I've got a lot of catching up to do...

Hello bloggers!  Sorry I haven't posted in so long!  I moved house about 6 weeks ago now, and despite the fact that I've moved somewhere where I don't know anybody, I've been surprisingly busy!

So... as you may have seen below, I've posted all my pictures from the past few weeks.  I'm now at 13 weeks and 3 days post-op, and have decided that now I'm past the 3 month mark, I will only post pictures every month, as I look pretty similar each week now.  I'm now kind of at the point where jaw surgery doesn't fill my mind every second of everyday... of course I still think about it, I still have the daily hassle of braces and bands and eating etc., but it's not the main focus of my life now.  I will still post when I have appointments though, and will post pictures every month.

Anyway, I've got quite a lot to update on so I thought I'd put it into neat little headings so that I don't just ramble...

Appearance

I'm still sooooo pleased with my appearance.  As I've said a million times, my photos make me look more swollen and assymetrical than I really am, and if I actually looked like what I look like in my photos, I'd probably be a bit disappointed lol.  I've had a couple of people who didn't know me pre-op comment on my 'petite features', which I never would've got when I had a big nose and goofy gummy smile.

Braces and bands

I'm still wearing my bands, although I have been a bit naughty recently and taken them off for social occasions.  I'm going to the hospital on Wednesday (16th Jan) and am hoping they say I don't need to wear the bands any more.  Even more than that I'm hoping that they'll book me in for my appointment to get my moulds done for my retainers, because I think once the retainers are ready they will take my braces off.  All along they've said my bite is so good that I'll only need my braces on for 3 or 4 months post-op, and I'm now over 3, and my appointments have been delayed because of Christmas, so I think, and hope, it will be soon!

Eating

I can eat most things now, just not really hard things.  I can bite into things like a sandwich, but I couldn't open my mouth wide enough to eat a burger for example.  Which leads me onto my next point...

Jaw mobility

I still can't open my mouth very wide, I can't even get two fingers in.  If I try I can move my jaw from side to side, but I don't really feel the need to do this when I'm eating or anything so I don't really mind about that.  When I next see my ortho/surgeon I will ask whether it's normal that I still can't open very wide.

Weight

As I said in my last post, I've found it hard to gain my weight back.  I don't have any scales at my flat, but I will weigh myself on Wednesday when I'm back at my mum's.  I feel like I've put weight on, but we'll see what the scales say!

Swelling

I do still have a tiny bit of swelling in my left cheek, but again this is more noticeable in photos and I don't think anyone would notice it in real life.

Numbness

The only part that's still numb is the front of my top gums, like above my front teeth, but as I've said before I've been really lucky with numbness and didn't have much to start with.

Tooth sensitivity

Since surgery my teeth are really sensitive.  This is probably partly because two of my teeth are in desperate need of a filling, but even without that, all my teeth just feel so sensitive.  I tried brushing with my electric toothbrush, but it was just such a horrible feeling that I've got back to a manual (not my baby toothbrush though...although I do still have it!)

Meeting other jaw surgery people

When I was out on New Year's Eve, I spotted a woman with braces while I was queueing for the toilets.  I was a little bit drunk so struck up a conversation with her, and it turned out she'd had jaw surgery 7 months ago!  We had a good old drunk chat about braces and jaw surgery!

The other day I also met up with someone who I've been emailing for a long time... probably about 2 years now... about jaw surgery.  When I moved house we realised that I was moving to the same town as her, so we met up last weekend.  She's almost a year post-op now and out of braces, and it was so nice to be able to talk to someone who has been through it all.

Jaw surgery videos

The other day I decided that since my surgery is over, I'd quite like to know what actually happened to my face during the operation, so I went on youtube and looked for videos of jaw surgery actually being done.  Now, I've got quite a strong stomach but even I winced at parts of it!  It was very brutal... pretty much like something you'd see in Saw!  I certainly do NOT advise this to anybody who is pre-op, because it's not pretty!  But if you're post-op and don't mind blood and graphic surgery, it's very interesting!  It was amazing to see how they actually did what they did to my face!