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

5 weeks post op / car accident!

Hey guys, I just had to make a post on my blog today as I just got back from camping, and something bad has happened.

And when I mean bad, I mean horrible.

Friday we left to go camping on my friend Baileys Uncle's property. He owns 116 acres so it's an incredible, gorgeous place to set up a tent and have a good party.

Anyways, we leave Evan's home (Evan and me in my car, Bailey and Brandon in Brandon's car) and we come up to a stop light. The light turned yellow, so Brandon came to a stop. Evan tried to break... but it wouldn't work. I screamed, but it was too late. The last thing I remember was trying to cover my face as we went 50 km/h into the back of brandons car.

Airbags came flying out, glass got smashed, and of course my face got smashed against the airbag. I was only out for a few seconds, but when I came to, I was face-deep in the airbag. I pushed it away, looked in the mirror and saw my face was badly cut up. That's when panic set in. I freaked, jumped out of the car, and started running around the road like a chicken with its head cut off. I grabbed my phone and called my mom, screaming about the accident. I was in a bad state of shock. A bystander came running over and got me onto the grass, we sat down and she rubbed my back while she called 911.

My car was totaled. The hood was bent, the windshield was damaged. It would cost the same price to fix just the airbags as it did to purchase the car itself just last year.

Everyone was worried about my face. I was terrified something happened to it. But I was speaking clearly, forming sentences, so obviously nothing absolutely terrible happened, but I didn't know that at the time. The police and ambulance showed up, and I got in the ambulance a few minutes later. We drove straight to the hospital where my parents were waiting, while Evan stayed back to deal with the police officer and the accident. The ambulance ride was kinda cool, and while I was there they cleaned out my cuts with sterile water. I was only in the hospital for about an hour and a half, I was in the fast track lane and so I saw a doctor pretty quick. He checked me out and said I was fine, that there was no concussion and I was free to go. Evan and his mom showed up just then, she came down to make sure I was okay cause she's the best.

And after all this... I decided to still go camping. I wasn't gonna let some surface cuts ruin my weekend! And luckily I had a great time. We spoke to my surgeon when I was at the hospital (my mom called) and he said that if I'm not in excruciating pain and my bite is still in the same place then I should be okay, but I'm going to go see him Tuesday just to double check.

The good thing is that Brandons car has the smallest, most unnoticeable crack in the rear bumper. But what really disturbed me about the whole thing, now that I think of it, is that people were driving by, sticking their head out the window, and laughing at us. Staring at me while I was sitting on the ground with a cut up face, laughing. I cannot fathom how fucked up this world is sometimes.

So since then, the only pain I have is right under my right nostril. It's either one of those under-the-skin pimples, or my plates there are damaged or irritated. Or, it's just irritated from the blunt force from the airbag.

And actually, that's probably the only thing that's happened lately worth sharing. Other than that I've been sleeping, eating, and sleeping even more. I'll definitely update after Tuesday... I really hope I don't have to have another surgery but who knows. I am just so lucky and so blessed that nothing more happened to me. Everyone else was okay, but unfortunately Bailey has horrible whiplash and Evan got some rashes and achy muscles. My car on the other hand... is not my car anymore. It was totaled, I signed it over to a towing company who's going to smash it. So now I'm wondering... When am I getting another car?

That's about it, I'll talk to you all Tuesday!