Almost 5 Weeks Out and BACK TO WORK!

The good, the bad, the ugly post...

I shall go in order since we all know how tidy and calculated I am (I make myself laugh sometimes)

THE GOOD:
I saw the ortho again last Wednesday and although he still couldn't move anything around yet, he says it's all healing up beautifully and he wants to see me every 2 weeks until we get back on program which is hopefully a total of 8 weeks from surgery day.  My new instructions were to try to use my electric toothbrush again to get rid of the uneveness in my gums and start using Colgate Peroxyl mouthwash.  I did a puppyface thing and conned like 25 free packages of this stuff from the front desk ;)

In other news, I'm back at work!  So far I've definitely needed more food /energy/sleep but it's good to be back!

THE BAD:
I saw Dr. S on Friday and after taking x rays and thinking everything looked good, he recognized that I had an infection where my plates are at.  My sutures healed up just fine but my body may be rejecting the plates BUT NO WORRIES (his words, NOT mine).  Meanwhile, I'm like almost in tears but we are somehow talking about his kid's costume while he gives me a prescription for a strong antibiotic for the next 10 days.  The pharmacist took one look at me and said, "this is going to be a problem... you kind of need to eat a huge meal everytime you take this FOUR TIMES A DAY, oh, and it may give you diarrhea for the next three months..." NO BIG [insert eye roll here]

THE UGLY:
I know what you're thinking, infection, da poppy pants, what could get uglier?  Lol, i guess I could have just those two into one.  My swelling hasn't gone down AT ALL in 2 weeks but I'm hoping the antibiotics help.  Will update soon!  xoxo

Latest Doctor's Visit and Jaw Progress

Last Wednesday was a huge turning point in the healing process as Dr. S was ready to see how far I could actually open my mouth.  I thought he was kidding but he removed my bands and left the room with the strict instructions that when he got back, I better be able to fit a tongue depressor at least in my gap.  He was gone for fifteen minutes and I managed to open my mouth THIS much {}.  Impressive, eh?  LOL.  It was NOTHING.  He then jammed a tongue depressor in between my teeth and said, Lara, you're never going to graduate to soft foods if you don't try to open your mouth.  I don't know if it was anxiety, pain, or both but I had a hard time following this instruction.

Nevertheless, my mother immediately became excited, managed a lunch date with my hubs and an hour later I found the three of us at a Thai restaurant and me with a bowl of curry under my nose.  Sheer will and hunger forced about 1/8 of the curry down my mouth but I quickly became sore and stopped.  It's been 5 days since I got the OK to remove my bands to eat and I'm so much better.  My favorite foods have been oatmeal thinned with milk and a dollop of jam added to it, rice with tons of sauce of some sort, vanilla and apple milkshakes and Italian Wedding Soup (but w/out the meatballs) and Naked Juices.

I had thought all my stitches were out but when the doc removed my bands on Wednesday, I spit 2 more out :P But none have come out since then so that's awesome!  I can now open my mouth 2 mm's worth and actually brush all my teeth!

What my stitches look like, SO GROSS!

 

There were like 100 of them in my mouth!

The pain is actually always constant but that's because my nerves are coming back together and I can feel more.  The pain is mainly in my chin, where the surgeon says all the nerve endings are, and in my actual teeth.  I don't nap all throughout the day anymore and my energy level is up as long as I eat constantly.  I'm down 14 lbs and am ALWAYS hungry, lol, so that's going to be my biggest challenge when I go back to work on Monday.  My next appointment is this Friday to get the all clear to return to work.  I'll get another set of x-rays and see how everything is healing :D

Thanks for following, as always.

3 Weeks and 4 Days out

Where do I even begin?  So much progress has taken place the last week so I'll try to sum it all up.

Last weekend was my first weekend out in public (with people...eeks!) when I got voluntold to sell tickets at Oktoberfest.  This is my mom's way of telling me to suck it up and get out there ;)  I ended up having a super hard time yelling out answers to millions of retarded questions through that little spot in the ticket window but I'm really proud of myself for lasting through two consecutive day shifts of that.  About 50% of the people just nodded when I yelled (to be nice for sure) and the rest just pointed at their own mouths and said "ohhhhhhh" as if they knew what was going on.  There are still quite a few letters I have a hard time pronouncing so I was semi frustrated but it was nice to re join the public again!

Fantastic things that happened this week:
1. My nurse came up to my ticket window at Oktoberfest which was a total surprise and we both kinda looked at each other like "Do I know youuuu?" before she yelled out "OMG! ARE YOU ALL BETTER????? I WAS YOUR NURSEEEE!!!!"' I shared her enthusiasm because she took such good care of me so it was nice to see her again and meet her son.
2. I managed to stay away from the beer garden.  This is not fantastic, however, since I couldn't eat anything there and I wasn't drinking due to all the meds I'm on, my awesome hubs and his bestie took me out to dinner which leads me to thing number two: not only had our server had jaw surgery herself at 14, she blended me up some pazole soup that was delicious!! I made a complete mess, had cilantro hanging out of my teeth, used seven napkins but I felt like a princess.
3. When I went back to class on  Tuesday night, my professor announced to the whole class that I was missed and what I'd just gone through and asked me to smile big for everyone to see.  He is a cruel, cruel man.  Lol.  Turns out my classmate to my left had also had jaw surgery and shared her experience with me, way cool.

In other news, I am becoming Martha Stewart Jr. from the sheer bordeom of staying home.  I have so far made the following items which I cannot eat:
1. Homemade Strawberry Jam (yes, I know, I'm amazing ;)
2. Homemade Creamy Peanut Butter
3. Banana Bread from scratch
4. Italian meatballs from scratch
5. Chive and Parmesan and Spinach stuffed Chicken Breast
6. Chicken Rissoto
7. Halloween Crafts with cool lollipops

The moral of the story? I NEED TO GO BACK TO WORK.

 Week 3 shots... still lots of swelling but bruising is ALL GONE!

I will post a separate post about the doctor's office visit last Wednesday.  (special hello and good luck to my online jaw buddy, Tiffany, who is having jaw surgery tomorrow morning in the UK!)

Almost 3 Weeks Out! Time flies when you're having oh, so, much fun...

Morning! 
A lot has happened in the last week but I haven't had any energy to update for some reason.  I'll start with the monumental stuff:

1. I can now use a spoon (although it is extremely messy and not worth it so I'm still slurping everything out of a cup)
2. I discovered Pumpkin Spice Lattes.  'Nuff said.
3. I started going back to class last night which means... I DROVE.  aka I did not take any Vicodin yesterday :(  I had some liquid Tylenol to keep me going and I was fine throughout class but I was starving and could hardly focus.

This will be quick because I just realized I have a post op in 20 minutes and I'm sipping a shake and am in pjs, as you do when you're a responsible adult.  I'll update more after the appointment as I have a bunch of questions to ask him anyway.  :D