Day 23, yippee! So over three weeks now since my jaw surgery. What news this morrow with it brings? Well, I have moved back from my parents' house by the beach to my flat in London. It was a bit of a shock at first being back, but I've acclimatised now! It does seem, annoyingly, that the progress I had made on sleeping through the night has been undone unfortunately. I've gone back to my Days 3-10 habit of waking up at 4am! Curses! Still, I'm sure it'll settle back down. I've been seeing a friend or two (for icecreams and smoothies) and sorting out my room. I bought a dressing table / desk, with the dual functions of beautifying my new jaw with lashing of slap (US readers - that's what we in the UK call makeup!) and giving me a proper desk to start fulfilling my dreams of writing. I have high hopes of writing something of terrible, trashy chick-lit quality in the coming weeks :-) I got the table from the charity shop for £30! Get in! I'll post a pic when I've sorted it out, not that you asked :-) So what in jaw news?
My jaw has been spasming a bit recently, which I've interpreted as it realising, "Holy cow! I just got moved around! Where on earth is this new position?! I'm homesick!" Hopefully it'll man up soon because the spasms always take me off guard. It's more a shock than painful, although it does hurt a little! Makes me think I've broken off one of the plates, but I'm guessing that's extremely unlikely.
In numbness news (that's the best news, isn't it?!), there has been a little progress in feeling returning under my nose. This is the area that most annoys me that it's so numb - I can't feel the area between the nose and my lips, nor can I feel my top lip. At all. This is in comparison to less extreme numbness elsewhere on my face. I'm more growing impatient with it than worried. I just hope *some* feeling comes back to *most* of it, otherwise that long-awaited post-jaw-surgery kiss is going to be a bit of a let down :-) I'm staying positive. I keep doing squishy hamster faces to encourage blood flow, much to the amusement of my flatmates, and it'll just take time. It feels like the right side above my lip might be unfreezing....come on left side, you know you want to get in on the fun! What I find weird is when the numb areas itch...but when you scratch you can't feel it....does anyone else get this?! It's spooooooky! Phantom itching :-)
The only other news really is that I received an official letter which was copied to my doctor, with the details of the surgery. It's in medi-speak and I have utter respect for what must be a very complex and demanding job, but I do find it amusing that the procedures are described as "uneventful". Hehe. What events could there have been?! A picnic? A man dressed as a gorilla bursting in? I also like the idea that a 'problem' would be euphemistically disguised as an 'event'. E.g., "there was an event of bleeding, which was resolved". Hehe, In all fairness the letter is mainly way over my head, and I only make light of it because, well, you have to don't you :-) Here's to an 'uneventful' surgery for everyone! I'll post it as a separate post.
Day 23! Ooh who needs a haircut?! :-) I think I'm going to go (back to being) a bit darker when this is done. I fancy a fresh start :-) Let me know what you are most looking forward to! I wouldn't say my hair is by any means the thing I'm looking forward to the most...haha. Looking more like myself here. It's irritating that the photo does no justice to the numbness you're experiencing! Like that top lip - I can't feel that! Or that whole area between nose/lips. Nadda. As my friend says, slowly slowly catchey monkey :-)
Day 23 side profile: Much more aligned! I actually have a chin instead of a slope. Very pleased with that. It's funny to see how red/purple my ears are here - they're so flat now that I can't tell they look like this from the front! I'm really, really glad I had that done. It cost so little in relation to the jaw surgery and it's made me way more confident about them. I can't wait to get them pierced!
Day 23 open smile: Ooh, don't those braces just ruin our post-op fun? :-) On the plus side, I think they might have taken at least five years off my age! Haha. What do you think?! Maybe I shouldn't be in such a hurry to see them go :-) This photo shows well how my nose has become wider as a result of the upper jaw movement. Obviously it's still swollen so it's hard to tell how it will be in the end, but I'm quite happy with it! On a lot of people's blogs they say that having jaw surgery makes them feel like their nose is more proportionate within their face, and I can definitely relate to that. Still frustrating that I cannot yet reap the *real* benefits of this surgery yet - biting the heck out of flat things! Still, I don't actually crave those foods. I've sort of lost interest in them, temporarily, while I'm on my blended diet. For dinner today I had fresh pea and ham soup blended together with half a chicken breast, with some oat crackers mushed in.
Side-ish angle (above, left) I have a jawline!
This is a picture of me (below) before: resting face. Compare with Day 23 resting face just underneath! Unfortunately my hair is covering my ears in the pic below, but you can see the jaw very clearly.
Resting face: my top lip is looking a little thinner, perhaps, than before, but it's hard to tell what's causing this because they definitely looked different when I had my front braces put on, pre-surgery. I say front, because I originally had lingual braces, and still do. Normally you wouldn't need front ones too, but my surgical plan became a little more involved in the run up to the big day, and Jaw God requested brackets on the front of every tooth. I didn't mind by that point because I knew I wasn't going to be looking my best for a while anyway, and honestly, I'd do anything to make the surgery easier/smoother! It's all about the end goal, in the most straight forward way possible. So (what a deviation from topic!) I think my top lip might settle a bit when a)it's not numb and stiff, and b) when the front braces come off, which is hopefully just before I go back to work in September (I'm a teacher). We all know those braces-off dates are big teases, so fingers crossed! I'm managing my expectations because I know my lovely orthodontist can't make any guarantees. Patience as ever!
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