Slept about 11am - 7am last night. I had hoped I could have a lie in but nope.
Woke up feeling ok. Took some ibuprofen first thing.
Breakfast: porridge
Went into town for the first time since before my surgery. Went round 4 shops and then came home.
Lunch: 1 egg omelette with Indian flavoured cheese followed by a lemon cheesecake
Was feeling ok and then all of a sudden I started getting sharp shooting pains up the right hand side of my face and was hit with a wave of tiredness.
Took painkillers and slept the afternoon away.
Supper: 3 meatballs (mashed) with gravy and mashed potato followed by ice cream, jelly and fresh raspberries (mashed).
Saturday, 27 September 2014
Friday, 26 September 2014
Day 21 - Lets Get Physical
No photos today because I don't want to detract from yesterday's photos :) I don't look any different today than I did yesterday, aside from yet more spots appearing on my face. I can only think that my skin will improve once I can get back to eating normally.
Slept 11pm - 6am straight. Not bad, not bad.
Woke up feeling a bit achy on the right hand side, probably this is the side I sleep on most.
Woke up feeling much better mentally again. I am pleased :)
Breakfast: readybrek
This morning, I caught up with facebook and emails and made a start on working on my CV to apply for a job.
Mid morning snack: jelly pot
Lunch: tomato soup with half a slice of bread (broken up into wee bits and soaked in the soup) followed by a raspberry yoghurt.
This afternoon, finished my CV, wrote a covering letter and actually applied for the job. It may come to something, it may come to nothing, we'll just have to wait and see.
My friend Jenny was meant to be coming for another visit (yay!) but she couldn't manage because she wasn't well herself (boo!). Meanwhile another friend who was going to come and visit me in hospital and who has been patiently waiting for me to say yes I'm up for visitors, found her diary absolutely choc-a-bloc and it's going to be a case of I'll see her when I see her. Good job I'm not having a bad day or else I think I'd have to go and eat some worms :D
So instead I spent the afternoon on the sofa, watching The Originals and drinking an oreo cookie milkshake.
By late afternoon I started getting real pain in my teeth and up the side of my face on the right hand side. So took some codeine and I'm ok now.
Supper: sweet and sour sauce and rice
Biggest issue of the day: romantic liasons.
After jaw surgery, just how do you get jiggy with it without actually being able to jiggle?
Prior to surgery, the only thing I was told that I couldn't do was to chew food.
I've not been told anything about when I can resume exercise (not that I'm a big exerciser but I did recently start yoga and I'm keen to return), if I should avoid heavy lifting, when I can have romantic goings on with my husband, etc, etc. My ortho told me she reckoned I could go back to yoga after 4 weeks as long as I didn't do anything too strenuous or things like headstands but aside from that I've been told nothing. And yet these are important things I feel.
Now we knew that kissing was going to be an issue because of the numbness and not being able to open my mouth very much (initially). We have attempted and initially kissing ended up in me laughing because I was just too conscious of it all.
Now, I think I've got it that if he focuses his kisses on my top lip and I kiss his bottom lip (kind of) then I can feel the kiss. But my staying power isn't very long before my jaw muscles are getting tired.
But I still feel like I'm kissing like a fish :D :D Part of me wonders if I should do the teenage thing of practising snogging in the mirror :D :D :D
My husband assures me it feels ok for him.
But it still doesn't answer the question of doing anything more. I've read online about how you should avoid contact sports for a year after surgery, but I don't know if this is true or not. And I have no idea when I could return to non-contact sport level so what about sex level? Because there is no getting round it, my head and therefore my jaw is going to have to be jiggled.
I guess we'll just have to try.
Slept 11pm - 6am straight. Not bad, not bad.
Woke up feeling a bit achy on the right hand side, probably this is the side I sleep on most.
Woke up feeling much better mentally again. I am pleased :)
Breakfast: readybrek
This morning, I caught up with facebook and emails and made a start on working on my CV to apply for a job.
Mid morning snack: jelly pot
Lunch: tomato soup with half a slice of bread (broken up into wee bits and soaked in the soup) followed by a raspberry yoghurt.
This afternoon, finished my CV, wrote a covering letter and actually applied for the job. It may come to something, it may come to nothing, we'll just have to wait and see.
My friend Jenny was meant to be coming for another visit (yay!) but she couldn't manage because she wasn't well herself (boo!). Meanwhile another friend who was going to come and visit me in hospital and who has been patiently waiting for me to say yes I'm up for visitors, found her diary absolutely choc-a-bloc and it's going to be a case of I'll see her when I see her. Good job I'm not having a bad day or else I think I'd have to go and eat some worms :D
So instead I spent the afternoon on the sofa, watching The Originals and drinking an oreo cookie milkshake.
By late afternoon I started getting real pain in my teeth and up the side of my face on the right hand side. So took some codeine and I'm ok now.
Supper: sweet and sour sauce and rice
Biggest issue of the day: romantic liasons.
After jaw surgery, just how do you get jiggy with it without actually being able to jiggle?
Prior to surgery, the only thing I was told that I couldn't do was to chew food.
I've not been told anything about when I can resume exercise (not that I'm a big exerciser but I did recently start yoga and I'm keen to return), if I should avoid heavy lifting, when I can have romantic goings on with my husband, etc, etc. My ortho told me she reckoned I could go back to yoga after 4 weeks as long as I didn't do anything too strenuous or things like headstands but aside from that I've been told nothing. And yet these are important things I feel.
Now we knew that kissing was going to be an issue because of the numbness and not being able to open my mouth very much (initially). We have attempted and initially kissing ended up in me laughing because I was just too conscious of it all.
Now, I think I've got it that if he focuses his kisses on my top lip and I kiss his bottom lip (kind of) then I can feel the kiss. But my staying power isn't very long before my jaw muscles are getting tired.
But I still feel like I'm kissing like a fish :D :D Part of me wonders if I should do the teenage thing of practising snogging in the mirror :D :D :D
My husband assures me it feels ok for him.
But it still doesn't answer the question of doing anything more. I've read online about how you should avoid contact sports for a year after surgery, but I don't know if this is true or not. And I have no idea when I could return to non-contact sport level so what about sex level? Because there is no getting round it, my head and therefore my jaw is going to have to be jiggled.
I guess we'll just have to try.
Day 20 - Third Post-Op Checkup
Today is Thursday.
This morning I got up at 7am to get the kids ready for school, etc, saw them out the door and then at 7.30am I did something I have never done before.....I went back to bed!
Dozed on and off until 9.45am by which time I gave myself a good talking to and thought how do I make myself feel better, what can I do?
So I got up, took some 5-htp, some passiflora and lemon balm and a multivitamin tablet. I got dressed and washed my hair (back to curly again).
And made sure I didn't watch any TV!
I put on some music and sat myself down at the computer and caught up with facebook messages and emails with a cup of tea.
Breakfast: readybrek with half a mashed banana
Tried to see how long I could go without painkillers and lasted from 10pm last night until 10am before I needed to take some ibuprofen. Jaw pain today rather than nerve pain.
Lunch: soup and a rhubarb crumble custard style yoghurt. Tried some of the crumble bit but felt the urge to chew too much so just had to eat the rhubarb and yoghurt part.
Today I had my third post-op checkup and this time with my usual ortho.
My husband dropped me off and the challenge for me today was to go to the appointment myself and to get 2 buses home.
This was the first time my ortho has seen me since before my op. A quick chat about how I was struggling this week with not recovering quick enough, she wasn't particularly reassuring but then there's not much that can be said is there?
And then it was down to business....45 minutes of it!
I asked if I could get my false tooth back in and she agreed; she thought I was going to ask :)
I was apprehensive about her guddling about in my mouth but I really wanted the tooth back in. So out came the archwire. I could feel me boring my head into the chair lol, I didn't think I could get it further in but it didn't hurt, I was just protective of my mouth.
In went the archwire to measure the position of my false tooth on the wire
Out came the archwire because now there was a gap.
The gap where my false tooth sits, has widen since I've had surgery, most likely due to the muscles, teeth movement and that I've had no dead coil, spring coil, powerchain or false tooth in there. It's now about 4 mm too big!
So on went some spring coil onto the archwire and in went the archwire again.
My ortho usually doesn't stop for rests; when she starts a job, she keeps going until she is finished. But today she was very nice and did give me little breaks because my jaw muscles were protesting and I was getting uncomfortable/sore.
But after 45 minutes, she had a new archwire in (minus some hooks), my false tooth in, spring coil, dead coil and wide powerchain all on the top. And new elastics again. Now I have orange elastics on the left in a triangular configuration and green elastics on the right in the same configuration as last week.
This will bring my top left teeth out towards my cheek a wee bit, move my top midline to the left a wee bit, close the overjet a wee bit and close the gap at the front too.
She measured my overjet (gap between my top teeth and bottom teeth when I bite together and said it was 4mm. So I was a bit disappointed because going by what the other ortho said last week, that meant the gap hadn't moved at all. But apparently it measured 5 mm last week....he LIED!! But I suspect he knocked a mm off so I wouldn't freak out any more than I was.
Something tells me, my braces are not going to be off in 4 months!
She explained to me that now my jaw has been broken, albeit carefully and surgically, my bone metabolism will have been sped up and so my teeth will move quicker than they did before surgery so we need to keep a close eye on them.
I saw my max fax surgeon today too. Spoke to him about my frustration at my recovery speed. He said that some people recover quicker than I am, some people take longer than I have to recover. My surgery was straightforward, no complications and minimal blood loss so there's no reason why I shouldn't make a full recovery, I just need to give it time. I told him about how things were on Tuesday and he said to keep doing little bits every day, although not as big as what I did on Tuesday (but that was little! :D ) and he reckoned I should manage to get back to work on 6th October as planned. I just have to remember how I was this time last week and see how much better I am doing now, so I could very well be even more better this time next week.
Once out of the ortho room, I went to the toilet to look at my teeth in the mirror...wow! what another change! It actually looked really weird seeing my tooth in. A whole new look to get used to again.
I then took the 2 buses home and managed just fine. Felt ok :) Of course, I was probably feeling better mentally as well having got my tooth back and having a whinge to the right people.
Home, made supper and then as I was feeling ok, I went with my husband and kids to visit my inlaws. This was my first time out visiting since my op. Of course, by the time we were half way there I was thinking 'maybe I shouldve just stayed at home'. But couldn't exactly turn back so we went and stayed for an hour and a half but I reached a point where I really did need to go home, I was sore.
Oops forgot...Supper was haggis, mashed potato and mashed sweet potato (I don't like turnip).
Home, painkillers, watched 1 TV programme and went to bed around 10pm
Now for the photos. Are you ready?? Excited??
First up is a picture of this gap, not quite the Grand Canyon but still big enough that I don't like it.
Next is my elastic configurations
Next is my side profile and my serious mouth closed face
And finally, saving the best til last.....TADAH!!!
I think the smile says it all :)
This morning I got up at 7am to get the kids ready for school, etc, saw them out the door and then at 7.30am I did something I have never done before.....I went back to bed!
Dozed on and off until 9.45am by which time I gave myself a good talking to and thought how do I make myself feel better, what can I do?
So I got up, took some 5-htp, some passiflora and lemon balm and a multivitamin tablet. I got dressed and washed my hair (back to curly again).
And made sure I didn't watch any TV!
I put on some music and sat myself down at the computer and caught up with facebook messages and emails with a cup of tea.
Breakfast: readybrek with half a mashed banana
Tried to see how long I could go without painkillers and lasted from 10pm last night until 10am before I needed to take some ibuprofen. Jaw pain today rather than nerve pain.
Lunch: soup and a rhubarb crumble custard style yoghurt. Tried some of the crumble bit but felt the urge to chew too much so just had to eat the rhubarb and yoghurt part.
Today I had my third post-op checkup and this time with my usual ortho.
My husband dropped me off and the challenge for me today was to go to the appointment myself and to get 2 buses home.
This was the first time my ortho has seen me since before my op. A quick chat about how I was struggling this week with not recovering quick enough, she wasn't particularly reassuring but then there's not much that can be said is there?
And then it was down to business....45 minutes of it!
I asked if I could get my false tooth back in and she agreed; she thought I was going to ask :)
I was apprehensive about her guddling about in my mouth but I really wanted the tooth back in. So out came the archwire. I could feel me boring my head into the chair lol, I didn't think I could get it further in but it didn't hurt, I was just protective of my mouth.
In went the archwire to measure the position of my false tooth on the wire
Out came the archwire because now there was a gap.
The gap where my false tooth sits, has widen since I've had surgery, most likely due to the muscles, teeth movement and that I've had no dead coil, spring coil, powerchain or false tooth in there. It's now about 4 mm too big!
So on went some spring coil onto the archwire and in went the archwire again.
My ortho usually doesn't stop for rests; when she starts a job, she keeps going until she is finished. But today she was very nice and did give me little breaks because my jaw muscles were protesting and I was getting uncomfortable/sore.
But after 45 minutes, she had a new archwire in (minus some hooks), my false tooth in, spring coil, dead coil and wide powerchain all on the top. And new elastics again. Now I have orange elastics on the left in a triangular configuration and green elastics on the right in the same configuration as last week.
This will bring my top left teeth out towards my cheek a wee bit, move my top midline to the left a wee bit, close the overjet a wee bit and close the gap at the front too.
She measured my overjet (gap between my top teeth and bottom teeth when I bite together and said it was 4mm. So I was a bit disappointed because going by what the other ortho said last week, that meant the gap hadn't moved at all. But apparently it measured 5 mm last week....he LIED!! But I suspect he knocked a mm off so I wouldn't freak out any more than I was.
Something tells me, my braces are not going to be off in 4 months!
She explained to me that now my jaw has been broken, albeit carefully and surgically, my bone metabolism will have been sped up and so my teeth will move quicker than they did before surgery so we need to keep a close eye on them.
I saw my max fax surgeon today too. Spoke to him about my frustration at my recovery speed. He said that some people recover quicker than I am, some people take longer than I have to recover. My surgery was straightforward, no complications and minimal blood loss so there's no reason why I shouldn't make a full recovery, I just need to give it time. I told him about how things were on Tuesday and he said to keep doing little bits every day, although not as big as what I did on Tuesday (but that was little! :D ) and he reckoned I should manage to get back to work on 6th October as planned. I just have to remember how I was this time last week and see how much better I am doing now, so I could very well be even more better this time next week.
Once out of the ortho room, I went to the toilet to look at my teeth in the mirror...wow! what another change! It actually looked really weird seeing my tooth in. A whole new look to get used to again.
I then took the 2 buses home and managed just fine. Felt ok :) Of course, I was probably feeling better mentally as well having got my tooth back and having a whinge to the right people.
Home, made supper and then as I was feeling ok, I went with my husband and kids to visit my inlaws. This was my first time out visiting since my op. Of course, by the time we were half way there I was thinking 'maybe I shouldve just stayed at home'. But couldn't exactly turn back so we went and stayed for an hour and a half but I reached a point where I really did need to go home, I was sore.
Oops forgot...Supper was haggis, mashed potato and mashed sweet potato (I don't like turnip).
Home, painkillers, watched 1 TV programme and went to bed around 10pm
Now for the photos. Are you ready?? Excited??
First up is a picture of this gap, not quite the Grand Canyon but still big enough that I don't like it.
Next is my elastic configurations
Next is my side profile and my serious mouth closed face
And finally, saving the best til last.....TADAH!!!
Wednesday, 24 September 2014
Day 19 - Bad Day, Maybe Bad Week
Half way through week 3 and I think this is probably the toughest week post op yet.
My brain says 'hey Fay! let's go, we're fine, let's do stuff' and my body just says 'hahahahaha! you're having a laugh!'.
I guess surgery seems so long ago and I'm frustrated that I am not fully recovered and back on my feet yet.
I'd fed up of living a life of watching TV and lying on the sofa.
And I miss bread, any kind of bread, white, wholegrain, tiger, you name it, bread for bread and butter, bread for sandwiches, bread to have with some nice cold meat and cheese and TOAST!
And if I could just get some proper sleep I'm sure my logical brain would kick in a LOT faster.
Last night I went back to sleeping on a mountain of pillows, no extra swelling this morning.
Today I woke up sore with jaw pain on the left hand side. Took some ibuprofen for that.
Spent the day watching TV.
Cleaned the bathroom
Ate my lunch outside to catch some sun for my vitamin D
Phoned the doctors and got an appointment for next week to decide if I'll be fit for going back to work on 6th October (jury is still out on this one, won't be surprised if I need an extra week or so).
Breakfast: tried a new porridge pot..oats so simple bursting with fruit (was ok, prefer proper real fruit than this artifical stuff, don't think I'll waste my money on it again).
Mid morning: pot of lemon and lime jelly
Lunch: 1 egg omelette with fruity jerk cheese and a glass of fruit juice
Supper: chorizo pasta bake (blended up chorizo, garlic, onion, red peppers, tomatoes, herbs with my tiny wee pasta) and Eton mess for pudding!
Oh! and just to prove I am NOT a total misery guts, I made my own head cacoon:
My brain says 'hey Fay! let's go, we're fine, let's do stuff' and my body just says 'hahahahaha! you're having a laugh!'.
I guess surgery seems so long ago and I'm frustrated that I am not fully recovered and back on my feet yet.
I'd fed up of living a life of watching TV and lying on the sofa.
And I miss bread, any kind of bread, white, wholegrain, tiger, you name it, bread for bread and butter, bread for sandwiches, bread to have with some nice cold meat and cheese and TOAST!
And if I could just get some proper sleep I'm sure my logical brain would kick in a LOT faster.
Last night I went back to sleeping on a mountain of pillows, no extra swelling this morning.
Today I woke up sore with jaw pain on the left hand side. Took some ibuprofen for that.
Spent the day watching TV.
Cleaned the bathroom
Ate my lunch outside to catch some sun for my vitamin D
Phoned the doctors and got an appointment for next week to decide if I'll be fit for going back to work on 6th October (jury is still out on this one, won't be surprised if I need an extra week or so).
Breakfast: tried a new porridge pot..oats so simple bursting with fruit (was ok, prefer proper real fruit than this artifical stuff, don't think I'll waste my money on it again).
Mid morning: pot of lemon and lime jelly
Lunch: 1 egg omelette with fruity jerk cheese and a glass of fruit juice
Supper: chorizo pasta bake (blended up chorizo, garlic, onion, red peppers, tomatoes, herbs with my tiny wee pasta) and Eton mess for pudding!
Oh! and just to prove I am NOT a total misery guts, I made my own head cacoon:
Tuesday, 23 September 2014
Day 18 - Beast to Beauty to Cyborg
Today is Tuesday.
Last night I slept from about 10.30pm until I woke at some unknown time, probably during the Hours of Doom worrying about if I would manage out to my appointment today.
It sounds funny, but I haven't fainted yet; I just wish I would so I could get it over and done with instead of worrying that I'm going to faint when I'm out :D
Had attempted to sleep flat like I would've done prior to surgery, woke up more swollen and chipmunky. Back to head elevated with lots of pillows again tonight then.
Today I am dreaming of either having a huge comfy bed, which has an elevated head part, with big fluffy comfy pillows, or of having a head cacoon.
I'm realising that I'm not missing food as much as I thought I would and that's saying something because I love food! But I am missing things like going out for a meal, or out for a coffee and not having a fancy piece with it. However, today I do fancy pizza. Only another 25 days to go!
Today I had a hospital appointment, this time for ENT. I have been waiting my ENT doctor to refer me to another ENT doctor to find out about getting a bone anchored hearing aid (BAHA).
This was probably my biggest trip out by myself since my surgery yet. My husband dropped me off at the hospital.
When I got there, the ENT doctor I usually see, came to tell me that she had swapped me with a patient on the BAHA ENT doctor's list so I was seeing him instead.
After some discussion, it was decided that I would get an appointment with the BAHA audiologist to see if I'm suitable for a BAHA and to get a trial run of one to see what it will be like. I was a bit reluctant when the idea of getting a BAHA was put to me a few months ago, I wasn't sure about having a hearing aid attached to me permanently and having a metal screw in my head but the more I've thought about it, the more it seems the best option. A month after I have seen the audiologist, I go back to see the ENT doctor to discuss the surgery for that.
Maybe I am a glutton for punishment, so much surgery so close together!
But my goodness I'm going to have a LOT of metal in my head! There's the plates and screws in my jaws, then there will be the metal screw/abutment for my tooth implant and then another metal screw/abutment in my head for a hearing aid!
On previous discussion about a BAHA I did express reluctance at becoming Frankenstein but with all this metal in my head, my husband suggested that I'm going to turn into a cyborg instead. He reckons the title of his blog should be something along the lines of 'Life With My Cyborg Wife' :D
I must admit, I was a little miffed that my usual ENT doctor didn't seem to mention/notice my new look :(
I then walked from the hospital to catch the bus home. This walk usually takes about 5 minutes, today it took 13; I still can't walk too fast. The walk felt like it took forever!
Bus journey home wasn't pleasant; I felt every bump on the road vibrate through my jaw and one particular bump was bordering on painful. That was my first bus journey after my surgery too.
Came home and was very good and got myself comfy on the sofa with plenty of pillows, my blanket and switched on the TV. And there I remained for the rest of the day until supper time. For someone who hasn't watched daytime TV for a very long time, I'm getting quite good at it now :) I watched Undercover Boss USA and 5 episodes of Four In A Bed!
I did not feel good. I actually took some codeine and I haven't taken codeine during the day since the first week.
I really wanted to sleep but couldn't seem to drop off and my whole head just ached. Maybe I was having a headache like anyone would have any way, or maybe it was with being out, or a combination of both.
Really wasn't fit for doing anything else, not even to check emails on the computer.
Took some ibuprofen about 4pm and started to feel better.
I did check emails via my phone and found a work -related email...so they haven't forgotten about me! What I was trying to tell myself about them waiting to give me a schedule once they knew when I'd be back looks to be right
I should've been back to work today for the start of the new academic year. When the email came in, I realised that I want to go to work, I enjoy my job and I miss it. But I can't; my trip out today definitely showed me that I'm not ready to return to work just yet. I'm going to take this as a cue to try and relax more over the next 2 weeks.
Breakfast: Readybrek with mashed banana
Mid morning: mango jelly pot
Lunch: soup and a Cadbury's layers of joy carmellionaire pot
Supper: korma sauce and rice
Today's photos:
Last night I slept from about 10.30pm until I woke at some unknown time, probably during the Hours of Doom worrying about if I would manage out to my appointment today.
It sounds funny, but I haven't fainted yet; I just wish I would so I could get it over and done with instead of worrying that I'm going to faint when I'm out :D
Had attempted to sleep flat like I would've done prior to surgery, woke up more swollen and chipmunky. Back to head elevated with lots of pillows again tonight then.
Today I am dreaming of either having a huge comfy bed, which has an elevated head part, with big fluffy comfy pillows, or of having a head cacoon.
I'm realising that I'm not missing food as much as I thought I would and that's saying something because I love food! But I am missing things like going out for a meal, or out for a coffee and not having a fancy piece with it. However, today I do fancy pizza. Only another 25 days to go!
Today I had a hospital appointment, this time for ENT. I have been waiting my ENT doctor to refer me to another ENT doctor to find out about getting a bone anchored hearing aid (BAHA).
This was probably my biggest trip out by myself since my surgery yet. My husband dropped me off at the hospital.
When I got there, the ENT doctor I usually see, came to tell me that she had swapped me with a patient on the BAHA ENT doctor's list so I was seeing him instead.
After some discussion, it was decided that I would get an appointment with the BAHA audiologist to see if I'm suitable for a BAHA and to get a trial run of one to see what it will be like. I was a bit reluctant when the idea of getting a BAHA was put to me a few months ago, I wasn't sure about having a hearing aid attached to me permanently and having a metal screw in my head but the more I've thought about it, the more it seems the best option. A month after I have seen the audiologist, I go back to see the ENT doctor to discuss the surgery for that.
Maybe I am a glutton for punishment, so much surgery so close together!
But my goodness I'm going to have a LOT of metal in my head! There's the plates and screws in my jaws, then there will be the metal screw/abutment for my tooth implant and then another metal screw/abutment in my head for a hearing aid!
On previous discussion about a BAHA I did express reluctance at becoming Frankenstein but with all this metal in my head, my husband suggested that I'm going to turn into a cyborg instead. He reckons the title of his blog should be something along the lines of 'Life With My Cyborg Wife' :D
I must admit, I was a little miffed that my usual ENT doctor didn't seem to mention/notice my new look :(
I then walked from the hospital to catch the bus home. This walk usually takes about 5 minutes, today it took 13; I still can't walk too fast. The walk felt like it took forever!
Bus journey home wasn't pleasant; I felt every bump on the road vibrate through my jaw and one particular bump was bordering on painful. That was my first bus journey after my surgery too.
Came home and was very good and got myself comfy on the sofa with plenty of pillows, my blanket and switched on the TV. And there I remained for the rest of the day until supper time. For someone who hasn't watched daytime TV for a very long time, I'm getting quite good at it now :) I watched Undercover Boss USA and 5 episodes of Four In A Bed!
I did not feel good. I actually took some codeine and I haven't taken codeine during the day since the first week.
I really wanted to sleep but couldn't seem to drop off and my whole head just ached. Maybe I was having a headache like anyone would have any way, or maybe it was with being out, or a combination of both.
Really wasn't fit for doing anything else, not even to check emails on the computer.
Took some ibuprofen about 4pm and started to feel better.
I did check emails via my phone and found a work -related email...so they haven't forgotten about me! What I was trying to tell myself about them waiting to give me a schedule once they knew when I'd be back looks to be right
I should've been back to work today for the start of the new academic year. When the email came in, I realised that I want to go to work, I enjoy my job and I miss it. But I can't; my trip out today definitely showed me that I'm not ready to return to work just yet. I'm going to take this as a cue to try and relax more over the next 2 weeks.
Breakfast: Readybrek with mashed banana
Mid morning: mango jelly pot
Lunch: soup and a Cadbury's layers of joy carmellionaire pot
Supper: korma sauce and rice
Today's photos:
Monday, 22 September 2014
Day 17 - Reflections
I didn't take codeine again before bed last night. Went to bed and read until about midnight and slept (on 2 pillows) pretty much until the alarm went off at 7am.
I did however have freaky dreams about work and an election. Gargh! I bet this is my anxiety coming out because I spoke about work on here yesterday. So much for keeping calm.
But I've woken up feeling jittery and anxious. I knew this day would come. The day when surgery seems so long ago and why am I not back to normal? I should be getting up and doing stuff, I feel fine.
I'm looking at my get well soon cards on the window sill and wondering when I should take them down...the usual custom is a week for birthday cards, what is the etiquette for how long get well soon cards should stay up? Until you are better or until you feel better?
*THIS* is the reason why I knew it was a good idea to put off looking for a full time job since I graduated 3 years ago. I didn't want to bag a new job and then find I'd have to tell my employers that I'd need to take 2 months off work whilst I recovered from surgery. I also didn't want to find myself in the situation where I was pressuring myself to get back to work, quite possibly before I was ready. And look at that, here we are exactly at that stage!
There are 2 things you need for this whole braces and jaw surgery lark: 1. strength and 2. patience.
Now I have surprised myself on the count of strength, I really have. I didn't think I had it in me to get through all those hard bits, ok there were tears and lots of them, but I did it, I survived.
I managed to do the going to hospital when I didn't think I would,
I managed to do the staying in hospital by myself the night before surgery when I didn't think I would,
I survived the surgery when I didn't think I would,
I'm getting through the recovery much much easier than I thought I would
and
generally I have maintained a positive attitude throughout my recovery, with only a couple of down days, when I didn't think I would.
During my first few days home I had thoughts along these lines:
I felt that I came out of hospital realising that I was a much more compassionate and caring person than I believed myself to be. I thought about all the 'I've never done that before' things I had did over the summer holidays, from driving to a place I had never been to before (I hate driving) to going on a rollercoaster to doing the ice bucket challenge; all things I would have backed out of previously. Over the summer I think I had the mentality that if my life ended with this surgery I'd be as well doing something before. And really, some things were fun (ice bucket challenge) and some things were not (rollercoasters) but I did them.
I have also been far more positive with my recovery than I ever expected to be. I expected to be in lots of pain, I expected to have massive swelling and bruising. I expected there to be many days of (yet more) tears of frustration at not being able to eat, go out, talk. I expected to have days of depression. But, while I've had 2 bad days so far (which didn't really reach depression levels), I have taken each day, 1 day at a time.
When I clean my teeth at night, that's me done for the day and we just wait and see what tomorrow brings.
Maybe I should enjoy my life a bit more and worry less.
I did think of what I'm going to do this year coming, once I'm back on my feet:
1. Getting a new job is one of them (even though I still don't know what I want to do and this is scary, job hunting is soul destroying). My experience of my roommate in high dependency which led me to these feelings of compassion made me realise that enrolling in a reflexology course was the right thing to do and we'll just have to see where that takes me),
2. Book a summer holiday for the family (we've not had a proper holiday because I never knew when my surgery was going to be. I put off booking anything every year for 3 years because of it. We can't afford to go some place grand but hopefully we can manage a long weekend in London and visit the Harry Potter Studios),
and
3. Maybe signing up to take part in next year's Race For Life.
4. Grab the opportunities that come my way and not say no.
I need to be more spontaneous and less anxious. I survived the op, I'm still alive, so I should live.
Now fast forward to today and I'm struggling to hold on to those feelings from the early days. It's like the effect has worn off and I don't know how to get it back.
And why? Maybe because I have major issues with the concept of patience.
Patience is NOT my forte. They say that patience is a virtue, but for some reason, over the past 37 years, I *still* haven't managed to grasp this concept. If anyone is going to beat me with a stick, it's going to be me, with a huge tree trunk never mind a twig.
I'm full of 'I shoulds', I don't have patience with myself.
I keep having to remind myself this morning that when I told max fax that I was going to take 4 weeks off work, one doctor said 'that's a bit over ambitious' and the other told me 'don't rush back to work'.
I need to remind myself that I'm walking about with broken bones. If I had broken an arm or a leg, I'd have a plaster cast to prove it, to put it right in my face so I couldn't ignore it, visible proof.
It takes 6 - 8 weeks for the bone to heal, I'm just at 2 weeks, I have another 4 - 6 weeks to go.
I'm not sure what to do today to make me feel any better.
Breakfast was readybrek; I am now finding that I'm putting off having breakfast for as long as I can. But since I am a staunch breakfast eater, even that is hard.
So after all that, I decided I would Hoover for the first time since my surgery.
I didn't want to lift the Hoover upstairs so I just did the hall, kitchen and living room
Felt ok while doing it, just a bit slower than usual.
But I am paying for it now, jaw hurts and I'm mega tired :-(
Why can I not just be better by now?
My daughter had her ortho appointment this morning and she came home very happy to say she is being debraced in 6 weeks time! Her treatment will have lasted 15 months in total.
Very happy for her, even though she got her braces on after me and will get them off first :-p
Lunch was the second half of the can of soup from yesterday (think I'll get some more in the shopping tonight) and a vanilla cheesecake with some mashed fresh raspberries.
Resting this afternoon so that I can go food shopping tonight. Managed to get some sleep before making supper.
Supper was a fishcake and mashed potato followed by a yoghurt for pudding.
Managed to go for the weekly food shop tonight. Took an hour and was ok for the majority of it, only started to feel wobbly by the time we got to the till.
Found some new foods to try. Also, when I can eat properly again, I want a Penguin biscuit (my favourite!).
Also had a couple of moments where it felt like I was drooling but I wasn't. Nerves are doing something!
Today's photos, complete with glasses to detract you away from the spots outbreak on my chin *still*
I actually feel more swollen on my right hand side although on the photo it looks like my left is more swollen.
I did however have freaky dreams about work and an election. Gargh! I bet this is my anxiety coming out because I spoke about work on here yesterday. So much for keeping calm.
But I've woken up feeling jittery and anxious. I knew this day would come. The day when surgery seems so long ago and why am I not back to normal? I should be getting up and doing stuff, I feel fine.
I'm looking at my get well soon cards on the window sill and wondering when I should take them down...the usual custom is a week for birthday cards, what is the etiquette for how long get well soon cards should stay up? Until you are better or until you feel better?
*THIS* is the reason why I knew it was a good idea to put off looking for a full time job since I graduated 3 years ago. I didn't want to bag a new job and then find I'd have to tell my employers that I'd need to take 2 months off work whilst I recovered from surgery. I also didn't want to find myself in the situation where I was pressuring myself to get back to work, quite possibly before I was ready. And look at that, here we are exactly at that stage!
There are 2 things you need for this whole braces and jaw surgery lark: 1. strength and 2. patience.
Now I have surprised myself on the count of strength, I really have. I didn't think I had it in me to get through all those hard bits, ok there were tears and lots of them, but I did it, I survived.
I managed to do the going to hospital when I didn't think I would,
I managed to do the staying in hospital by myself the night before surgery when I didn't think I would,
I survived the surgery when I didn't think I would,
I'm getting through the recovery much much easier than I thought I would
and
generally I have maintained a positive attitude throughout my recovery, with only a couple of down days, when I didn't think I would.
During my first few days home I had thoughts along these lines:
I felt that I came out of hospital realising that I was a much more compassionate and caring person than I believed myself to be. I thought about all the 'I've never done that before' things I had did over the summer holidays, from driving to a place I had never been to before (I hate driving) to going on a rollercoaster to doing the ice bucket challenge; all things I would have backed out of previously. Over the summer I think I had the mentality that if my life ended with this surgery I'd be as well doing something before. And really, some things were fun (ice bucket challenge) and some things were not (rollercoasters) but I did them.
I have also been far more positive with my recovery than I ever expected to be. I expected to be in lots of pain, I expected to have massive swelling and bruising. I expected there to be many days of (yet more) tears of frustration at not being able to eat, go out, talk. I expected to have days of depression. But, while I've had 2 bad days so far (which didn't really reach depression levels), I have taken each day, 1 day at a time.
When I clean my teeth at night, that's me done for the day and we just wait and see what tomorrow brings.
Maybe I should enjoy my life a bit more and worry less.
I did think of what I'm going to do this year coming, once I'm back on my feet:
1. Getting a new job is one of them (even though I still don't know what I want to do and this is scary, job hunting is soul destroying). My experience of my roommate in high dependency which led me to these feelings of compassion made me realise that enrolling in a reflexology course was the right thing to do and we'll just have to see where that takes me),
2. Book a summer holiday for the family (we've not had a proper holiday because I never knew when my surgery was going to be. I put off booking anything every year for 3 years because of it. We can't afford to go some place grand but hopefully we can manage a long weekend in London and visit the Harry Potter Studios),
and
3. Maybe signing up to take part in next year's Race For Life.
4. Grab the opportunities that come my way and not say no.
I need to be more spontaneous and less anxious. I survived the op, I'm still alive, so I should live.
Now fast forward to today and I'm struggling to hold on to those feelings from the early days. It's like the effect has worn off and I don't know how to get it back.
And why? Maybe because I have major issues with the concept of patience.
Patience is NOT my forte. They say that patience is a virtue, but for some reason, over the past 37 years, I *still* haven't managed to grasp this concept. If anyone is going to beat me with a stick, it's going to be me, with a huge tree trunk never mind a twig.
I'm full of 'I shoulds', I don't have patience with myself.
I keep having to remind myself this morning that when I told max fax that I was going to take 4 weeks off work, one doctor said 'that's a bit over ambitious' and the other told me 'don't rush back to work'.
I need to remind myself that I'm walking about with broken bones. If I had broken an arm or a leg, I'd have a plaster cast to prove it, to put it right in my face so I couldn't ignore it, visible proof.
It takes 6 - 8 weeks for the bone to heal, I'm just at 2 weeks, I have another 4 - 6 weeks to go.
I'm not sure what to do today to make me feel any better.
Breakfast was readybrek; I am now finding that I'm putting off having breakfast for as long as I can. But since I am a staunch breakfast eater, even that is hard.
So after all that, I decided I would Hoover for the first time since my surgery.
I didn't want to lift the Hoover upstairs so I just did the hall, kitchen and living room
Felt ok while doing it, just a bit slower than usual.
But I am paying for it now, jaw hurts and I'm mega tired :-(
Why can I not just be better by now?
My daughter had her ortho appointment this morning and she came home very happy to say she is being debraced in 6 weeks time! Her treatment will have lasted 15 months in total.
Very happy for her, even though she got her braces on after me and will get them off first :-p
Lunch was the second half of the can of soup from yesterday (think I'll get some more in the shopping tonight) and a vanilla cheesecake with some mashed fresh raspberries.
Resting this afternoon so that I can go food shopping tonight. Managed to get some sleep before making supper.
Supper was a fishcake and mashed potato followed by a yoghurt for pudding.
Managed to go for the weekly food shop tonight. Took an hour and was ok for the majority of it, only started to feel wobbly by the time we got to the till.
Found some new foods to try. Also, when I can eat properly again, I want a Penguin biscuit (my favourite!).
Also had a couple of moments where it felt like I was drooling but I wasn't. Nerves are doing something!
Today's photos, complete with glasses to detract you away from the spots outbreak on my chin *still*
I actually feel more swollen on my right hand side although on the photo it looks like my left is more swollen.
Sunday, 21 September 2014
Day 16 - Weight Loss, Bite and How Far Can I Open My Mouth
Today is a really quiet day. We did have plans to go out for a coffee (well, hot chocolate in my case), because I'm getting a bit cabin fevery, but didn't end up going.
Spent the morning updating and finally catching up to now on my blog.
Today I have had hardly any painkillers so far; only had some ibuprofen first thing and some paracetamol this afternoon. I didn't take codeine before bed last night either. I also didn't sleep elevated last night either, I wondered if I would sleep better getting my head down. I did wake a couple of times thinking I was in the wrong room but dropped off again quite quickly. Woke just before 7am.
Although I have updated my blog, I keep remembering things that I have forgotten. For example, I haven't mentioned weight loss.
So I'll mention it here. Before my surgery, my usual weight was 11st 4lbs (or 158lbs or 72kg), plus or minus a pound or two.
By the time I weighed myself on admission day I was down to 11st (or 150lbs or 70kg).
I was a bit frustrated on day 4, having endured a liquid diet and when I stood on the scales I had lost nothing! I was 11st 4lbs again! But I figure that must have been due to swelling, and the sheer volume of IV fluids and water, etc. Of course I should also listen to what I learnt during my degree at uni and know that it takes about 2 weeks for your energy to balance out.
By the beginning of week 2 I was down to 10st 9lbs (or 149lbs or 67.5kg) so that is 9lbs I have lost in total.
I seem to have stayed the same weight for the duration of this week. I wouldn't mind losing another couple of pounds, then I'll be back to the weight I was before I had my kids!
Breakfast: readybrek with mashed banana through it; it was actually quite tasty and made a nice change.
Lunch: Baxter's minestrone, Parmesan and basil soup, one of their feel fuller longer range soups. I had picked it up in Sainsbury's yesterday. Was really nice soup. I had a vanilla cheesecake for pudding and managed the biscuit base too.
I also noticed that today I can get a tablespoon in my mouth properly now.
This afternoon I made a hot chocolate with squirty cream (instead of going out)
Supper will be cauliflower cheese, I may or may not have mashed potato with it (I'm getting a bit fed up of mashed potato), we'll see.
Edit, supper was a huge plate of cauliflower cheese and I chose to have mash too. Didn't think I would manage it all but was very pleased with myself when I did.
This evening I had the urge to eat again. Like properly eat. It would've been cool if I had had some kind of inspiration and came up with something new and great to eat.
Well, jelly just had to do.
This morning, after updating my blog, I thought I'd take some different pictures so you can get an idea of how my bite is and how far I can open my mouth. I've read on a few blogs about being able to open your mouth according to finger widths and to be honest, that doesn't make much sense to me; everyone has different sized fingers and mouths. So I'll show you how far I can open my mouth.
I also straightened my hair in an attempt to get it to look as if I haven't been pulled through a hedge backwards twice!
Top picture here is my bite today:
This next picture shows my bite on 4th September, the day before surgery. Remember my top jaw was not moved.
I can open my mouth this far:
Surprisingly there is more space to get my toothbrush in between my top and bottom teeth on the right hand side than on the left.
And general pictures for today are:
Spent the morning updating and finally catching up to now on my blog.
Today I have had hardly any painkillers so far; only had some ibuprofen first thing and some paracetamol this afternoon. I didn't take codeine before bed last night either. I also didn't sleep elevated last night either, I wondered if I would sleep better getting my head down. I did wake a couple of times thinking I was in the wrong room but dropped off again quite quickly. Woke just before 7am.
Although I have updated my blog, I keep remembering things that I have forgotten. For example, I haven't mentioned weight loss.
So I'll mention it here. Before my surgery, my usual weight was 11st 4lbs (or 158lbs or 72kg), plus or minus a pound or two.
By the time I weighed myself on admission day I was down to 11st (or 150lbs or 70kg).
I was a bit frustrated on day 4, having endured a liquid diet and when I stood on the scales I had lost nothing! I was 11st 4lbs again! But I figure that must have been due to swelling, and the sheer volume of IV fluids and water, etc. Of course I should also listen to what I learnt during my degree at uni and know that it takes about 2 weeks for your energy to balance out.
By the beginning of week 2 I was down to 10st 9lbs (or 149lbs or 67.5kg) so that is 9lbs I have lost in total.
I seem to have stayed the same weight for the duration of this week. I wouldn't mind losing another couple of pounds, then I'll be back to the weight I was before I had my kids!
Breakfast: readybrek with mashed banana through it; it was actually quite tasty and made a nice change.
Lunch: Baxter's minestrone, Parmesan and basil soup, one of their feel fuller longer range soups. I had picked it up in Sainsbury's yesterday. Was really nice soup. I had a vanilla cheesecake for pudding and managed the biscuit base too.
I also noticed that today I can get a tablespoon in my mouth properly now.
This afternoon I made a hot chocolate with squirty cream (instead of going out)
Supper will be cauliflower cheese, I may or may not have mashed potato with it (I'm getting a bit fed up of mashed potato), we'll see.
Edit, supper was a huge plate of cauliflower cheese and I chose to have mash too. Didn't think I would manage it all but was very pleased with myself when I did.
This evening I had the urge to eat again. Like properly eat. It would've been cool if I had had some kind of inspiration and came up with something new and great to eat.
Well, jelly just had to do.
This morning, after updating my blog, I thought I'd take some different pictures so you can get an idea of how my bite is and how far I can open my mouth. I've read on a few blogs about being able to open your mouth according to finger widths and to be honest, that doesn't make much sense to me; everyone has different sized fingers and mouths. So I'll show you how far I can open my mouth.
I also straightened my hair in an attempt to get it to look as if I haven't been pulled through a hedge backwards twice!
Top picture here is my bite today:
This next picture shows my bite on 4th September, the day before surgery. Remember my top jaw was not moved.
I can open my mouth this far:
And general pictures for today are:
Day 15 - The Aftermath of Talking Too Much
Day 15 was Saturday again.
Woke up more swollen than yesterday, I guess that's the price you pay for talking too much :)
My husband joked that my best friend had broke my jaw again...bad man! :D
Breakfast was readybrek.
Lunch was scrambled egg made with fruit jerk cheese so we'll just call it Mexican scrambled eggs.
Supper was beef stew (blended) with mash.
Updated my blog in the morning and before I knew it, it was 12.15pm and I wasn't even dressed! I've been up and dressed before 9.30am every day since I came home.
In the afternoon went to Sainsburys to buy bread, milk, etc...running low because the kids have been off on holiday. I picked up a pot of trifle (my favourite pudding) but there wasn't anything else I fancied. Although I'm pretty sure I need to start eating new things, it's getting a bit boring.
I felt ok, not squiffy being out today.
Rest of the day was spent reading my book, blogging and playing facebook games on my kindle.
I even managed to stay up a bit later until nearer 10pm and read for a while once I went to bed.
Photos for today:
My mouth looks a bit squint and I think this is because of the increased swelling. But the bruising has gone!
Woke up more swollen than yesterday, I guess that's the price you pay for talking too much :)
My husband joked that my best friend had broke my jaw again...bad man! :D
Breakfast was readybrek.
Lunch was scrambled egg made with fruit jerk cheese so we'll just call it Mexican scrambled eggs.
Supper was beef stew (blended) with mash.
Updated my blog in the morning and before I knew it, it was 12.15pm and I wasn't even dressed! I've been up and dressed before 9.30am every day since I came home.
In the afternoon went to Sainsburys to buy bread, milk, etc...running low because the kids have been off on holiday. I picked up a pot of trifle (my favourite pudding) but there wasn't anything else I fancied. Although I'm pretty sure I need to start eating new things, it's getting a bit boring.
I felt ok, not squiffy being out today.
Rest of the day was spent reading my book, blogging and playing facebook games on my kindle.
I even managed to stay up a bit later until nearer 10pm and read for a while once I went to bed.
Photos for today:
My mouth looks a bit squint and I think this is because of the increased swelling. But the bruising has gone!
Day 14 - My First Visitor
Day was 14 was Friday, 2 weeks to the day since I had my surgery.
Was awake at 3am and then again at 4.30am. Took that time to get more painkillers and to check the referendum results on the TV.
I didn't get back to sleep after 4.30pm, I was too sore. The pain doesn't seem to be as frequent now but when it's there, it's sore. Unfortunately, in trying to pull the covers over me, I whacked myself in the jaw. Given that I was already sore, a right good whack brought tears to the eyes. Not good.
That's 2 times I've whacked my jaw now, please don't let there be a third.
Kids were still off school. I decided to get my backside down at the computer and update my blog. I was fit for sitting at the computer for a decent length of time.
By 11am, I hadn't heard from Jenny so texted her to see if she was still coming. She was but was busy at that time so decided she could come and visit about 1pm, that way she wouldn't have to watch me slurp soup for lunch.
She arrived at 1pm and it was great just to catch up and have a blether. I could actually have hugged her when she went to go home because it was just so nice to see her.
However, my jaw muscles didn't agree. We had put off meeting up for a cuppa because I didn't know how much I was going to be able to talk.
By the hour mark, I knew I was biting the inside of my cheek on the right hand side and talking was becoming difficult and over the next 30 minutes, my hand was up to my jaw and my head was progressively dropping into my chin and heading downwards.
I offered Jenny another cup of tea but she said no she was going home because she could see I was in pain.
I felt like I wouldn't be able to talk for the rest of the day! Damn jaw muscles, why do ye protesteth too much?
Friday supper was lasagne. I managed the mince part but not the lasagne sheet part. Don't think I'll be having that again until I can eat the pasta.
My husband went out in the evening which was good, I could go to bed early and not feel bad about leaving him sitting downstairs alone.
Still no email from work with a schedule. So unusually for me, I'm going to try not to worry about it and think that they haven't contacted me because I'm signed off sick. And since they do not have a definite date for my return (GP put on sick note that they would need to see me again at the end of the 4 weeks to see if I was fit to return to work), they will be in touch nearer the time. Or it may even be that I'll need to email them and ask for a schedule.
As Jenny said to me today, the more calm I am, the better I will heal.
No photo today
Was awake at 3am and then again at 4.30am. Took that time to get more painkillers and to check the referendum results on the TV.
I didn't get back to sleep after 4.30pm, I was too sore. The pain doesn't seem to be as frequent now but when it's there, it's sore. Unfortunately, in trying to pull the covers over me, I whacked myself in the jaw. Given that I was already sore, a right good whack brought tears to the eyes. Not good.
That's 2 times I've whacked my jaw now, please don't let there be a third.
Kids were still off school. I decided to get my backside down at the computer and update my blog. I was fit for sitting at the computer for a decent length of time.
By 11am, I hadn't heard from Jenny so texted her to see if she was still coming. She was but was busy at that time so decided she could come and visit about 1pm, that way she wouldn't have to watch me slurp soup for lunch.
She arrived at 1pm and it was great just to catch up and have a blether. I could actually have hugged her when she went to go home because it was just so nice to see her.
However, my jaw muscles didn't agree. We had put off meeting up for a cuppa because I didn't know how much I was going to be able to talk.
By the hour mark, I knew I was biting the inside of my cheek on the right hand side and talking was becoming difficult and over the next 30 minutes, my hand was up to my jaw and my head was progressively dropping into my chin and heading downwards.
I offered Jenny another cup of tea but she said no she was going home because she could see I was in pain.
I felt like I wouldn't be able to talk for the rest of the day! Damn jaw muscles, why do ye protesteth too much?
Friday supper was lasagne. I managed the mince part but not the lasagne sheet part. Don't think I'll be having that again until I can eat the pasta.
My husband went out in the evening which was good, I could go to bed early and not feel bad about leaving him sitting downstairs alone.
Still no email from work with a schedule. So unusually for me, I'm going to try not to worry about it and think that they haven't contacted me because I'm signed off sick. And since they do not have a definite date for my return (GP put on sick note that they would need to see me again at the end of the 4 weeks to see if I was fit to return to work), they will be in touch nearer the time. Or it may even be that I'll need to email them and ask for a schedule.
As Jenny said to me today, the more calm I am, the better I will heal.
No photo today
Days 12 and 13 - Hitting a Wall, The Longest Walk Yet & The Chocolate Buttons Story
No photo for day 12 and not much I can remember either.
I would've had a day of rest after being out the day before. I know I was tired and sore so it was another TV day. I watched Undercover Boss and Home and Away and Neighbours and began my new watching of Four In A Bed. Actually, come to think of it, this was Bad Day #2.
I had attempted to not take any codeine before I went to bed last night but woke up at 3am in pain.
I also was awake during the Hours of Doom worrying about work!
If I wasn't signed off sick, I'd be due back at work next Tuesday. Normally I'd be given a new schedule on the Thursday before the Tuesday. I hadn't heard anything yet. What if I didn't get a schedule? What if we got to the point where there was no work for me and I'd have to quit my job? I'd have to do the soul-destroying job hunting again. What would I do? Not good worrying during the Hours of Doom.
Today I hit a wall when it came to food. I was not ever (swear word) eating (swear word) soup again for lunch. I was sick of eating soup for lunch. I actually didn't eat lunch until 1.30pm when normally I had lunch at 12 noon. I didn't want soup but I didn't know what I could have.
Had a look online for some inspiration and came across omelette.
So I made a 1 egg omelette with cheese for lunch and it was good! Much easier to eat than scrambled eggs and didn't go so cold so quickly.
I ventured out to Sainsburys in the evening with my husband to buy a lottery ticket because it was a quadruple rollover. Felt ok being out but didn't win the lottery.
Day 13 was Thursday
Today was an important day in Scottish history and politics because today was the day where we voted in the referendum for independence.
Today was also an inservice day for my kids so they weren't at school.
The day was spent watching TV, progressed to watching Orange is the New Black on netflix. No word from work with a schedule but figured there was still tomorrow.
Breakfast was a banana and raspberry milkshake cause I couldn't stand to have yet more readybrek or porridge.
Lunch was chicken soup
Supper was...no wait til you hear this because I tell you, I would never have ever contemplated having this before. I had a hot dog cut up tiny wee, with gravy and mashed potato. I ate it. I didn't enjoy it and it's certainly not something I want to eat again. But needs must.
Then after supper I went for my longest post-op walk yet. I walked to the polling station to vote. Normally that would be a 10 minute walk there and another 10 minute walk back. I did that 20 minute walk in 30 minutes, so not too bad going at all. I needed to take my husband's arm to get the last bit home but I did ok :)
Now, remember my chocolate buttons from day 4? Well, let me tell you a story. To my knowledge, my almost full bag of milk chocolate buttons and the bag of white chocolate buttons were sitting in a cupboard in the kitchen, waiting patiently for me. This evening, my husband comes through to the living room clutching my packet of white chocolate buttons and asks if he can eat them, because well, it's not like I can eat them is it? There is a bit of a running joke in our house that I can't get anything to myself, from my teenage daughter trying to nick my makeup, to food, to even my tweezers. And now it seemed, chocolate buttons too.
He even told me, that he would buy me a replacement packet of white chocolate buttons...and a new packet of milk chocolate buttons because he'd scarfed them earlier too!!
Today's photos. Looking good :)
I would've had a day of rest after being out the day before. I know I was tired and sore so it was another TV day. I watched Undercover Boss and Home and Away and Neighbours and began my new watching of Four In A Bed. Actually, come to think of it, this was Bad Day #2.
I had attempted to not take any codeine before I went to bed last night but woke up at 3am in pain.
I also was awake during the Hours of Doom worrying about work!
If I wasn't signed off sick, I'd be due back at work next Tuesday. Normally I'd be given a new schedule on the Thursday before the Tuesday. I hadn't heard anything yet. What if I didn't get a schedule? What if we got to the point where there was no work for me and I'd have to quit my job? I'd have to do the soul-destroying job hunting again. What would I do? Not good worrying during the Hours of Doom.
Today I hit a wall when it came to food. I was not ever (swear word) eating (swear word) soup again for lunch. I was sick of eating soup for lunch. I actually didn't eat lunch until 1.30pm when normally I had lunch at 12 noon. I didn't want soup but I didn't know what I could have.
Had a look online for some inspiration and came across omelette.
So I made a 1 egg omelette with cheese for lunch and it was good! Much easier to eat than scrambled eggs and didn't go so cold so quickly.
I ventured out to Sainsburys in the evening with my husband to buy a lottery ticket because it was a quadruple rollover. Felt ok being out but didn't win the lottery.
Day 13 was Thursday
Today was an important day in Scottish history and politics because today was the day where we voted in the referendum for independence.
Today was also an inservice day for my kids so they weren't at school.
The day was spent watching TV, progressed to watching Orange is the New Black on netflix. No word from work with a schedule but figured there was still tomorrow.
Breakfast was a banana and raspberry milkshake cause I couldn't stand to have yet more readybrek or porridge.
Lunch was chicken soup
Supper was...no wait til you hear this because I tell you, I would never have ever contemplated having this before. I had a hot dog cut up tiny wee, with gravy and mashed potato. I ate it. I didn't enjoy it and it's certainly not something I want to eat again. But needs must.
Then after supper I went for my longest post-op walk yet. I walked to the polling station to vote. Normally that would be a 10 minute walk there and another 10 minute walk back. I did that 20 minute walk in 30 minutes, so not too bad going at all. I needed to take my husband's arm to get the last bit home but I did ok :)
Now, remember my chocolate buttons from day 4? Well, let me tell you a story. To my knowledge, my almost full bag of milk chocolate buttons and the bag of white chocolate buttons were sitting in a cupboard in the kitchen, waiting patiently for me. This evening, my husband comes through to the living room clutching my packet of white chocolate buttons and asks if he can eat them, because well, it's not like I can eat them is it? There is a bit of a running joke in our house that I can't get anything to myself, from my teenage daughter trying to nick my makeup, to food, to even my tweezers. And now it seemed, chocolate buttons too.
He even told me, that he would buy me a replacement packet of white chocolate buttons...and a new packet of milk chocolate buttons because he'd scarfed them earlier too!!
Today's photos. Looking good :)
Day 11 - Out By Myself and Second Checkup
Day 11 was Tuesday and the day of my second checkup with the orthodontist.
I did also go to the corner shop all by myself today. I texted my husband before I left and set off. I walked slowly and admit that by the time I got there I was feeling a bit squiffy but maybe it was a combination of not having had much food, and feeling anxious about fainting.
Chose my bottle of water and of course there was 2 people in front of me, and the second person took ages because they wanted to pay their papers and pay by card! By this time I'm kinda holding on to the end of the till counter.
But I made it home again, upright in one piece :)
I thought I was going to be seeing my own orthodontist this time but no she was still away so I saw the ortho I saw last week. Not that I minded, because if truth be told, I'd rather have him than my ortho. He's much more gentle whereas my ortho is a bit gung ho in her approach.
Today again I decided to skip the shower and go for the hair wash. My husband took this photo with my hair away from my face so we could get a really good look. It was today that I noticed that I have some crackers of cheekbones appearing! You can't really see it in the photo though :(
Most of the visible swelling has gone down although I still feel chipmunky. Now if only that pesky bruise in the centre of my neck would disappear, I wouldn't look like someone had tried to strangle me.
My inlaws took me to the ortho again but this time instead of driving me door to door, I asked if we could park the car and I could walk from there to the ortho's door. My mother inlaw asked if I was sure, she didn't want me doing too much, but like I said to her, I wasn't going to get back to work after 4 weeks if I didn't do anything about getting there.
When the time came to see the ortho, I went in, sat on the seat and promptly told him that I had 2 concerns:
1. the pain in my lower teeth/gum/jaw
2. the gap between my top teeth and bottom teeth.
After asking me questions about issue #1, he came to the conclusion that it was probably nerve pain. That quite often patients get sensitive teeth post surgery. He had a look and a prod and couldn't see anything untoward.
I talked about issue #2 at quite some length. He told me that the 'normal' gap size was 2 - 3mm.
When he measured my gap last week it was 3.5mm. But they were really pleased with that, a very small overcorrection but it was needed for my tooth to be restored and for natural movement/settling of teeth and jaws over the months to come.
He took out my moulds of my teeth and showed me what I had went from post surgery to what I was now and that really, it was a big change for me to get my head round.
He measured the gap again and today I was measuring 4mm, so a 0.5mm movement from the week before.
4mm does not equal the Grand Canyon!
He decided to give me a new configuration of elastics, this time running from front to back, top to bottom, from lateral incisors to molars and told me this would help bring that gap back down to 3.5mm.
So basically, I have to get used to normal! That is just so weird and will take some time to get used to!
My bite and my jaw/teeth felt much more secure with this new configuration of elastics. I was happy.
He assured me that I was doing really really well, especially since I was only 11 days post op. He commented again about how I really didn't have much swelling or bruising.
Home for soup, the first time eating in front of someone other than my husband and kids.
The afternoon was spent resting. I'm getting the hang of this now, move one day, rest after.
Supper was sweet and sour sauce from a jar with rice. Yum yum!
Took this photo later on in the day. With my hair still not complying with sitting right, I decided to put it back in a hairband..much better.
I did also go to the corner shop all by myself today. I texted my husband before I left and set off. I walked slowly and admit that by the time I got there I was feeling a bit squiffy but maybe it was a combination of not having had much food, and feeling anxious about fainting.
Chose my bottle of water and of course there was 2 people in front of me, and the second person took ages because they wanted to pay their papers and pay by card! By this time I'm kinda holding on to the end of the till counter.
But I made it home again, upright in one piece :)
I thought I was going to be seeing my own orthodontist this time but no she was still away so I saw the ortho I saw last week. Not that I minded, because if truth be told, I'd rather have him than my ortho. He's much more gentle whereas my ortho is a bit gung ho in her approach.
Today again I decided to skip the shower and go for the hair wash. My husband took this photo with my hair away from my face so we could get a really good look. It was today that I noticed that I have some crackers of cheekbones appearing! You can't really see it in the photo though :(
Most of the visible swelling has gone down although I still feel chipmunky. Now if only that pesky bruise in the centre of my neck would disappear, I wouldn't look like someone had tried to strangle me.
When the time came to see the ortho, I went in, sat on the seat and promptly told him that I had 2 concerns:
1. the pain in my lower teeth/gum/jaw
2. the gap between my top teeth and bottom teeth.
After asking me questions about issue #1, he came to the conclusion that it was probably nerve pain. That quite often patients get sensitive teeth post surgery. He had a look and a prod and couldn't see anything untoward.
I talked about issue #2 at quite some length. He told me that the 'normal' gap size was 2 - 3mm.
When he measured my gap last week it was 3.5mm. But they were really pleased with that, a very small overcorrection but it was needed for my tooth to be restored and for natural movement/settling of teeth and jaws over the months to come.
He took out my moulds of my teeth and showed me what I had went from post surgery to what I was now and that really, it was a big change for me to get my head round.
He measured the gap again and today I was measuring 4mm, so a 0.5mm movement from the week before.
4mm does not equal the Grand Canyon!
He decided to give me a new configuration of elastics, this time running from front to back, top to bottom, from lateral incisors to molars and told me this would help bring that gap back down to 3.5mm.
So basically, I have to get used to normal! That is just so weird and will take some time to get used to!
My bite and my jaw/teeth felt much more secure with this new configuration of elastics. I was happy.
He assured me that I was doing really really well, especially since I was only 11 days post op. He commented again about how I really didn't have much swelling or bruising.
Home for soup, the first time eating in front of someone other than my husband and kids.
The afternoon was spent resting. I'm getting the hang of this now, move one day, rest after.
Supper was sweet and sour sauce from a jar with rice. Yum yum!
Took this photo later on in the day. With my hair still not complying with sitting right, I decided to put it back in a hairband..much better.
Day 10 - Boredom, Bowels and Bruising
Now my memory is starting to get a bit hazy, I guess because things were pretty much the same each day and nothing untoward was happening.
Day 10 was Monday again. I got up with the kids first thing to get them ready for school.
Breakfast was readybrek
Lunch was tomato soup with 1/4 of a slice of bread broken up into tiny wee pieces.
Supper was a baked sweet potato with lots of butter and tuna (again flaked so much it was practically minced) with some pepper. This is probably the best supper I have had so far post-op.
I also made an Oreo cookies milkshake yum yum! 6 Oreo cookies crushed, 3 scoops of vanilla ice cream and 3/4 cup of milk.
Today I was majorly bored! I am now at the stage where pottering about the house is doing my head in with boredom. But I know going outside is a whole different ball game.
I tried watching some Youtube videos to learn how to crochet but got stuck after the chaining stage so gave up. So TV it was *sigh*
I texted my friend Jenny to ask if she would like to come and visit me on Friday. I've not seen anyone other than my husband, kids and inlaws since the week before my surgery. I was in desperate need for some conversation, to see a new face, to see my friend :) She said she would come on Friday! woohoo!! :)
Today I noticed that my was jaw was beginning to make cracking noises. Well, I don't know if anyone else could hear it cracking away, but I could hear it and feel it. I guess the best way to describe it was it felt like the bone was starting to knit together. I'm sure that's maybe not quite what was happening, but that's the best way to describe it. Annoying but not painful.
Today was also a day where you find out that having your first bowel movement post-surgery is exactly the same as having your first bowel movement after you have a baby...you are petrified of bursting your stitches and breathe a huge sigh of relief when it's over! :D :D
Today's photos, I thought I was doing really good today, until I saw just how tired I was in the the photos, despite my biggest smile ever!
Bruising really going away now, just left with that fluorescent bruise in the middle of my neck.
Day 10 was Monday again. I got up with the kids first thing to get them ready for school.
Breakfast was readybrek
Lunch was tomato soup with 1/4 of a slice of bread broken up into tiny wee pieces.
Supper was a baked sweet potato with lots of butter and tuna (again flaked so much it was practically minced) with some pepper. This is probably the best supper I have had so far post-op.
I also made an Oreo cookies milkshake yum yum! 6 Oreo cookies crushed, 3 scoops of vanilla ice cream and 3/4 cup of milk.
Today I was majorly bored! I am now at the stage where pottering about the house is doing my head in with boredom. But I know going outside is a whole different ball game.
I tried watching some Youtube videos to learn how to crochet but got stuck after the chaining stage so gave up. So TV it was *sigh*
I texted my friend Jenny to ask if she would like to come and visit me on Friday. I've not seen anyone other than my husband, kids and inlaws since the week before my surgery. I was in desperate need for some conversation, to see a new face, to see my friend :) She said she would come on Friday! woohoo!! :)
Today I noticed that my was jaw was beginning to make cracking noises. Well, I don't know if anyone else could hear it cracking away, but I could hear it and feel it. I guess the best way to describe it was it felt like the bone was starting to knit together. I'm sure that's maybe not quite what was happening, but that's the best way to describe it. Annoying but not painful.
Today was also a day where you find out that having your first bowel movement post-surgery is exactly the same as having your first bowel movement after you have a baby...you are petrified of bursting your stitches and breathe a huge sigh of relief when it's over! :D :D
Today's photos, I thought I was doing really good today, until I saw just how tired I was in the the photos, despite my biggest smile ever!
Bruising really going away now, just left with that fluorescent bruise in the middle of my neck.
Day 9 - First Time Shopping and The Laughing Incident
Day 9 was Sunday and I decided to have a wee venture outside.
I got my husband to take me to Boots (chemist) to buy some toiletries, I need hair stuff and facial wipes (even though my hair has been dreadful and I haven't been able to do a thing with it and my skin is awful too and I keep breaking out in spots on my chin) and I needed some more interdental brushes.
So he drove me to Boots and I made my way round the shop. Feeling quite self conscious about how I was looking, swollen, bruised and a missing front tooth.
Managed to pay for everything at the till. I don't think the girl at the till looked at me too funny although I couldn't smile and I couldn't say much so I came away feeling like a right miserable cowbag.
Coming out of Boots I decided that I would like a new magazine to read (still didn't have the head for reading my book just yet) and could we go to Asda (supermarket). So in the car and across the road to Asda where there wasn't any magazines so I wanted to have a look for some food I could eat. This was the first time I could do any kind of food shopping myself.
Had a wee look round and chose some cheesecake in a different flavour, but nothing was really jumping out at me. Was feeling decidedly squiffy by the time I got to the till. I needed to go home. I felt like I was wading through water and my head was taking just that second to catch up with the rest of my body when I was moving.
Home for more rest.
Today I noticed that I was having some really sharp pain in the bottom left of my mouth. I couldn't work out if it was the tooth that an elastic was attached to, or if it was the gum or what. I was able to have a look inside my mouth and could see a stitch round about where it was sore. I wondered if maybe I had knocked the stitch when brushing my teeth? Or could it be the start of an infection (I hoped not)?
It was definitely ouch, tender, pain.
Breakfast would have been readybrek or porridge.
Lunch was soup
Supper was chicken and bacon pasta bake; the chicken, bacon and sauce were blended up well and mixed with the tiny wee pasta for soup.
Today's photo:
There was an incident in the evening.
I've read quite a lot of other people's blogs both before and after surgery, mainly to see what I was getting into and now to see how my recovery is comparing with others.
Yawning, laughing and talking, in that order, have been difficult and painful.
It is very hard not being able to yawn, and I seem to hit the early evening and hit a yawning stage. Having stifled yawns is no fun.
Laughing is also difficult because it is sore.
Talking is difficult just because I reach a point where my jaw muscles start protesting and say no, Fay, shut up, we're not working any more.
But back to the topic of laughing. Today I read in a blog about someone who would clap their hands to show that they were laughing, instead of actually laughing. I thought this was quite good but found it amusing too. Well, I made a mistake and told me husband about it and he made some really funny joke.
That had me in fits! Which then progressed on to a fit of the giggles.
Let me tell you, having a fit of the giggles is NOT a good thing to do after jaw surgery, it really isn't.
So laughing hurts. But every time I looked at my husband, I couldn't help but laugh again.
I ended up crying in agony, tears and everything, my husband came to rub my head and told me to take deep breaths, and I still couldn't stop laughing.
I have never experienced anything like that in my life.
So if you are reading this because you are going for jaw surgery, I know they say laughter is the best medicine, but please try not to have a fit of the giggles because it really is not pleasant.
I got my husband to take me to Boots (chemist) to buy some toiletries, I need hair stuff and facial wipes (even though my hair has been dreadful and I haven't been able to do a thing with it and my skin is awful too and I keep breaking out in spots on my chin) and I needed some more interdental brushes.
So he drove me to Boots and I made my way round the shop. Feeling quite self conscious about how I was looking, swollen, bruised and a missing front tooth.
Managed to pay for everything at the till. I don't think the girl at the till looked at me too funny although I couldn't smile and I couldn't say much so I came away feeling like a right miserable cowbag.
Coming out of Boots I decided that I would like a new magazine to read (still didn't have the head for reading my book just yet) and could we go to Asda (supermarket). So in the car and across the road to Asda where there wasn't any magazines so I wanted to have a look for some food I could eat. This was the first time I could do any kind of food shopping myself.
Had a wee look round and chose some cheesecake in a different flavour, but nothing was really jumping out at me. Was feeling decidedly squiffy by the time I got to the till. I needed to go home. I felt like I was wading through water and my head was taking just that second to catch up with the rest of my body when I was moving.
Home for more rest.
Today I noticed that I was having some really sharp pain in the bottom left of my mouth. I couldn't work out if it was the tooth that an elastic was attached to, or if it was the gum or what. I was able to have a look inside my mouth and could see a stitch round about where it was sore. I wondered if maybe I had knocked the stitch when brushing my teeth? Or could it be the start of an infection (I hoped not)?
It was definitely ouch, tender, pain.
Breakfast would have been readybrek or porridge.
Lunch was soup
Supper was chicken and bacon pasta bake; the chicken, bacon and sauce were blended up well and mixed with the tiny wee pasta for soup.
Today's photo:
I've read quite a lot of other people's blogs both before and after surgery, mainly to see what I was getting into and now to see how my recovery is comparing with others.
Yawning, laughing and talking, in that order, have been difficult and painful.
It is very hard not being able to yawn, and I seem to hit the early evening and hit a yawning stage. Having stifled yawns is no fun.
Laughing is also difficult because it is sore.
Talking is difficult just because I reach a point where my jaw muscles start protesting and say no, Fay, shut up, we're not working any more.
But back to the topic of laughing. Today I read in a blog about someone who would clap their hands to show that they were laughing, instead of actually laughing. I thought this was quite good but found it amusing too. Well, I made a mistake and told me husband about it and he made some really funny joke.
That had me in fits! Which then progressed on to a fit of the giggles.
Let me tell you, having a fit of the giggles is NOT a good thing to do after jaw surgery, it really isn't.
So laughing hurts. But every time I looked at my husband, I couldn't help but laugh again.
I ended up crying in agony, tears and everything, my husband came to rub my head and told me to take deep breaths, and I still couldn't stop laughing.
I have never experienced anything like that in my life.
So if you are reading this because you are going for jaw surgery, I know they say laughter is the best medicine, but please try not to have a fit of the giggles because it really is not pleasant.
Saturday, 20 September 2014
Day 8 - Bad Day #1
Day 8 was Saturday and this was NOT a good day. I'd say this was bad day number 1 of recovery.
Today I felt hungry for the first time since my surgery and I mean HUNGRY!
And now that the swelling was beginning to go down, I could see inside my mouth more and see the state of play with my teeth.
And I didn't like what I saw in the mirror. I was very pleased with how I looked with my mouth shut. In fact over the past few days I'd been looking in the mirror a lot, not quite believing it was me and feeling really happy with how things were looking. I was so pleased that I had a cute wee munchkin chin, a chin that was in the centre of my face.
But now that I could see my teeth, I could see that there was gap between my top teeth and my bottom teeth when I bite together. To me, this gap looked HUGE! I was seeing the Grand Canyon in there. I was NOT happy.
So because I was tired, this gap seemed worse I guess. In the mirror I was seeing a lower jaw that had been put back too far, was I going to end up with no chin and sticking out teeth? Was I going to end up looking worse but in the opposite way to before I even started this whole process?
I was still whacked after going out on Thursday and because I had yet to have a whole night's sleep in more than a week.
I spent the day feeling miserable and stressing about my teeth. Were they going to be fixed? Could they be fixed?
There were plans to have curry sauce and rice for supper. I'd been hankering for curry sauce for the past 2 days. Ideally I wanted to get curry from my favourite takeaway but my husband said no he would make one.
I had said to him to make sure it was runny enough so that I could have rice as well and not just a plate of curry sauce.
However, when he made the curry sauce, he not only blended the sauce but he blended it with the chicken too and when I went into the kitchen I was faced with a thick sauce that just looked like a puddle of poo.
Tears again.
Big argument ensured.
LOADS more tears because I was hungry, I was disappointed, I was tired and I was stressing.
But it was good to cry properly. Apologies were made and it all sorted out.
Photos for today, bruising status and a not happy looking Fay.
And then we took some more photos, photos of the bruising I had on my arm and on my leg from the injections I got in hospital, the injections of drugs to thin my blood so that I wouldn't develop deep vein thrombosis. I think the bruising on my arm and leg was worse than the worst bruising I had on my jaw and neck!
Today I felt hungry for the first time since my surgery and I mean HUNGRY!
And now that the swelling was beginning to go down, I could see inside my mouth more and see the state of play with my teeth.
And I didn't like what I saw in the mirror. I was very pleased with how I looked with my mouth shut. In fact over the past few days I'd been looking in the mirror a lot, not quite believing it was me and feeling really happy with how things were looking. I was so pleased that I had a cute wee munchkin chin, a chin that was in the centre of my face.
But now that I could see my teeth, I could see that there was gap between my top teeth and my bottom teeth when I bite together. To me, this gap looked HUGE! I was seeing the Grand Canyon in there. I was NOT happy.
So because I was tired, this gap seemed worse I guess. In the mirror I was seeing a lower jaw that had been put back too far, was I going to end up with no chin and sticking out teeth? Was I going to end up looking worse but in the opposite way to before I even started this whole process?
I was still whacked after going out on Thursday and because I had yet to have a whole night's sleep in more than a week.
I spent the day feeling miserable and stressing about my teeth. Were they going to be fixed? Could they be fixed?
There were plans to have curry sauce and rice for supper. I'd been hankering for curry sauce for the past 2 days. Ideally I wanted to get curry from my favourite takeaway but my husband said no he would make one.
I had said to him to make sure it was runny enough so that I could have rice as well and not just a plate of curry sauce.
However, when he made the curry sauce, he not only blended the sauce but he blended it with the chicken too and when I went into the kitchen I was faced with a thick sauce that just looked like a puddle of poo.
Tears again.
Big argument ensured.
LOADS more tears because I was hungry, I was disappointed, I was tired and I was stressing.
But it was good to cry properly. Apologies were made and it all sorted out.
Photos for today, bruising status and a not happy looking Fay.
And then we took some more photos, photos of the bruising I had on my arm and on my leg from the injections I got in hospital, the injections of drugs to thin my blood so that I wouldn't develop deep vein thrombosis. I think the bruising on my arm and leg was worse than the worst bruising I had on my jaw and neck!
Day 7 - Numbness & Nerve Pain
Day 7 was Friday and I was KNACKERED from my appointment yesterday.
I don't think I did much of anything other than watch TV and play facebook games on my kindle fire.
I was establishing that I have 2 types of pain; the pain associated with having my jaw broken in 2 places and nerve pain.
The nerve pain was actually the hardest part compared with the broken bone pain.
I was warned about numbness but not about nerve pain.
I am numb along the edge of my lower lip and my chin. I am more numb on the right side where I had had my wisdom tooth removed.
I have some feeling on the left of my lower lip and left of my chin.
I'd say the centre of my chin going to the right is the numbest area.
I maybe should have said earlier about this numbnness because I noticed it on day one.
To give some idea about it, I can feel a cup along the entire length of my lower lip. Know when you go to the dentist and get a local anaesthetic for a filling and half your mouth is numb and you go to drink from a cup and it feels like only half a cup and whatever liquid you are drinking just slides out the numb side? Well, I didn't have that.
But, when it came to kissing my husband, that was a different story because I can't feel a kiss with my bottom lip, only my top.
I was finding that when I was getting tired, the numbness would get worse, felt like heaviness and then as that got worse, the nerve pain would set in. The best way to describe it was like having a freezing cold steel bar in my chin.
For breakfast I had readybrek. I'm finding breakfast really difficult. I don't like milk to drink, and certainly don't like cereal with milk in it so my breakfasts are getting exceeding boring.
Mid morning I made a peanut butter and banana milkshake (1 banana, 3tbsp peanut butter, 1 cup of milk and a drop of vanilla essence). This was really fine.
Lunch I had home made soup, lentil and bacon. Successfully managed to eat it without heaving :)
Supper I had fish flaked so much it was practically minced, sweetcorn, mash potato and LOTS of cheese sauce made with a fruit jerk cheese for flavour. It all tasted really good! I swithered about the sweetcorn but knowing that I hadn't been to the loo for a number 2 since last Friday morning, I knew I needed some sort of fibre in me. I also reckoned that with enough cheese sauce, I'd get the sweetcorn over my throat whole.
Photo for today taken quite late because I was just so tired.
I don't think I did much of anything other than watch TV and play facebook games on my kindle fire.
I was establishing that I have 2 types of pain; the pain associated with having my jaw broken in 2 places and nerve pain.
The nerve pain was actually the hardest part compared with the broken bone pain.
I was warned about numbness but not about nerve pain.
I am numb along the edge of my lower lip and my chin. I am more numb on the right side where I had had my wisdom tooth removed.
I have some feeling on the left of my lower lip and left of my chin.
I'd say the centre of my chin going to the right is the numbest area.
I maybe should have said earlier about this numbnness because I noticed it on day one.
To give some idea about it, I can feel a cup along the entire length of my lower lip. Know when you go to the dentist and get a local anaesthetic for a filling and half your mouth is numb and you go to drink from a cup and it feels like only half a cup and whatever liquid you are drinking just slides out the numb side? Well, I didn't have that.
But, when it came to kissing my husband, that was a different story because I can't feel a kiss with my bottom lip, only my top.
I was finding that when I was getting tired, the numbness would get worse, felt like heaviness and then as that got worse, the nerve pain would set in. The best way to describe it was like having a freezing cold steel bar in my chin.
For breakfast I had readybrek. I'm finding breakfast really difficult. I don't like milk to drink, and certainly don't like cereal with milk in it so my breakfasts are getting exceeding boring.
Mid morning I made a peanut butter and banana milkshake (1 banana, 3tbsp peanut butter, 1 cup of milk and a drop of vanilla essence). This was really fine.
Lunch I had home made soup, lentil and bacon. Successfully managed to eat it without heaving :)
Supper I had fish flaked so much it was practically minced, sweetcorn, mash potato and LOTS of cheese sauce made with a fruit jerk cheese for flavour. It all tasted really good! I swithered about the sweetcorn but knowing that I hadn't been to the loo for a number 2 since last Friday morning, I knew I needed some sort of fibre in me. I also reckoned that with enough cheese sauce, I'd get the sweetcorn over my throat whole.
Photo for today taken quite late because I was just so tired.
Day 6 - First Post-Op Checkup
Day 6 was Thursday and the day of my first post-op checkup with the orthodontist and the max fax team.
I was feeling good today, had got on top of my pain medication routine.
I was going to shower and wash my hair but thinking ahead to this being the first day I'd be going out anywhere and knowing I'd be out for a while (my orthodontist ALWAYS runs late), I figured I'd be best not to knacker myself out before I even got through the door, so I skipped the shower (I didn't smell lol) and went for the hair wash instead.
Hair washing was easier today, I could go back to how I normally wash my hair and not feel like my jaw was going to fall off :)
Got dressed, had a yoghurt and waited for my inlaws to come and take me to my appointment.
My mother inlaw is known for her ability to talk so this was going to be a talking challenge for me, just how much would I be able to manage?
I was driven door to door, and me and my mother inlaw waited just inside the door whilst my father inlaw went to park. Once he found us, we headed to the orange seats to wait. It was funny because they sat either side of me, just to make sure that one of them would catch me if I keeled over.
We had a wait of about 45 minutes until it was my turn.
I was called in, and sat myself on the chair. I didn't see my orthodontist because she was away that day so I saw another orthodontist, who I like much better.
They (ortho and max fax) asked me how I was and I was very happy to say that I was doing really well. That so far recovery had been good. I didn't tell them that actually I had commented to my husband that it all seemed a bit too easy and I was waiting for something to go wrong.
They noticed and commented on the fact that I didn't have a lot of swelling or bruising.
I had the chance to ask who had actually done the surgery and to ask how long the surgery took. Because of me knowing when I went to theatre and knowing when I came back to High Dependency and the timing of my husband's phone calls to the ward, we had reckoned that my surgery had taken close to 3hrs.
They told me that my surgery took 1 hour 45 minutes and that there were no complications, and the nerves did not get cut.
It was here that I found out why my poor husband was being told I was still in theatre at 2pm; I had had to stay in recovery for a long time because there was no nurses to staff the High Dependency Unit to look after me! So if I went down to theatre at 9.25am, say surgery started about 10am and finished at 11.45am, I was effectively in recovery for 4 and a half hours! That might not sound too long after major surgery but to think that for my husband I was in theatre from 9am - 4pm, that's like his entire day waiting to know if I was ok.
They looked inside my mouth, something I hadn't dared to do in case there was a war zone in there, and said that everything looked good. My profile looked good too. Just everything was good.
They asked how I was getting on with the liquid diet and I was truthful and said it wasn't easy although not as hard going as I had expected it to be.
Then came the shock bit, the orthodontist told me that I could very well have my braces off in 4 months!!!!!
FOUR MONTHS!!!!!
I asked him if he was telling me the truth? Was he joking? He asked if I wanted them on for longer and I was like God no! I've had them on for 6 years and 3 months already, you're telling me I can have them off in 4 months?!??!
They measured my overjet, although didn't tell me the measurement and said they were very pleased.
The ortho decided to give me some orange elastics, running back to front, top to bottom, each side. I've had blue elastics and green elastics before so orange was a new colour, but apparently they are light elastics as compared with green or blue. No problems, I've had elastics before and they don't worry me.
At the end of the appointment the max fax surgeon said I could move from a liquid diet to foods with more substance to them as long as it was still no-chew. He suggested things like mashed potato and scrambled eggs. He said that he had never had a patient who had had problems because of eating the wrong thing. But I also remembered what the other max fax surgeon said and that was at week 5 a lot of people want to start chewing but really that was the worst time to do so.
I was really pleased to be told I could move on to a thicker diet, it also opened up the variety of foods I could consume.
My inlaws drove me home and because it was lunch time and I had been told I could have scrambled egg, I had 1 egg scrambled with plenty of milk, cheese and pepper for my lunch.
I managed to eat the equivalent of half an egg before it all became too cold and rubbery but it felt good to eat with a fork and to have some egg, some protein!
By this time, I was so tired I could have fallen asleep standing up. I was also sore because of being poked and prodded at.
So pain meds taken and I zonked it on the sofa until the kids came home from school.
Supper was mashed potato, mince and green beans. With the green beans chopped up into tiny pieces, they went down just fine.
Photos of today:
Today was the day that my son, sitting across from me at the table at breakfast said 'Mum, you are starting to look like your old self again'. No no no my dear, I'm starting to look like my NEW self! :)
Today was also the day that my mum had her operation to remove the cancerous tumour in her breast. I knew she was going to have her surgery in the afternoon so I waited until 4pm to text her partner. I couldn't phone her partner because he can't talk due to having had laryngeal cancer and his voicebox removed a few years ago. So I texted him to ask how my mum was. He texted back to say he hadn't heard anything yet and that I should phone the hospital.
Of course, I wasn't really in any fit shape to phone, I was sore after my checkup and didn't know if anyone on the other end of the phone would understand me. But it transpired that he wasn't at the hospital wioth my mum, he had had to go home because he couldn't get accommodation at the hospital. So the poor man was sitting at home, not knowing what was happening with my mum, if she was ok.
So I was brave, asked my son if he thought a stranger would understand me on the phone and phoned the hospital.
I was told that she was still in theatre and had gone down later in the day. I'd to phone back at 6pm.
I can't remember what I had for supper but I phoned the hospital back at 6pm and was told that she was back in the ward, was very sleepy but comfortable and the operation had gone well.
I texted my mum's partner to let him know and then had a few tears in relief to know that my mum was ok.
I was feeling good today, had got on top of my pain medication routine.
I was going to shower and wash my hair but thinking ahead to this being the first day I'd be going out anywhere and knowing I'd be out for a while (my orthodontist ALWAYS runs late), I figured I'd be best not to knacker myself out before I even got through the door, so I skipped the shower (I didn't smell lol) and went for the hair wash instead.
Hair washing was easier today, I could go back to how I normally wash my hair and not feel like my jaw was going to fall off :)
Got dressed, had a yoghurt and waited for my inlaws to come and take me to my appointment.
My mother inlaw is known for her ability to talk so this was going to be a talking challenge for me, just how much would I be able to manage?
I was driven door to door, and me and my mother inlaw waited just inside the door whilst my father inlaw went to park. Once he found us, we headed to the orange seats to wait. It was funny because they sat either side of me, just to make sure that one of them would catch me if I keeled over.
We had a wait of about 45 minutes until it was my turn.
I was called in, and sat myself on the chair. I didn't see my orthodontist because she was away that day so I saw another orthodontist, who I like much better.
They (ortho and max fax) asked me how I was and I was very happy to say that I was doing really well. That so far recovery had been good. I didn't tell them that actually I had commented to my husband that it all seemed a bit too easy and I was waiting for something to go wrong.
They noticed and commented on the fact that I didn't have a lot of swelling or bruising.
I had the chance to ask who had actually done the surgery and to ask how long the surgery took. Because of me knowing when I went to theatre and knowing when I came back to High Dependency and the timing of my husband's phone calls to the ward, we had reckoned that my surgery had taken close to 3hrs.
They told me that my surgery took 1 hour 45 minutes and that there were no complications, and the nerves did not get cut.
It was here that I found out why my poor husband was being told I was still in theatre at 2pm; I had had to stay in recovery for a long time because there was no nurses to staff the High Dependency Unit to look after me! So if I went down to theatre at 9.25am, say surgery started about 10am and finished at 11.45am, I was effectively in recovery for 4 and a half hours! That might not sound too long after major surgery but to think that for my husband I was in theatre from 9am - 4pm, that's like his entire day waiting to know if I was ok.
They looked inside my mouth, something I hadn't dared to do in case there was a war zone in there, and said that everything looked good. My profile looked good too. Just everything was good.
They asked how I was getting on with the liquid diet and I was truthful and said it wasn't easy although not as hard going as I had expected it to be.
Then came the shock bit, the orthodontist told me that I could very well have my braces off in 4 months!!!!!
FOUR MONTHS!!!!!
I asked him if he was telling me the truth? Was he joking? He asked if I wanted them on for longer and I was like God no! I've had them on for 6 years and 3 months already, you're telling me I can have them off in 4 months?!??!
They measured my overjet, although didn't tell me the measurement and said they were very pleased.
The ortho decided to give me some orange elastics, running back to front, top to bottom, each side. I've had blue elastics and green elastics before so orange was a new colour, but apparently they are light elastics as compared with green or blue. No problems, I've had elastics before and they don't worry me.
At the end of the appointment the max fax surgeon said I could move from a liquid diet to foods with more substance to them as long as it was still no-chew. He suggested things like mashed potato and scrambled eggs. He said that he had never had a patient who had had problems because of eating the wrong thing. But I also remembered what the other max fax surgeon said and that was at week 5 a lot of people want to start chewing but really that was the worst time to do so.
I was really pleased to be told I could move on to a thicker diet, it also opened up the variety of foods I could consume.
My inlaws drove me home and because it was lunch time and I had been told I could have scrambled egg, I had 1 egg scrambled with plenty of milk, cheese and pepper for my lunch.
I managed to eat the equivalent of half an egg before it all became too cold and rubbery but it felt good to eat with a fork and to have some egg, some protein!
By this time, I was so tired I could have fallen asleep standing up. I was also sore because of being poked and prodded at.
So pain meds taken and I zonked it on the sofa until the kids came home from school.
Supper was mashed potato, mince and green beans. With the green beans chopped up into tiny pieces, they went down just fine.
Photos of today:
Today was the day that my son, sitting across from me at the table at breakfast said 'Mum, you are starting to look like your old self again'. No no no my dear, I'm starting to look like my NEW self! :)
Today was also the day that my mum had her operation to remove the cancerous tumour in her breast. I knew she was going to have her surgery in the afternoon so I waited until 4pm to text her partner. I couldn't phone her partner because he can't talk due to having had laryngeal cancer and his voicebox removed a few years ago. So I texted him to ask how my mum was. He texted back to say he hadn't heard anything yet and that I should phone the hospital.
Of course, I wasn't really in any fit shape to phone, I was sore after my checkup and didn't know if anyone on the other end of the phone would understand me. But it transpired that he wasn't at the hospital wioth my mum, he had had to go home because he couldn't get accommodation at the hospital. So the poor man was sitting at home, not knowing what was happening with my mum, if she was ok.
So I was brave, asked my son if he thought a stranger would understand me on the phone and phoned the hospital.
I was told that she was still in theatre and had gone down later in the day. I'd to phone back at 6pm.
I can't remember what I had for supper but I phoned the hospital back at 6pm and was told that she was back in the ward, was very sleepy but comfortable and the operation had gone well.
I texted my mum's partner to let him know and then had a few tears in relief to know that my mum was ok.
Day 5 - Home Alone For The First Time
Day 5 was Wednesday. My husband went back to work and this was my first whole day alone post surgery.
I lay on the sofa under my blanket, I watched lots of TV. I don't normally watch daytime TV but this was a must just to get me through the day.
I missed the company.
The doorbell went mid morning and I opened it to find a flower delivery man (who really didn't know where to look when he saw my face)
These are the flowers that my best friend Jenny sent me. I LOVE getting flowers :)
Breakfast was Readybrek, I managed about half a bowl before I reached that 'I can't eat any more' stage.
Lunch was soup and yoghurt.
Mid afternoon was a cheesecake (I could eat the flavoured cheese part of the cheesecake but not the biscuit base).
It was a lovely sunny day so I made sure to sit outside in the sun at lunch time to get my vitamin D. My husband took my photo for the day. I think I was looking pretty good.
My kids came home from school at 3.30pm. My husband came home from
work at 5.30pm. They had sausages, chips, beans and egg for tea....oh it smelt divine! Not that I could eat any of it mind you.
But I was bored today. I felt ok, I had my painkiller routine going but I made myself sit and do nothing, made myself rest.
I lay on the sofa under my blanket, I watched lots of TV. I don't normally watch daytime TV but this was a must just to get me through the day.
I missed the company.
The doorbell went mid morning and I opened it to find a flower delivery man (who really didn't know where to look when he saw my face)
These are the flowers that my best friend Jenny sent me. I LOVE getting flowers :)
Breakfast was Readybrek, I managed about half a bowl before I reached that 'I can't eat any more' stage.
Lunch was soup and yoghurt.
Mid afternoon was a cheesecake (I could eat the flavoured cheese part of the cheesecake but not the biscuit base).
It was a lovely sunny day so I made sure to sit outside in the sun at lunch time to get my vitamin D. My husband took my photo for the day. I think I was looking pretty good.
But I was bored today. I felt ok, I had my painkiller routine going but I made myself sit and do nothing, made myself rest.
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