My friend Aida came over to visit me and we watched like five episodes of True Life and talked about how stupid the people were. She also blow dried my hair for me because that is lots of work! It made me feel and look a lot better. Later, she went to Wendy's and came back with my favorite food in the whole world...french fries! I couldn't eat them of course, they were hers. But she did get me chili and I threw it in the blender and ate it through a SPOON! A spoon! Wow! Improvement already! It's a total mess, but so nice to not use a syringe for everything. However, I do still use the syringe for really watery stuff, just cause it's easier.
After that I went to my grandpa's house to visit and then had Christmas Eve dinner with my mom and my boyfriend. Mine was squished and mashed up and watered down. But still good! Aid told me my swelling makes me look like those guys from White Chicks that dress as girls. This is what he means:
I kinda see it haha but all my swelling doesn't allow me to show any teeth when I smile yet.
I am constantly feeling all this tingling in my chin and cheeks. It's a great sign that the nerves are "waking up." But I'm having a lot of trouble sleeping. I was up last night until nearly three, and that was after I finally gave up and took Lortab. My jaw muscles were aching really bad and I just had to take something. After that I woke up several times because my jaw and brain are having trouble communicating and every hour or so one of them is like "WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?" and wakes me up. My jaw gets lost and hangs open or feels like it's falling over. We're still getting used to each other!I have to tell you all about this amazing realization I had at dinner tonight! Before surgery, my entire life I was always tired because of my lack of breathing during sleep. If I slept 4 hours, 8 hours, or 10 hours, I was still tired. Now, I'm sleeping an average of 6 or 7, and I'm not tired. I'M NOT TIRED. Even though I am recovering from a four hour surgery of taking my face apart, I am still NOT TIRED!!! This makes me so happy! It can only get better!
Today I put on a little make up and as I said before, Aida helped me do something with my hair. So I'm not quite the hot mess I was the other day:
Whitney,
ReplyDeleteThe breathing and not feeling tired is one of the biggest benefits I'm looking forward to the most! I am so happy to hear you say this! Are you still feeling this way after a few weeks into recovery? I have to sleep 8-9 hours a night and still wake up tired. I also wake up with chronic sore throats and swollen lymph nodes almost every day. It will be a relief to be able to breathe properly.
Your profile pic looks amazing! Do you know how much movement you had in your genio/chin advancement? It looks so natural and "soft."
I also didn't notice too much of a gummy smile on you in the before photo. How many mm did they impact the upper jaw, do you know?
You look fantastic!!
Tara
Yes, I still feel this way! Some days of the week I wake up at 7, fight downtown Atlanta traffic, go to classes for 7 hours, and then go straight to Buford for work until 9, and when I get home, I still feel awesome!
ReplyDeleteI was like you also. Didn't matter how long I slept, I was still tired. Now I sleep about 6-8 hours and feel great! It's a wonderful benefit.
Thank you! I'm really not too sure about the movement measurements. My mom told me after surgery "they moved everything 5 mm." So I don't know if that means just the lower jaw was brought forward 5 mm or if the upper jaw was impacted that much as well. I doubt it was that much. I'll ask at my appointment next week!
My gummy smile only occurred when I would allow myself to smile my natural way. Over the years I learned I looked like a horse in pictures, so I always remembered to not allow my smile to be big like it wanted to.
haha - i think we have all learned to hide the mr. ed horse smile in pics! i just hate it when someone snaps a candid pic. lol
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