Hello All,
I can't believe that it's already been more than 4 months since my surgery! I haven't written in awhile, just because there's really not much to say...I am still at school, so I haven't seen my ortho or my OS since spring break. Everything is feeling fine, except my chin. It is still just tingly, and I'm getting tired of it! I want full feeling back! Most of the time it's just an annoyance, but sometimes when I'm outside for long periods of time, it starts to hurt...
I still have a gap on the right side where they expanded my top jaw. The rubber bands (or band, since it's only one) I have still is slowly closing the gap, but it's still pretty big.
This is my last week of classes, then I have finals, then I'll be heading home! I see my ortho and my OS sometime the week after next...and I'm getting my teeth cleaned. I'm really worried about the teeth cleaning part. My top gums are still numb-ish, and my bottom gums and teeth are still hypersensitive sometimes, so I'm worried that it's going to hurt. I know, I know, I survived double jaw surgery, this shouldn't scare me...but it does.
Well, that's all for now. I'll post in a couple of weeks after my appointments!
<3 Stefane
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
Back to my old self!
I've been feeling better and better since my surgery, but this past weekend I truly felt like I was completely back to normal.
Saturday afternoon I was speaking at a conference held at my University, and I (of course...) procrastinated on writing my speech. That's not really a good thing, since I was supposed to speak for 30 minutes, lol! So, Friday night I was up really late working on it...I finished at 2 am and was still wide awake! I actually stayed awake for another hour, watching tv until I felt tired. That is the kind of energy I was used to having before this surgery, and this was really the first time I felt that I had it back :)
I'm also eating completely normally now: I was eating carrots yesterday and was amazed by the fact that I could bite off a piece of carrot with my front teeth...I've never been able to do that! My friends just laugh and shake their heads when I get excited about stuff like that...
Much Love,
<3 Stefane
Saturday afternoon I was speaking at a conference held at my University, and I (of course...) procrastinated on writing my speech. That's not really a good thing, since I was supposed to speak for 30 minutes, lol! So, Friday night I was up really late working on it...I finished at 2 am and was still wide awake! I actually stayed awake for another hour, watching tv until I felt tired. That is the kind of energy I was used to having before this surgery, and this was really the first time I felt that I had it back :)
I'm also eating completely normally now: I was eating carrots yesterday and was amazed by the fact that I could bite off a piece of carrot with my front teeth...I've never been able to do that! My friends just laugh and shake their heads when I get excited about stuff like that...
Much Love,
<3 Stefane
Friday, March 12, 2010
Week 12: Haircut time!
It seems like everyone else gets a new hair cut after surgery, and today it was my turn!
These are the first pictures that have been taken where I think my smile looks normal! I guess my muscles are healing nicely...if only the nerves in my chin would heal that quickly! :)
<3 Stefane
These are the first pictures that have been taken where I think my smile looks normal! I guess my muscles are healing nicely...if only the nerves in my chin would heal that quickly! :)
<3 Stefane
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Closing in on 12 weeks!
Wow, it's hard to believe that my surgery was almost 3 months ago!
I was home last week, saw the orthodontist and Dr. N and everything is fine! There are no signs of infection in those stitches and they should completely dissolve in another 3 weeks or so...I've been cleared for most physical activity, but I'm still not allowed to do anything where I could possibly get hit in the face, for obvious reasons!
I'm pretty much eating everything now, though I'm being super careful with sticky and chewy foods! I'm getting better at chewing on the left side of my mouth...it was pretty painful at first, after having chewed solely on my right teeth for this many years :)
This weekend I'm going to get to see a friend who hasn't seen me since the surgery, and I can't wait for her reaction! Everyone else saw me for the first time less that a month afterward (and I was still pretty swollen!), so it's nice to have someone who will see me for the first time this far out! I have friends who are still astonished by the change, just this afternoon one of them commented on my cheekbones, and my friend Ann has mentioned a couple of times that she can't believe the difference in my facial structure.
My chin is still pretty numb, though it is tingly now. I'm having the same reaction to cold that Kelly's (http://kellysjawsurgery.blogspot.com/) having...whenever something cold touches the right side of my lip it feels like it travels in a line down my chin. At first I thought stuff was dripping out of my mouth, but then I realized that it was just the cold. It's weird and annoying, but the feeling is definitely coming back!
That's it for now, I'm getting my hair cut on Friday, so I'll post pictures then!
<3 Stefane
P.S. Kelly, I tried to comment on your latest post, but it wasn't working :(
I was home last week, saw the orthodontist and Dr. N and everything is fine! There are no signs of infection in those stitches and they should completely dissolve in another 3 weeks or so...I've been cleared for most physical activity, but I'm still not allowed to do anything where I could possibly get hit in the face, for obvious reasons!
I'm pretty much eating everything now, though I'm being super careful with sticky and chewy foods! I'm getting better at chewing on the left side of my mouth...it was pretty painful at first, after having chewed solely on my right teeth for this many years :)
This weekend I'm going to get to see a friend who hasn't seen me since the surgery, and I can't wait for her reaction! Everyone else saw me for the first time less that a month afterward (and I was still pretty swollen!), so it's nice to have someone who will see me for the first time this far out! I have friends who are still astonished by the change, just this afternoon one of them commented on my cheekbones, and my friend Ann has mentioned a couple of times that she can't believe the difference in my facial structure.
My chin is still pretty numb, though it is tingly now. I'm having the same reaction to cold that Kelly's (http://kellysjawsurgery.blogspot.com/) having...whenever something cold touches the right side of my lip it feels like it travels in a line down my chin. At first I thought stuff was dripping out of my mouth, but then I realized that it was just the cold. It's weird and annoying, but the feeling is definitely coming back!
That's it for now, I'm getting my hair cut on Friday, so I'll post pictures then!
<3 Stefane
P.S. Kelly, I tried to comment on your latest post, but it wasn't working :(
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Infection???
So, 3 1/2 weeks ago when I saw Dr. N he was concerned about 2 inflamed areas, one on each side of my nose. He though that the two stitches up there were infected and put me on antibiotics. I finished the antibiotics last Sunday (almost 2 weeks ago) and the areas were still inflamed and painful to the touch. I called the office and Dr. N prescribed me another round of antibiotics. I finished those on Thursday night...and the areas are still inflamed and swollen. I'm worried that it's something serious...
I'm going home for spring break next week, so I'll see Dr. N a week from Tuesday. However, I don't know what to do in the meantime. There's not much that can be done when I'm in Michigan and he's in Colorado.
I'm going home for spring break next week, so I'll see Dr. N a week from Tuesday. However, I don't know what to do in the meantime. There's not much that can be done when I'm in Michigan and he's in Colorado.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Before and After
So, I figured it was time for before and after pictures!
Before:
After:
Before:
After:
I'm really happy with my new smile, sometimes I find myself smiling when I glance into a mirror. It's just so different (and pretty, haha). Sometimes I can't believe that it's been 9 weeks!
I still feels like I'm swollen and I'm not really seeing any changes in that (though people who only see me occasionally say there is improvement each time they see me). The gaps on each side of my front four teeth are slowly closing-the one on the left is almost gone already!
Since the infection hasn't cleared up yet, I'm still not allowed to swim :( but I was feeling well over the weekend and decided to go hiking with my friends. A winter hike up Sugarloaf Mountain, might not have been the best idea; I was exhausted by the time we got to the top, but it was fun! I wore YacTrax (those grippy rubber things on my shoes) and that was really helpful, since falling would have been really bad!
I realized as I was writing this that I never wrote a reactions post about how some of my friends reacted to the changes in my face, so I'll have to write that soon!
<3 Stefane
Before:
After:
Before:
After:
I'm really happy with my new smile, sometimes I find myself smiling when I glance into a mirror. It's just so different (and pretty, haha). Sometimes I can't believe that it's been 9 weeks!
I still feels like I'm swollen and I'm not really seeing any changes in that (though people who only see me occasionally say there is improvement each time they see me). The gaps on each side of my front four teeth are slowly closing-the one on the left is almost gone already!
Since the infection hasn't cleared up yet, I'm still not allowed to swim :( but I was feeling well over the weekend and decided to go hiking with my friends. A winter hike up Sugarloaf Mountain, might not have been the best idea; I was exhausted by the time we got to the top, but it was fun! I wore YacTrax (those grippy rubber things on my shoes) and that was really helpful, since falling would have been really bad!
I realized as I was writing this that I never wrote a reactions post about how some of my friends reacted to the changes in my face, so I'll have to write that soon!
<3 Stefane
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
8-weeks!
Well, tomorrow will mark 8-weeks since my surgery!
Bad news first: The infection in the stitches up by my nose wasn't cleared up by the first round of antibiotics. I finished the antibiotics on Sunday night, and the area was still swollen and painful to the touch, so I called Dr. N on Monday morning. He ended up prescribing me another round of antibiotics. Hopefully this round will clear up the infection.
On to the good news!
I'm feeling fine (most of the time) I still get really tired, especially when I get stressed out. I'm really making an effort to not let myself get tired out, but it's difficult with stress from school and my busy schedule.
The swelling is going down, but it's still there. I can usually feel when I'm more swollen, and it's usually the left side that's more swollen than the right side.
My chin is still quite numb, there's a little feeling coming back along the edges. That's somehow more annoying than the complete numbness...a lot of the time it feels like something is dripping out of my mouth, when it's actually just the nerves tingling!
I'm being really careful with what I eat, and I'm not really biting into anything with my front teeth. They still feel very loose, so being super careful is better then moving too fast!
I'll be home in 3 weeks for spring break, so I'll have my next check up then!
<3 Stefane
Bad news first: The infection in the stitches up by my nose wasn't cleared up by the first round of antibiotics. I finished the antibiotics on Sunday night, and the area was still swollen and painful to the touch, so I called Dr. N on Monday morning. He ended up prescribing me another round of antibiotics. Hopefully this round will clear up the infection.
On to the good news!
I'm feeling fine (most of the time) I still get really tired, especially when I get stressed out. I'm really making an effort to not let myself get tired out, but it's difficult with stress from school and my busy schedule.
The swelling is going down, but it's still there. I can usually feel when I'm more swollen, and it's usually the left side that's more swollen than the right side.
My chin is still quite numb, there's a little feeling coming back along the edges. That's somehow more annoying than the complete numbness...a lot of the time it feels like something is dripping out of my mouth, when it's actually just the nerves tingling!
I'm being really careful with what I eat, and I'm not really biting into anything with my front teeth. They still feel very loose, so being super careful is better then moving too fast!
I'll be home in 3 weeks for spring break, so I'll have my next check up then!
<3 Stefane
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