I'm sorry I suck at updating

School is literally killing me right now. I took on a course load that is way too heavy. But I want to graduate already!!! ugh

Anyway I suck because I haven't updated.
I guess no news is good news?

Well my TMJ is being not so perfect. But it could be the massive amounts of stress and going to bed at 4 am because I'm up studying. Anyway it's been hurting and giving me a migraine. I took a T3 yesterday and one today and it helps but it wears off too fast. Some days I seriously just want to go into the ER and get a shot of something stronger so I can catch a break.

Anyway it's probably due to my lovely elastics. I'm cycling through 3 elastics. One side is suppose to be 24 hours and the other overnight. But every time I switch my jaw gets pulled in a different direction and it's not so fun.

Good news is I see my surgeon this coming tuesday and I see my ortho in 3 weeks i thinkkkk...
Anyway that means I might get the okay for braces off but I don't really care about that right now.
I know you're wondering how could she not want them off already.
As Rhianna was saying, speech therapy is very important for tongue thrusters and I haven't had time to see mine yet so although I've been improving majorly on my tongue thrusting, I still need help. I think my tongue is too big for my mouth, or maybe it's just a lazy tongue from all the years of not staying in it's proper position. Meh.

I need to get on that ASAP.

Anyway I could go on forever about all the crap going on and how confused I am about what I'm even doing with my life but I'll just leave it at that.



I promise next week I'll do a real update and put some new photos up because my face is finally no longer swollen from surgery #2.

Hope everyone is well, and remember this whole surgery is just a temporary part of your life, it gets so much better once it's all over.

Terra

Last Adjustment

Hey readers,

BRACES RELATED

Wanted to do a little update.
So I went to see the ortho yesterday and it looks like next time I go in I'm getting booked to have my braces removed. I don't think I ever planned this far ahead, it's like a surprise.

With jaw surgery you get so used to the braces that they become part of you, you forget that they're only temporary.

A part of me is scared that when they come off stuff is going to shift, but my jaw seems pretty stable.

I did have a little issue. This past week I was getting a migraine again which  freaked me out because those were caused by my TMJ issues. It looks like it was from my molars no longer touching on the side where I had the underbite. My ortho put me in bands again and the headache is gone. I'm wearing many different bands. I have two fred bands and a ken band. My ortho gives me bands with man names, weird... who comes up with this stuff?

Rhianna:  In reply to your question about the bite opening again. I still tongue thrust and haven't been able to get back to speech therapy yet because of the infection and second surgery I had. This is a big concern for me too. I'd def go see a speech therapist asap and try to fix the tongue posture so things don't get worse, it hasn't been that long so maybe things will shift back without having to do anything. I remember talking to a girl once who was going through speech therapy to fix her open bite. I guess with the tongue where it should be the teeth will move back. Not 100% sure how this works but I'm going to try to stick with speech therapy too. 

LIFE RELATED

I'm back at university full time now that my jaw issues are over with. It's been hard adjusting back after taking time off for surgery and recovery. I'm in my 3rd year of accounting and I'm taking five courses which is a pretty heavy work load. I have seven midterms in February alone, starting this weeked. Thats the thing with my school, all my midterms on on the weekend. It's like horrible torture. I'm planning on doing summer terms to make up for the time I had off and that way I can graduate next summer.

I've hardly had time to do anything with school going on. I've been up until 2 or 3 am every night doing work, then I get up and do it all over again.

Me drugged up after having my second surgery. I'm starting to get used to this look. 

My drugs post surgery number two, I think I could open my own pharmacy with all the pills I've accumulated. 

The stuff my surgeon wanted me to squirt up the hole and into my cheek after the tube came out, yeah right buddy. 

Hope you guys are all doing well.
Once again I just want to say I am so grateful to all my bloggers, youtube, facebook jaw surgery buddies. :)

Terra

6 Weeks Post Op

Hey guys!

I'm very happy to announce that I am now 6 weeks post op from my double jaw surgery and genioplasty. I'm going to try to cover everything in this post and not ramble on for hours.

Appearance:
I'm becoming more and more happy with the outcome. At first I wasn't really happy with the way I looked. I got all caught up in the swelling and couldn't appreciate the way I actually look now.

My swelling has gone down since last week although I notice it is up a bit on the side where I had the infection. My nose is still looking way better than it did pre op and my jaw line is getting more and more beautiful every day. I have to admit I am really happy with my new jaw and I can wear my hair up now and like it since I now have a jawline!!!!

Numbness:
The numbness has been the same for weeks. I am completely numb in my lower lip and my chin. Theres a pretty large region where I have no feeling and it hasn't change at all. I'm not sure how much feeling will come back but right now I'm not too concerned about it.

Eating:
I'm still working on chewing soft foods. By soft foods I mean overcooked pasta, soft potatoes and sweet potatoes, soft bread, and things that are cut small enough I can just swallow them. I do wish I could bite into a big sandwich but that time will come. I'm working on my diet and trying to bring more nutrition into it. I'm taking in a lot more calcium since my body is demanding it. I'm also trying to get more protein from beans and supplements and different things.

Healing:
As I mentioned above I notice swelling where the infection was. I still have a flap of flesh that is coming from the incision lines and I still have no idea what it is. I have noticed though that my sinus on that side is giving me a lot of trouble. My nose is constantly stuffed on that side and I once again taste that fluid I was struggling with on week two. I'm not sure if it's coming from my mouth or my nose but it tastes gross. I'm really hoping it's not an infection. I was going to call my surgeon to go in early but I thought I would wait and see if it gets any worse.

Energy Level:
My energy level is still pretty low for what I'm used to. I get really tired easily but since I'm having a hard time sleeping I'm struggling even more with this. I've started going to bed earlier because I got caught up in going to bed really late and sleeping in. Night is the only time I can just relax and be alone so I enjoyed staying up until 3am and watching sitcoms on my laptop, but I figured I better stop that and get back to sleeping like a normal person. I've been up early the last two days and I'm hoping my brain goes to sleep tonight.

Braces:
I'm going for an adjustment on monday. I'll get these wires removed and get some thinner ones which will be nice. No more big giant surgical wires!!! I'm also getting some hooks removed. I don't even think I need the additional hooks but we'll see how many go. I have no idea what I'm doing with my elastics. I'm still lost between what my orthodontist says and what my surgeon says (which are two different things in itself). I'm developing a fairly large overjet but the good thing about this is it will prevent me from relapsing into an underbite. I'm also going to be starting speech therapy next year to correct the tongue thrust. That reminds me, I better call her before I go away and get this thing booked.

Life:
I'm hoping to get my shopping done and do all my holiday baking before I go to australia. I'm now the proud new owner of a Kitchen Aid mixer. It's so beautiful! I can't wait to start baking. I've tried doing some shopping but I get tired after one store and I just want to go home and lay down. I'm going away in two weeks!!! We'll be gone for December so it's a nice long vacation and I hope that when I get back I'm not so swollen and that I can talk normally. I still have a hard time controlling my face and I still look like Joan Rivers when I talk! Ah well.

Anyway that should be it for today. I'll update if anything new comes up. I'm going to make a video but I'll probably do that tomorrow.

Terra

My bite in pictures