Day 47 - Finally!!

Today is day 47. The surgery was almost 7 weeks ago. Today, at long last, I got to go to the oral surgeon and have the splint removed. So, let's talk about that for a minute.

SPLINT REMOVAL
Having the splint removed did not hurt, but it was not comfortable. The doctor kept telling me to open my mouth, which was still a little hard to do. She would shove a pair of scissors in, grab the wires, and twist them. The nurse would snip the wires and the doctor would pull out the pieces. After 8 or so wires, the splint was out! That was the best and worst feeling in recent memory. The best feeling is pretty obvious, but the worst feeling might be a little surprising. Without going into all of the gory details, let's just say that six weeks of not brushing leaves the mouth feeling a little furry. That's pretty gross. Also, being covered up for six weeks leaves the tissue on the roof of my mouth feeling a little pruny. She gave me the splint and told me to keep it in until I saw the orthodontist. I said "Yes, Ma'am" and promptly took it out as soon as I got in the car.

AFTER THE SPLINT
It was wonderful to hear the sound of my voice again. I actually sounded like myself. That is what my husband was most excited about! I guess the lispy voice just wasn't me. He prefers me to nag him with my regular voice. It sounded odd to my ears at first. I guess I had forgotten what I sound like. Today was also the first time that I got to see my new smile without a huge piece of plastic in the way. The jury is still out. My nose doesn't exactly "smile" with the rest of my face. It also seems crooked to me, but the husband doesn't see it. Overall, the physical changes are small and probably unrecognizable to most people. We'll see after my "debut" tomorrow night.

BACK TO THE ORTHODONTIST
My orthodontist (who is WONDERFUL!) was quite excited to see me. I guess they don't get a lot of surgery patients up in Rhode Island. He determined that my teeth on the right side do not make contact. He is going to work to make my teeth touch again. This involves rubber bands from the top teeth to the bottom. Good times! He thinks that the braces will be off in about 6 months. That., of course, is right in time for us to move again, so hopefully my teeth move quickly. There was a LOT of opening and closing and stretching the jaw muscles today. I am little scared of how it will feel in the morning. He did take x-rays and new pictures to tweak the treatment plan. I got to see the x-rays for the first time since the surgery. (You may remember me mentioning that the hospital took x-rays a few hours after the surgery. Since I could barely stand up, I am not quite sure that I remember if I even saw them.) There is a lot of metal in my mouth. It's really neat though....3 screws on both sides on the bottom and it looks like screws and wires in almost a lattice on the top.

FOOD AFTER THE SPLINT
I had my heart set on a big, juicy cheeseburger sometime this week. It didn't have to be today, but I have really been looking forward to it. I have also been REALLY looking forward to a salad. BOTH of these are going to have to wait a few more weeks. I have been given the go ahead to chew, but only soft foods. My first meal after the splint came out was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I tore it into little pieces, chewed it once, and swallowed. It worked. Dinner was a bacon and cheese quiche. I kept the bacon a little rubbery and cut it really, really small. I couldn't eat the crunchy crust, but it worked and it was delicious. The most exciting addition to the diet was a glass of wine. (Great White from the Newport Vineyards) It was hard to drink with the splint in - drinking from a cup made a bit of a mess. I couldn't bring myself to drink wine from a straw, so tonight I celebrated a little!

WHAT NOW?
Now I just practice chewing and strengthening the muscles. The doctor said that the actual jaw bone still needs time to heal and to take the eating slowly. I think that I will post weekly for the next few weeks. Thanks for following this journey! I appreciate that you have taken the time to read my thoughts every day!

Day 36 - No News is Good News

Not much has changed in the past week. We are still at home and I am still healing. The swelling seems to be coming and going. Some days my right side is pretty swollen and other days it is fine. I am also getting feeling back in my face. The only hold out spots so far are on my chin. The splint is irritating, but nothing more than that. I want to eat food....real food that needs to be chewed up and swallowed.

I went back to choir rehearsal for the first time this week. I can't open my mouth enough to sing, but I can listen and stay on top of rehearsals. I am wondering when I will be able to open enough to sing. I hope it will be when the splint comes out, but I am starting to think that it might be a little longer than that.

Now I am just ready to get the splint out. It's a little frustrating more than anything. 12 days left!!

Day 28 - The End is in Sight

Went to the Rhode Island oral surgeon to get her on the same page since she will be taking out the splint. She did an entire work up in September in preparation to actually DO the surgery in November. In fact, she had already finished the model surgery, which she showed me. But I digress....she took out some lingering stitches (she said that they could take up to 3 months to dissolve and were just plaque traps), felt around a little bit, and scheduled the appointment to take out the splint. Unfortunately, she will be out of the office at exactly 6 weeks post surgery, so I have to wait until the following Monday. So, I really did give up food for Lent because by the time it comes out, the splint will have been in for 40 days. When it's been in for 6 weeks, what;s 5 more days?

In other news, I am able to smile a little bit today. When I looked in the mirror, I noticed that my mouth is actually in alignment!! From the middle of my nose, down through my lip, top jaw and bottom jaw....everything is in a straight line! It was very exciting to see that the surgery actually worked. This was the first time that I had seen the changes.

The biggest challenge to being home is figuring out what to do about homeschooling the big boys. Talking is still a challenge and reading out loud is even harder. We will probably get back into our routine on Monday. We started reading Harry Potter to get ready for our trip to Universal Studios in April. We started the first chapter tonight, which is 17 pages long. I could only get through 5 pages. Some sounds are also hard to make, which doesn't help me teach the boys to decode words. It's going to be an adventure next week.

And in case anyone was wondering, YES! It is possible to get tired of milkshakes.

Day 26 - Home Sweet Home

I am finally home. I am eternally grateful to my parents for letting us stay with them for 5 weeks. Yes, 5 weeks. It was nice to be able to recover knowing that there was someone to take care of the children. But, all good things must come to an end. Yesterday, we packed up the car and made the 12 hour trek back to Rhode Island. (We had 2 puking kids for the entire trip and now the husband has the bug, but that is another story for another day.)

Today was our first day back home. It was nothing like a typical day. Normally, I homeschool the big boys on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. It is still very tiring to talk and reading out loud makes for a lot of spit. Homeschooling is going to go on hold for another week (or two....or three). So, instead we decompressed from the drive (and the puking) and pretty much watched TV all day. I got the big boys' clothes put away and all of the downstairs stuff put away, but other than that, we sat around.

Travelling and eating was a bit of an adventure. I was not the best eater on the road.. I had a protein shake before I left Virginia and then I had a chocolate milkshake for lunch. It was not enough. I did even worse with the water. I did some driving and it was hard to drink out of the syringe. Now I am playing catch up with the hydration.

But, now we are home. I am going to see the Rhode Island oral surgeon tomorrow afternoon, so we'll see what she has to say then.

It's good to be home!!

Day 22 - Scratching the Itch

Have you ever had an itch that you just couldn't scratch? How about an itch that you scratch, but it doesn't make the itch go away? That's what is happening as my face is waking up. It's mostly on my nose, but it will happen on my chin too. The left side of my face has most of the feeling back. Still not true for the right side. So, my nose will start to itch. I will try to scratch it and I can't feel it. The itch doesn't go away. Mostly, I will the itches away. Sometimes it works!

The chin isn't usually itchy. It is more ripples of sensation, which are sometimes a little painful. It isn't enough to need Motrin, but I do notice it.

Luckily, all of this means that the feeling is coming back, which is very exciting!!

Day 20 - Cleared to Go Home!

Since not much has changed in the past few days, I haven't posted. I didn't think that my daily menus would be thrilling reading material.

I went for my three week check up today. Big Doc came in to check on me and said that everything looks perfect. He is very pleased with how things turned out. Unfortunately, Little Doc had her baby early and I haven't been able to see her. The doctor that took over my case is one of the ones that I started with a year ago. He has been so patient with answering all of my questions. They said I am past the window for complications and infection so I am cleared to go back to Rhode Island! They gave me my record and everything. They told me that if we head back this way (for a visit or to move back), to stop on in so they can check things out. (Bonus if we come back at the 3 month or 6 month mark!)

I've been more adventurous with my food choices in the past couple of days. Doing this makes my jaw tired. The doctor likened it to pulling a hamstring and then going to try and run a marathon. I am not chewing, but I am eating solid food. He said that I can open my mouth a little. He also said that I do anything but chew, so I do. I've had turkey this week and cupcakes....oh delicious cupcakes. The only thing that I have to watch out for are foods that scratch. I am trying to "eat" one meal a day. Any more than that my jaw gets really achy in the evenings. I've tried using the straw, but it's pretty uncomfortable and impossible at this point.

On the bright side, I can smile a little bit. The most exciting thing - I have feeling back on most of the right side of my face. My big boys are excited because I can feel it when they kiss me on the cheek! There is a little strip on my chin that is still tingly. The right side is still pretty tingly except for my top lip. It's getting there...it won't be long until I back to normal!

Now the wait begins for the braces to come off....

Day 17 - Must Have List

I did a LOT of googling to get ready for the surgery. I read so many blogs, they all started to run together. They were all over the board of what you HAD to have for recovery.
Here's what I ended up getting or bringing with me from Rhode Island:

• Carnation Instant Breakfast - Chocolate


• Jillian Michael's Whey Protein Powder - Vanilla


• Metamucil Powder


• Red Pillowcases


• Bike Bell


• White Board and Marker


• Small Legal Pads


• Markers


• Tissues


• Dental Wax


• Wii games


• Books for the Nook

Here's what I ended up REALLY needing:

• Carnation Instant Breakfast


• White Board and Marker (in the hospital only....my cheap pen ran out)


• Legal Pads and Markers (only about 3 days after I got home. I was talking after that)


• Tissues...LOTS of tissues.....double ply tisues


• Dental Wax


• Metamucil (especially at the beginning....less now)

Things that I didn't need at all:

• Bike bell (I rang it twice. Both times were because my 4 year olds wanted to be helpers.)


• Red Pillowcases (No nasty drool. Maybe I was just lucky!)


• Jillian Michaels Whey Protein (It was DISGUSTING! I took it back to Sam's)


• Wii games (I wasn't holed up in my room like I thought I would be.)

Things I wish I had from the beginning:

• HMR Protein Shakes - I like the vanilla ones.

So, the big "take home" points:

• Get a protein shake that you can eat every single day. You can live off of protein shakes for 6 weeks. You can't live off of them if they make you want to gag. Bonus points if you can add fruit to it.


• Figure out in advance what soups you can eat. I am picky-ish, as I have mentioned. I threw away a lot of soup in the first few days because they were too thick or smelled funny or looked wrong or whatever.


• Find a soup with calories. Cream soups are the best. Chicken broth goes through the tube very easily, but it doesn't stop the hunger. A creamy soup has some substance, which fills you up. (Two of my favorites - Chicken Pot Pie soup from Jason's Deli and Chicken and Dumplings "gravy" from Cracker Barrel.)


• If you don't have children to keep you occupied, you will need something to do. Daytime TV is pretty mind-numbing. A Wii game or a good book will help you pass the time.


• Get good tissues. You will need them.

Finally, the best advice I got from the doctor - Get up and move. The more you move, the better you feel. Take a walk. Go shopping. Get moving. When you are vertical, gravity helps with the swelling.