I was having a hell of a time with this gym membership. Not sure if I mentioned it already... but even if I have OH WELL. So I joined this gym 2 weeks before surgery.. they told me they could postpone my payments while I'm on medical leave. So I emailed the girl then night before surgery (like she told me to) never heard anything, and they were still charging me. So about 3 weeks after surgery I called and spoke to the manager, and she said she would postpone my payments for 2 months. I thought the situation was dealt with... and it wasn't. 3 weeks ago tomorrow, I noticed they were STILL charging me. So 2 weeks ago I walked into the gym and asked to speak to the manager. They called her down but she was just about to do a conference call or some BS so they took my number and said she would call me... she never did. So last week I got fed up and called. I spoke to the manager and although I was nice about it, I definitely made it clear that I was not happy. So once again she said she would deal with it... she said she would send me an email confirming that she did it, like she said she would last time and never did, so I hung up and waited for the email. Never got it. I was so mad at this point... I seriously thought I was gonna be charged again... So Friday came around and I checked my account... and so far they haven't charged me a thing! So glad that's dealt with.

Another issue is school... I've been trying to get in contact with someone for a bit about some accommodations. I have A.D.D. (Attention Deficit Disorder, although now they classify is as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and after calling a couple times I finally spoke to someone about it and got the answers I needed.

And looking for a job! I messaged my boss a couple weeks ago about working... but she texted me back and said I wasn't needed for a while. Apparently things are slow at the Groomers and since I can't work with the dogs... I'm not really needed. So now I'm onto looking for a new job. I'm ridiculously picky when it comes to jobs. But I found my dream job... It's pretty much Pet Retail. The place is very laid back and it's not too far, it still concerns animals (the last time I was in there, there were cats chillin on random posts) and since I've had experience in retail I think I'd do well there... Except you have to apply online, and that location isn't hiring. The closest location is in Toronto. Hell. No. Nonetheless I'm going to walk in and hand in my resume one of these days.

Other than that, my life has been about, eating, sleeping, and watching make up tutorials on Youtube. Evan got a job working Night shift, it was supposed to be part time but since a couple people have left he's working 40 hrs a week. It would be easier if we were in the same town but since we're not, I never see him. Boo hoo. :(

Well, that's all the bitching I need to do for today! I hope you jaw surgery under-goers or survivers enjoyed this post and found it informative. And possibly found humor in my pathetic day to day life? Who knows.

I'm making it my mission to post before and after pictures this week, but until then here are a couple recent pictures of myself! Talk to you soon xo

A day after the car accident

In the hospital after the car accident.

again

I got bored idk.

Sasha :)

Blurry but this my profile 6weeks postop.

camping right after the car accident

baby goat :)

probably my favourite picture of my profile.

he kept biting my fingers lol :)

Chloe :)

again :)

Sasha's silly face

<3

Evan <3

my favs

<3

3 weeks post op!!

Hey everyone!

It's been a while since I posted, to be honest I haven't got anything new to tell you, other than my appointment with my surgeon yesterday.

I waited over an hour to see him, since his office was so busy. I think Thursdays are wisdom tooth extraction day, who knows.

Anyways, yesterday was my 3 week appointment/ X-ray day! When I got there I was almost immediately taken to the X-ray room - The woman who does the X-rays stared at me for a few seconds, then said "Did you have surgery?" I told her I did 3 weeks ago and she said she could barely believe it, that there was no swelling at all.  For some reason the X-ray machine took a few tries to work but I finally got them done and sat back down... to wait another hour to see my surgeon. But I was finally called into a room that looked a lot like a dentist room... hmm.
My surgeon came in and started looking at my X-rays, it was so cool seeing the screws and plates in my face! It doesn't even feel like it's there. I had forgotten to put my elastics on before I left for the appointment but it didn't seem to bother him. He used some metal plate to pull back my cheeks, each time telling me to open and close my mouth. He kept saying "wow" in a good way, as if he was thinking to himself "wow I'm a hell of a good surgeon!". It was pretty funny.

He asked me who my orthodontist was, and was confused that I haven't seen him yet. I told him that my orthodontist said to book an appointment only when the surgical hooks had to come off. This is where it got confusing... my surgeon told me I had to continue wearing my front elastics (I use 5 now, do I use less??) but also said to make an appointment with my orthodontist. I tried questioning him on why but he kept talking so it was useless. I'm seeing him in less than a week so I'll ask him why I need to see my orthodontist again. I need my surgical hooks to keep my elastics on, but if I go to my orthodontist he'll take them off.
Also, my surgeon told me I could have my elastics on for weeks or even 3 - 4 months. I hope he isn't talking about the ones on my front teeth that literally hold my jaw shut together.

He asked me how much weight I had lost, I told him about 7 pounds (although I'm quite sure I gained it all back) and he told me I should buy stretchy pants? Like I have the money to go shopping right now. I had to call my gym and bug the manager until she gave me 2 months of no pay. Which is actually really cool.

Anyways I have to have my elastics on for 12 hours out of the day. I sleep for 10 hours so that shouldn't be an issue.

Other than that everything has been the same, I still eat ice cream and mashed potatoes, my jaw hasn't been hurting, although I still have a pain in the left side of my head.

Here's the best part....
I don't snore anymore!!!
Quiet as a mouse. Woohoo

BUT I do have something to share with you jaw surgery buddies... If you're going through jaw surgery or about to have jaw surgery, and maaaaybe you're getting tired of ice cream or you're lactose intolerant, I know just what you can eat for a sweet...
Cotton Candy!
or Candy floss. Whatever you call it

It just melts in your mouth so no chewing and it's sooooo good. I bought a tub of it the other day... gone in 6 hours. SO. GOOD.

In personal news, I am having a wonderful week with my boyfriend and I am so glad he's home. We've been watching Misfits and it's sooo good. If you don't know what Misfits is, I feel bad for you.

Now I am off to do some shopping for my boyfriends birthday, so I'll update laterrrr

Day 17 post op / Coconut Oil

Wow I can't believe I haven't posted in 5 days. I feel so bad lol.

The reason for this is because I don't have much to report! Also I was away this weekend at my boyfriends. But that's irrelevant.

So the last 5 days, as I mentioned, have been uneventful. I've ate, drank, slept, laughed, cried, smiled... I know I'm only 2 and a half weeks post op but I feel normal. My jaw doesn't hurt. I eat whatever I want (as long as I don't chew) and my breathing is fantastic.
Don't tell my surgeon but I even eat meat! I cut it up into teeny tiny pieces, put it in my mouth, suck on it for a bit and then swallow whole.
That sounded so dirty.

So for the last few days, I've ate a lot of mashed potatoes, scrambled eggs, oatmeal, tea, I've had tiny pieces of peameal bacon, spaghetti cut up into little pieces, popcorn (don't ask how I eat that without chewing) and a lotttt of ice cream.
Evan's mom was so sweet, she made me a separate meal of mashed potatoes for when I came over for the weekend, and went out in the morning to buy eggs for me :)
Evan's brother was sweet too, he made smoothies. Evan and his mom hated it but I loved it, it was really good. Kinda reminded me of strawberry ice cream.

The pain in my face non-existent unless I touch it. For example, I still have bad pain in my left temple/side of head, but only when I touch it. The middle part of my nose hurts, but only when I touch it. My lower plates hurt, but only when I touch it. And my stitches hurt, but only when I'm laughing, like last night when I watched A Haunted House, I cracked up so bad it literally hurt.
Because I don't really feel any pain, I'm not taking anymore pain medication, however I'm still taking my antibiotics... Kind of. I'm doing a horrible job of taking one every 8 hours. More like 1 a day.

As for numbness, I'm actually starting to gain a bit of feeling back in my lower lip/chin!! When I was eating ice cream the other day, I could feel it drip down my chin for the first time. And there is definite tingling in my lower lip.

My swelling has come to a standstill, like I mentioned before. I still have definition in my cheekbones and I could not be happier. My smile is a little off, but it will get better with time.

All-in-all my healing has been wonderful. My surgeon said my sleeping position does not matter anymore, so now that I've moved back to sleeping in a bed, I usually sleep on my side. And Evan says I don't snore anymore so yay :D
I'm pretty sure I've followed my surgeon's instructions fairly well, although I drank the smoothie Blake made through a straw which I'm not allowed to do. I think that was my only setback.
My surgeon did tell me he wants me stretching my jaw muscles more, which means out of elastics for longer. I think I've accomplished this, I only wear my elastics when I'm sleeping..... Lol
The only thing I'm concerned about is my bite. When I'm in elastics, it pulls my jaw forward and to the left a bit. But it's in a completely different position out of elastics. Hopefully this isn't an issue.

So for pain it would be a 1/10
Swelling is... maybe 2/10?
and inconvenience is probably 4/10

The last thing I want to mention on this topic is that my jaw has random spasms. Well, I don't know if you'd call them spasms. It just kind of twitches really bad, like I'll be trying to sleep and suddenly my lower jaw will shoot to the left. And I'm lying here like what the actual fuck beep. I read this is normal though so I'm not too worried.

Okay so I know this is strange, since this is a jaw surgery blog, but I wanted to talk about this since I think it's the coolest thing ever. Coconut Oil!!

My surgeon suggested this to me to hike up the calories and fat in my food so I gain more weight back / be more healthy. I talked to my good family friend about it and she swears by the stuff. She recently went through her second fight against breast cancer (and won because she's a boss) and to keep her weight from dropping too much because of the chemotherapy she used Coconut Oil, so I went and bought a huge jar of the same stuff she had. Then I started doing a little "research"... aka Google search engine... and found out it does wonders for your hair and skin!
I watched a few tutorials on Youtube and so I tried it out for myself. Of course I didn't listen to the tutorials well, I kind of used too much... But let me tell you, it's amazing. My hair has never felt so soft and smooth, and it smells really good! I also put some on my skin... I've had trouble with the blackheads on my nose / cheeks since I hit puberty, and they're gone now. Gone. In one use.
Coconut oil works as a moisturizer and an acne fighter, and apparently it helps your hair grow longer!
Anyways I just wanted to mention this for anyone who comes across my blog who maaaay have issues with dry hair or skin blemishes. However if you don't like the smell of Coconut, I'd definitely suggest not getting it, obviously.

That's it, hope you enjoyed the read and I'll update within the next couple days! xo

day 12 post op

Hey everyone!

Just wanted to do a quick update on today because I've had a bit of a scare and now my jaw is all funny.

Earlier today my pup came home from her weekly wednesday doggy daycare day. I laid on the ground and played with her, while my elastics were off, and as I tried to get up, my other dog stepped on my hair, yanking my head back and jutting my lower jaw forward, causing stretching and bad pain. I ran and put on my elastics, but a few hours later took them off to eat some food.

I noticed now that when i close my jaw, it doesn't... fit. The teeth beside my canine tooth on my left side kind of hit edges, instead of fitting into the grooves of each other like they used to.

Ever since I have been able to take off my elastics, I noticed that when my teeth are in elastics, they're much closer together than they are when the elastics are off. And to get my teeth that close together when the elastics are off, I have to... shift my lower jaw forward? It's strange. I'm not too concerned but at the same time I'm a little worried that my surgeon positioned my lower jaw while it was shifted forward and not when it was relaxed, so now it's all weird. I dunno.

If any of you guys who read my blog can relate and give me some info I would so appreciate it. Other than that it's been a lazy day with yummy food and now I'm about to make some ice cream mixed with Rolo milkshake mmmmmm

later sk8rs

Day 11 post op: Surgeon's appointment

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeello everyone!!!!

I am in the best mood I've been in since before surgery. I saw my surgeon today and everything went FAB-TAB-U-LOUS

So I got to my surgeons office and barely waited 15 seconds before my surgeon came in. He took off my elastics and asked me to open and close my mouth, all the while smiling insanely. He said the healing looks great and that I'm healing on a faster rate than most people which was awesome to hear. He said my incisions look great, I am allowed using my regular toothpaste and mouthwash, and, the best news, I AM NO LONGER ON A LIQUID DIET!!!

That's right, I'm allowed to eat ANYTHING I want as long as it can be mashed down and able to eat without chewing. I was, I AM, soooo happy.

Now onto the pain. I told my surgeon about the pain in my temple. He pushed on the exact spots where it hurt which was not fun but he said it was because of tension since I'm squeezing my teeth together. He said that squeezing my teeth together is a really bad thing to do. It can shift the plates and cause a lot of tension. Ever since I've caught myself squeezing my teeth a lot and it's frustrating but I'm trying.

I am now only supposed to use one elastic in each spot instead of doubling up on them. He told me to take off my elastics a lot and move my jaw a lot to get the muscles to stretch.

Basically everything looks great and my healing is great and there are no worries. So I went to Nature's Emporium and got some Sweet Potato and Carrot, Shepards pie, and Coconut Oil***. Then I bought some pasta at my favourite Italian eatery and went home. The Sweet Potato and Carrot was mashed, the Shepards pie blended, and The pasta was put in the blender with more tomato sauce and blended up. It was all SO. GOOD. I've ate everything in the house that I can. Oh and I bought Avocados to make guacamole later. UHFDOFH so happy.

However once I got home I noticed 2 things:

One, my back molars on the upper right side are very weak. Even when I brush very gently against it, it feels like it's being pushed on hard. It's weird.

and Two, I took my elastics off for a while and after about half an hour, my joints really started to hurt on the right. But once I put my elastics back on, the pain went away instantly. Also, when my teeth are closed without elastics, there in a different position than when my elastics are on. I'm worried that when my elastics come off permanently, my jaw will stay in that position it's in when my elastics are off and I'll be in really bad pain in my joints. Only time will tell but who knows.

My best friends came and visited me today which was awesome because I haven't seen one of them in months! Other than that I took my dogs for a walk and that was about all I did today.

Since things are pretty much slowing down I'll probably start updating every other day, or any day anything significant happens.

Talk to you all soon!

*** My surgeon wants me to put Coconut Oil in any warm foods to keep my calories up... I've been eating Buttercream icing and ice cream since I got home, I don't think my calorie intake is too low at all :P

Day 5 post op

Today was the bast day I've had so far, besides the fact that I have a bit of an episode a couple hours after I woke up.

So I'll start from the beginning: I woke up around 7:30 today, giving me 6 and a half hours of sleep! Much of an improvement considering I'd sleep for 4 hours and then wake up in agony. I gave myself some medication and fell back asleep around 8 to 12, when Evan came in.

We decided to watch a movie right away, however I was really dehydrated and not knowing it. By the end of the movie I was hot, uncomfortable, and struggling to breathe. Had a bit of a panic attack, but finally got some medication in and a lot of apple sauce and water.

Evan then took me for a walk around the block, which was okay for about half of it, but going uphill on the way back was too much and I became too weak. Evan basically had to carry me back to the house.

When I came back I ate a lot of sorbet, which actually ended up having seeds in it... I swear it was just the colouring. During this time I watched Reba on DVD and was trying so hard not to laugh or smile, but a couple times I accidentally snorted or blew a bit through my nose while trying to keep myself from laughing. It freaked me out a bit, but I was still able to breathe through my nose, so I thought I was fine. But when I went to rinse out my mouth and brush my teeth, a HUGE chunk of blood made it's way out of my mouth. Scary shit. Now I'm struggling to breathe out of one nostril.

The good news about that is that I can actually open my mouth enough to get my toothbrush in and brush my tongue and the inside of my teeth.

Overall I think I'm healing much faster than intended. The only pain I've had today was in my joints, and once I took my pain medication the only soreness has been in my stitches, as I'm actually able to smile quite well and open my mouth quite a bit. I spent most of the day without elastics on, since my surgeons said I could, but I'm keeping them on now in fear that it will change my bite if I don't. 

My pain level has gone up and down, but lately has stayed at a 4/10. My discomfort has been about a 5/10. 

My swelling has gone down so much I can't believe it. I almost look the way I did before surgery. I have a bit of puffyness in the bottom of the right side of my cheek, and some on the side of my nose on the left. But other than that, everything looks pretty symmetrical. Also, 80% of the swelling under my chin has disappeared.

My numbness has basically become nothing. It's in my lower lip and chin and under my left eye, but that's it.

My bruising is still very yellow, and very obvious. That will probably go away in a few days though.

I've had lots of ice cream and apple sauce so my energy hasn't been too bad since I went for a walk.

I'm hoping that I just heal quite fast and that this isn't a sign that anything bad is actually happening, and I hope I didn't screw up my new sinuses by blowing a bit through them.

I don't think I ever mentioned what they found in my nasal passage did I?

Well even if I did, I'll explain it again.

So while they were doing the surgery, they opened up my nasal passage and found a bone spur. Basically, my surgeon thinks that when I was very young, the bones around my nasal cavity just started growing this little piece of bone - I guess you could call it a deformity. So when you see a skull, and you see 2 holes where your nose is, my left(?) nose hole had a piece of bone growing through my sinuses. Weird.

Also, apparently my sinuses were "really messed up" as my surgeon put it. All twisted and weird, which my mom thinks is hereditary, as she has horrible sinuses. She gets sinus infections 3 times a year.

So he fixed it all up and I have brand new sinuses! Woohoo.

I'm still suprised I can breathe through them so early in the healing process. 

I'm seeing my surgeons partner again tomorrow, to ask him a few questions and tell him about how I can breathe so soon, and if I can eat mashed potatoes yet and bla bla bla. So I shall update tomorrow!!

I've been horrible with pictures, and I can't find my good webcam, but I managed to take front view and side profile pictures on my shitty webcam. Here's to being almost a week post op!

5 Days post op Front View

Right side of my profile

Left side of my profile

Surgery tomorrow!!

Wow, I can't believe I'm actually going in for surgery tomorrow.
I'm actually in denial I think, I have random moments of anxiety but then I'm fine.

Everything I need for at least the first week has been purchased. My humidifier is working like a charm, and now Evan and I are just sitting here on our laptops.

I have no idea what I'm going to have for my last meal, but I hope it's good. Maybe chicken. Who knows.

The last thing I need to do is pack my bag for tomorrow... So far this is what I'm bringing.

• Slippers
• Sweater
• Baby toothbrush
• Mouthwash given to me by my surgeon
• Lamby

Lamby is my stuffed animal (a lamb, obviously) that I've had literally since the day I was born. She's no longer pink, and the polka dots have faded, and her nose is half falling off, but she's like my security blanket :)

Since this is my last pre-op post, I'll just quickly go over what my surgeon is doing:

He's moving my upper jaw 3mm up and 4mm forward. My lower jaw is being moved 8mm forward and rotated upward slightly. Somehow while doing this he's changing the plane of my bite, and somehow this is opening up my airways so I can breathe twice as much.
Because of my cold, he's putting a nasal tube in my nose. I'm praying to god they're gonna put a tube through my nose into my stomach cause I definitely don't want to throw up blood. Actually, I definitely don't want to throw up at all.

Thanks to everyone who has read my blog through these last few months of being pre-op. I'm very happy to get on the other side of the electrical saw and start the healing process! Hopefully it's a good recovery and I don't swell too much.

I'll post when I get back from the hospital!! eeeeek

I've been cleared!!!

So I am very happy to report that I went to my surgeons today and have been cleared for surgery!! I will still be getting it done in two days :)

I got a lousy sleep last night, which sucked, but I woke up and dropped mom off at work. Then I went back home and a few hours later I went to my surgeons office.
I walked into the room that my parents and I were in the last time we were there.
My surgeon walks in with this bigger man, and he introduced himself as the anesthesiologist. Him and my surgeon then took a tongue depressor and jabbed it all the way to the back of my tongue, and I could hear them say things like "swollen glands" and "swollen tonsils" and such. I expected that much, my tonsils always swell up and it's really annoying.

Then the anesthesiologist told me he was gonna check my chest. He put the stethoscope (or whatever it's called) to my throat, then my chest, and then on my back. When he was on my chest though he went basically in my bra and I was like oh this is weird. But whatever. Then he said my chest was cleared and I was like woohoo!!

Then he asked me if I actually feel sick. I said no. Which, I don't. I'm just tired all the time lol. I'm putting that down to either oversleeping or not sleeping enough. Then they looked in my nose and the anesthesiologist made some comments to my surgeon and my surgeon responded that I'll need a nasal tube. Then the bad part... My surgeon asked if I have any nasal congestion. I thought this meant pressure in my nose and like sinus swelling or something, so I said no, and that I only blew my nose a couple times a day.
Which, I then later found out that nasal congestion means stuffy nose and I pretty much still have that. And I may have under exaggerated how many times I blow my nose a day. In realistic terms I'd say 5 times a day, maybe a bit more, but definitely not over 10. I don't know why I said 2, I think it's because all I remembered was barely blowing my nose yesterday or today. Ugh, I don't know.

But it scares me now cause it's like, is that incredibly important information? Are the chances of me dying greater now that you think I don't have any congestion in my nose?

Anyways, to finish off the appointment he took all these pictures of me - Well, of my face - and then gave me an anti-microbial mouth wash that I need to start brushing with tonight.

In the meantime, I'm trying to clean my room as fast as possible, so I can just lie down and rest and drink lots of water and get better before surgery.

Last night I had my last steak - I'm going to miss steak so much :(

Yellow Light?

Since surgery is 4 days away I'm probably going to be posting everyday, just because there's so much information :)

So in my last post I was freaking out about being sick/ rattling in my lungs. Today I went to the walk in clinic and the doctor assured me that I don't have a sinus infection or bronchitis, which made me SO happy, because I am very prone to bronchitis. So he did say that he heard some congestion in my chest, and just to take over the counter All-In-One Decongestant. I haven't bought that yet but I found some stuff in my house that worked until tomorrow when I buy some more.
The doctor said he suspects I'll be only getting better from here, so I got home and called my surgeon, which was kind of frustrating.
The woman who answered the phone seemed reluctant to let me speak to my surgeon, and suggested I just tell him tomorrow when I see him for the "Photo Shoot". When I insisted, she put me on hold for a few minutes, then suddenly picked up the phone and said "Hello Allison?" I said "This is Rebecca" and she said "Oh one minute" and HUNG UP.

I was like what the hell... So I waited a few minutes, then decided to wait until I see him tomorrow. I checked the voicemails and somehow the lady left a voicemail without even calling, and said my surgeon would like to speak to me ASAP. So I called back and told him everything. He asked me how I was generally feeling and I said I feel great except for the congestion in my chest.

So after a while of talking, my surgeon said he's pretty sure we can still go ahead with the operation, but that he wants to move my appointment from tomorrow to Wednesday, because an Anesthesiologist comes in on Wednesdays and Fridays and he wants her or him to check me out to make sure I can receive General anesthetic. So Basically it's like I'm at a yellow light, waiting for the OK.

This SUCKS. Not only did I JUST get the ability to breathe through my nose back, but I'm still congested, and in 4 days I won't be able to breathe through my nose again (If I get the OK)

But, I am to go along as if the whole thing is still happening. So I have plans to clean and prepare everything tomorrow.

In other news, my family is walking around like nothing is about to happen. My sister is complaining constantly about how everyone is paying more attention to the fact that I'm sick, rather than to the fact that she's sick. She went on this rampage about how I do nothing with my life and bla bla bla. So now my parents are catering to that bitch. I'm literally 4 days away and I'm not even close to ready. I'm sick so I can't leave the house to go buy everything I need, so my mom has to do everything I should be doing. I could do it by myself, but my surgeon basically put me on bed rest until I see him. 

In regards to how I'm feeling... I'm scared. Nervous. Anxious. Everything that I should be feeling at this point. I'm sad to see my old face go, but excited to embrace the new one. It's not going to be a huge change, my surgeon says. But still a change.

I'll update tomorrow on my sickness and everything that's going on :)

Surgery Update: Surgical Hooks on and ONE WEEK TO GO

Hello again everyone!!
I am happy to tell you all that I finally got my surgical hooks on!!!

I went in today and got them hooked onto my braces, the cool thing is that they're bendable so i can bend them in such a way so they don't annoy me. But at the same time it worries me that they won't be strong enough to hold onto the elastics post-surgery. Oh well, we'll see.

This is what they look like:

Excuse my ripped up lips, when I get anxiety I tend to tear them apart.


ONE WEEK TO GO!!!
My anxiety isn't that bad right now. I'm actually very excited to see my new face... Well kind of. I keep looking at all the old pictures of me and my boyfriend, or me and my friends/family, and I'm finding myself sad that I'll never be like that anymore, that eventually I'll look at these pictures and not recognize myself, basically like looking a stranger. But I'm keeping optimistic. I'm just excited to get the first week over and done with...

So anyways, when I saw my orthodontist, I was having a bad case of sniffles, since my cold is still going strong. He said that if I still have a cold by surgery time then it might not happen. NOT impressed. I will admit, I wasn't the nicest to my boyfriend for a couple hours after that, who gave me the cold.

In more surgery related news, my surgeons office called yesterday and said my surgeon wants to take a photo shoot with me this upcoming Tuesday; I guess to make sure that everything he's doing to my face won't make me look funny. I actually don't know why. But the lady I spoke to and I both laughed at the thought of having a photo shoot with my surgeon lmfao.

Nothing else is new other than that though. Today I got a hair cut & ombre highlights, just so I can still feel slightly pretty after surgery. You can't really notice them to be honest. They're very subtle. The cool thing is that they'll lighten in the sun this summer and then my hairdresser and I were thinking of dying my hair RED... oooooh.
 I also did most of my surgery/post-op shopping today but I still need to get more stuff, and I'm just nursing my cold basically. I pray to god that I don't get a sinus infection like my boyfriend did, and that I'm fine for surgery. I've waited 3 years for this, and my surgeon is away on vacation the following week, so I refuse to postpone this any longer.

Once I finishing buying all the shit I need for surgery I'll post pictures of it all :)

I shall leave you with a picture I just took of sick Becca with her new haaaaaaiiirr chillin beside a Honey Badger
TTFN
Ta Ta For Now

NO GENIOPLASTY

As if i'm making a post less than a day after my previous one,
but I have huge news!!!


So I woke up this morning and was totally bored, as per usual, so I decided to go play some piano. The phone rings and my sister yells that it's my surgeon, so I rush to answer it. Our conversation went like this:

Me: Hello?
Surgeon: Hi, is this Rebecca?
Me: Yep
Surgeon: Can I speak to your mom?

Um. What.
So I hand the phone to mom, she answers, continually saying "okay..." every few seconds. She breaks out in a smile and gives me a thumbs up, then shakes her head while pointing to her chin, which indicated that my surgeon was saying no Genioplasty. I was so confused, so when she finally got off the phone with him, she tried to explain everything to me as best as she could but she's pretty bad at it and not only that, but she didn't ask my surgeon any of the questions that I need to know.

Basically she said that he said he did a "Mock surgery" and realized I don't need it. Also, he mentioned something about my airways being more open after they are done with my upper jaw. He also told mom that I should call him back if I had any questions, so I wrote down a few and gave him a call.

Once I got him on the phone and explained that my mom is bad at explaining things, he burst out laughing. Then explained everything I need to know. I zoned out through some parts, but I know that he said that when he did measurements and put pieces together and bla bla bla (the mock surgery) he said that the lift he is giving to my lower jaw will give me enough of a chin to look proportionate, and I thiiiink (I hope) he meant that it will give me the support in my lower lip that the Genioplasty would have done anyways. He also made an example of a tongue depressor or cigar being bit by your molars and how it goes on an angle and mine is too steep so he's fixing the "Plane" of my bite while doing my upper jaw, so it'll open up my airways TWICE as much, making my snoring almost gone and have little to no chance of developing sleep apnea.

However, he is moving my jaw outwards as well, so I asked him if this is going to change the shape of my nose, and he said a little. He explained that whenever you move your bones, your soft tissue moves half as much. So because of my upper jaw moving out 4mm, my nose will move about 2mm. I told him that my nose  kind of points up at the end so I'm afraid that I'll develop a "piggy nose", and he said that he's doing minimal movement so that most likely won't happen, but you never know. So my concern has gone from having permanent feeling loss in my chin/lower lip, to having a pig nose.

Oh well, we'll see what the surgery brings. I'm very excited actually, but at the same time concerned because my surgeon said the Genioplasty will help shut my lips and now that it's not happening, I don't know if my lips will be as shut. Probably. I don't know.

I need to chill. He's a good surgeon and I'm being stupid.

Anyways if anything else changes or if I call and get more information out of him, then I'll update again :)

SICK

Sick, I am sick.

SICKSICKSICKSICKSICKSICKSICK

It actually isn't that bad, a little sore throat, but since my boyfriend gave it to me and he's coughing up nasty crap, I'm assuming that will happen to me too.

A week and a half pre-op too!!! I hope I'm better for the surgery.

First off I want to apologize for having my tags say "underbite" as I am stupid and for some reason put that there. I have an OVERBITE. not Underbite.

Also I should probably start communicating more with other people on their blogs because I just assumed you don't know who's following you, but I came on Blogger 5 minutes ago and it said I had one follower!!! So to my one follower I LOVE YOU :)

I think my goal is to get my followers. Just so I know I'm actually sharing my journey through all of this with people, you know?

What else is going on in my boring life....

My mom started having a panic attack over some of the things I was saying today about my surgery. She freaks out over everything. I was trying to explain to her, that if I could do all of this over again, I'd choose my own orthodontist, I'd choose my surgeon, I'd get second opinions, because I never did that. I was just handed whoever. Who knows, maybe I'd prefer another surgeon over my current one. Not to say my current one is unqualified.

I'm terrified about throwing up after surgery!!! Helpppp. My surgeon said that only 1 in 20 of his patients throw up after surgery but KILL ME I swear to god I'm going to be that person. I don't want to sound like a whiny bitch so sorry if I do haha.

I literally have nothing to talk about... maybe The Walking Dead?
Who saw the season finale tonight?
Seriously not what I expected it to be. I'm not gonna put any spoilers but holy shit.

This post is getting to be pointless.

I hope everyone had an incredible Easter weekend or Passover! I'll post soon.. getting my hair done soon so maybe I'll post pictures. WHO KNOWS.

Pictures

Hey everyone

So I promised that I would upload pictures today and I'm sticking to my promise. Down below are pictures of the front of my face, and my profile from the left and right side, with my face completely relaxed. The only thing I have on in regards to make-up is a bit of mascara so that shouldn't alter the look for the before and after pictures.

Front ( So attractive)

Left side (Even more attractive)

Right side (Oh hot damn)

And just for shits and giggles, an even MORE attractive picture of me taken the other day.

 And since you're probably scarred for life by looking at that picture above, here's a nicer picture of me.

Oh, and I finally joined the gym today! Goodlife Fitness. Everyone there is so nice, and I have a couple friends who work out there. And thankfully, they will hold off my payments until I come back from surgery. So that's a plus.

I'm just about to record and edit my first Youtube video, and see how well that goes. If it turns out good, I MIGHT upload it. But I don't know. I think I said in my post last night that I find it more invasive than just blogging by itself. So we'll see.

The next time I receive new information on my surgery will be Tuesday, as I explained in my previous post. If I post before then, it will most likely be a personal post.

Talk to you all soon!