Day 51

Not much to report at this point.  I am working on my exercises and trying to get my mouth open wider.  It is a little wider every day.  I am almost open two fingers wide.. the ortho keeps telling me I need to get to 3 fingers wide.

I still have quite a bit of numbness in my bottom lip and chin.  The area is constantly tingling which means the nerves are waking up but there is also the torture of having an itch you cannot scratch.  

I have been eating more but still soft foods that I cut up small , mush around a bit and swallow.  Still not enjoying eating and I have to take such small pieces at a time it take forever to eat.  

I go back to work in a week and hope I am ready.  I think I will have to go to bed at 8pm. To get up in time.

One week unwired!

I have hit one week of being unwired and life is good! Well better anyway... I can open my mouth about 1 finger wide right now.  I was instructed to not start doing exercises until this week so I started yesterday ... it is really just opening as wide as I can and holding for 10 seconds .. and doing that every so often.. each day it feels like I am starting all over.  By the end of the day it is my better and open much wider ..

I have definitely been eating more but I still am not able to chew anything so I just cut everything up and mush it around..

I am glad to be in Florida where I can at least get outside and go for a walk or bike ride or even just sit outside and read a book... being in the house for 5 weeks is no fun at all.

Free at last!

On Wednesday night I anxiously awaited for Thursday morning for my appointment where I expected to get unwired.  Of course there was a snow storm predicted with six to eight inches of snow.  

A little snow was not going to keep me from my appointment. Mom and  I took the train into the city for my  Appt.  Dr Taub was in the room across the hall and came out for a minute asking if I had been seen yet.  Seemed like he was working on a pretty intense case.  He sent a resident in with instructions to unwire me! Yeah it was really going to happen today.  One of the residents came in and a few snips later I was free...

Although I could move a little more I still could not open my mouth very wide..my muscles were very tight.  He told me I could go brush which I was prepared for with my own bush and toothpaste..I brushed for a really long time and it was awesome! Just imaging now brushing the back side of your teeth for five weeks..yuck.. My mom said he came back a few times and was surprised I was not back yet.  

When I did get back he went over some exercises..  Dr Taub came in and I asked about the bands..Hoping I would be able to take them off to eat or to only have to wear them at night..his response "no bands" that really made my day!  He did stress that he did not want me to start exercising until the end of next week.  

I will see him again in about 3 weeks for another follow up.

I headed over to see Dr Tunjay..he was very excited to see how I looked! He took a look at my braces and clipped off some very sharp pieces that had been causing most of my pain.  

Right now I can open about 1 finger wide..Dr Tunjay can start working again when I can open three fingers wide , which seems like forever away..but Wayne says he can already tell a difference from yesterday.  He made an appt for four weeks from now...

I bought a baby spoon and have to sit in front of a mirror to eat..mostly so I make it in the small opening and don't hurt myself since my bottom list is still mostly numb.  My first meal was scrambles eggs..that was a little hard..since then I have had yogurt, chili and macaroni and cheese cut up very small..a baby spoon full at a time.  I can't really chew but I can get the food in  and mush it around before swallowing it..it is nice to have some texture back in my food. 

So we are off to Florida to relax before I go back to work on March second.  I will be excited to get out of the house a little more in nice weather..

Not a good day...30 days post op

I woke up very excited..well trying not to be too excited.  On my last appt the Dr said I could probably get unwired on this visit.  He said he would be out of town but his chief resident , who was there, would see me.  He verified with the resident that he would be in ththe office and the appt was booked.

My appt was at 1130 on Friday.  I arrived and the nurse took me back and took my blood pressure..she said Dr Courtney was not actually there right now and she thought he was at the hospital but another resident would page him.

A few minutes later she came back and said he was actually with another Dr at a different office and  she asked if I wanted to reschedule , to which I quickly replied no I was to get unwired today..she said another resident could take care of it.

A few minutes later a resident came in and introduced himself and said he would call Dr Taub or Dr Courtney.  He got Dr Courtney on the phone and was in the room with me..he asked how everything looked etc etc..and asked when I would be going to Florida, I had asked about planning a trip on my last appt. , he said ok let's leave her as she is also Dr Taub can take a look next week..when he got off the phone and told me that I lost it a little bit..he asked if everything was ok and I just said..I really wanted to get out of the wires today...he understood but said since I was Dr Taub's patient he should really see me before proceeding...I regained my composure and we booked and appt for Thursday.

I asked about being  banded and what that would mean for eating..he said it would definitely give me a little more space and I could have things like scrambled eggs...I am now dreaming of scrambled eggs..I also asked about anything I need to be concerned about for the airport and he said no since the plates are pretty much pure titanium it would not be an issue.

They seemed to be very concerned about my weight on this visit..asking what I was eating was I getting enough calories and even took my weight.  Before surgery I gained a few extra pounds knowing I would be losing weight.  I am down about 12 pounds right now which I am completely ok with I would even be ok with a few more but at the same time I am tryi to be sure I am getting enough protein and nutrients which gets hard each day and I getting sick of eating the same things.

I have to say one of the things I was most looking forward to was brushing my teeth..the back side of my teeth are gross...I try to swish cleaner and waterpic but it just can clean the back...so looking forward to brushing my teeth for like 15 minutes .

So I will stick it out for one more week...don't really have a choice ..

Latest side view..still pretty swollen..