Day 18...and 19! School in a week :/...and Orientation

Remember how every time the school year ends, the next school year seems so far away? Well that happened to me, like it does every year, and now im stuck at one week before school starts with tons to do and not a lot of time to do it! Although I have been off of the codeine for a while, I still find it hard to concentrate for long periods of time. I'm starting to think I might just have a lazy brain!

Anyways, back to the jaw stuff. My swelling doesn't seem to be going down at alll, and it even went up a bit on sunday after a long day out with my dad. It's back down to how it was before, but I start school in 7 days and I dont want to walk around looking like a chipmunk!

My jaw keeps cracking at night. At first I thought it just happened when I slept almost flat on my bed, but it also happens when I sleep upright in my recliner :( Yesterday I was feeling really sick and had an awful headache that wouldn't go away, but now my sinuses (aka right where I have 18 screws) just feel like they have a lot of pressure. I have another appointment with my surgeons on thursday so I'll see what they say! I really hope I dont have to go to the surgeons office weekly anymore because I do not want to miss a ton of school right off the bat.

Yesterday I went to go see the girls I coach at a pre-season scrimmage and they were so cute! They won 6-0 and I was very proud of them :) It was very hot yesterday so I was drinking a lot of water, and one of the girls asked "Atenas, are you only allowed to drink water after jaw surgery? Because you are drinking a lot!" It was too funny :)

The blogger uploader thing isnt loading my most recent pictures but I will try again later!

*Edit* pictures are up! and I'll add in day 19 also. Busy day. I was at school all day handing out schedules. I was stuck with "D" and "E" last names. Do you know how hard it is to make those sound different while banded shut? Then I had "C"'s. I kept asking "Chen/Cheng or Chan/Chang" and nobody understood the difference :( to I just had to go through the first names of all Chen/Cheng/Chan/Chang's until I found them. Fun stuff. I also got my schedule. Full IB/AP, whoop whoop! No life for the rest of the semester! Then after 7 hours at school I went out to get ice cream with my best friend who hadn't seen me since surgery. And I got to talk to her mom and sister, who told me that one of her co workers got jaw surgery at 60 years old and was still bruised and had tons of swelling after 5 weeks! I'm glad I got this surgery now and not later!

Sunday - Really bad swelling after a long day out in the heat!

Monday - Back to "normal"

Tuesday

Bruise is still lingering!

I love my new profile! 

Wednesday - I'm happy my swelling didn't go up after being at orientation talking to tons of people all day! Like the snowflake pajamas? I pull them out when it drops below 60 :)

Wednesday night - My midlines are lined up again!

Day 16: too tired to post!

Fun weekend! I will deff post pictures tomorrow. Just posting so people know I'm still
alive!

Day 14: Has it really been two weeks?

Two weeks have passed and I couldn't be more happy! These have definitely been two of the hardest weeks I have ever gone through in my entire life. As of now I have enough energy to be out for a couple of hours at a time, but due to the setback I had with my jaw sliding back my doctor said I should stay home more. I feel like my swelling is at a standstill and has been for the past two days, hopefully it will keep going down soon! Right now I think I am at the point where if somebody didn't know I had had the surgery, they would think I just had a fat face! But I can feel that I still have a ways to go.

My father, who I got my jaw from ;) Don't worry, he doesn't always look this  weird!

I think I look mostly "normal" 

Day 13: Second visit with the Dr.'s

Today I had my second follow up with Dr. Egbert and Dr. Gauger. They just needed to make sure I was making progress in moving my jaw back to where it needed to be. I saw Dr. G first because Dr. E was delayed at the hospital for a bit. He measured by midlines with the bands, without the bands, and my jaw when I relax, as well as how far I can open my mouth. When I relax my jaw they slide back almost to how they were before :( Then Dr. E came and saw me open/close all that good stuff and said I had to come back  in a week! And to keep using the same rubber band configuration.

Today was also my turn to support my mom after she always helps me out being my nurse and all! She had to get some shots and I held her hand :) We then went out to our favorite persian restaurant for lunch, where we shared a yummy soup and ice cream. This was the second time I have eaten out and I did much better at not getting food all over my face than I do when I am at home!

My swelling has gone down a bit, but more importantly, I can smile now! My cheeks were sort of paralyzed since the surgery so my smile was very...strange, but now I can smile and look normal!

Lastly, Dr. E gave me the go-ahead to start being out more starting next week, so I can go to my schools back to school event where I will be volunteering... yippee.

Pictures now!

Still more swelling on one side. 

My new smile!

Almost there!

Day 12: day 2 in rubber bands!

Today was my second day in rubber bands! and they are doing their job very well :) my bite is only about 1/2 a mm off now, but it goes back a tad when I take the bands off. I had to start taking a stronger pain medecine again because I couldn't sleep. If feels kind of like the pain when you first get your braces on. Dull, but very strong and annoying. Im not sure if its because of all the pulling or what, but my swelling went down way more in the lower half of my face...but it moved into the top of my cheeks! Like next to my nose where I have 18 screws. It used to be more numb than swollen, but now i'm all puffy! And my nerves are all jumpy in my face, it only goes away with pressure, which makes it hard to type. I realized today that I have written more in my blog than I have in my essay that is due the week after school starts. uh oh. Can I just turn this in? ;)

New pictures!

Lots of swelling next to my nose

No more tape over the stitch, just a small scar where Dr, Egbert accidentally knicked me when I squirmed :) 

More bruising on this side than the other, but I just love my profile! 

Lopsided smile, the other side of my mouth is still a bit numb and immobile. 

ALMOST in line again! The up/down ones on the left side are "stabilizers". I guess they stabilize my bite? 

Day 11: Post op and new x rays!

Post op today, some good news, some bad news. Ever since 2 days after the surgery, my jaw has cracked at night (mentioned in a previous post). I total it happened three times! Very scary and I felt like my bite wasn't quite right after. My midlines seemed to be off, but since I was really groggy and dont remember much from the first few days after the surgery, I wasn't sure if thats how the doctor intended it to be. When I first got to my appointment I asked the Dr. my first and most important question, which was if my midlines were supposed to my lined up or not. He said they were not, and that he himself (not the other surgeon) had done my right side and he had had some trouble with it. The bone had cracked where it wasn't supposed to and he had to use a longer plate and an extra pin (hence the stitch on the side of my face). The other Dr. came in and said that if I waited any longer my bones/muscles would have stayed in the wrong place and I would have had to get another surgery! But instead he but my in a funky rubber band configuration that pulls my jaw to the correct side. Problem solved! Since this wasn't really supposed to happen I have to go in on Thursday so he can reevaluate and reposition my bands again. He said that unfortunately it will delay the amount of time I have to not chew. Hopefully I can still get my braces off in 3-4 months!

8 plates and 26 screws and pins later...

After! So perfect :)

Before

A lot less swelling!

Sorry my lips look weird!

Dr. Egbert took the tape off the side of my face today where I had a stitch and he accidentally cut me when he was trimming the stitch.

Some bruising still left

Still can't smile :(

Rubber band configuration for the next two days, its very painful!

Day 9: Pictures

I spent the weekend at my aunt's house. My family went out of town and I wasn't really ready to travel yet. My swelling has gone down a lot and I have feeling back in my cheeks, upper lip and neck. I am able to open my mouth more so I tried eating pizza that was cut up super tiny, it was so good!

Trying to smile!

Stiched side

Bruises are fading!

RAWR!