day 31: i am a terrible jawgger

my rubberbands

I really suck at updating this thing, don't I? (Don't answer that.)

That's the thing about slowly transitioning back into real life, I guess. The changes aren't nearly as drastic as they are in the first couple of weeks post op and when everything starts to slowly get back to normal, nothing really seems worth an update anymore!

And I'm a lazy bum. I will readily own up to that.

I just got back from my first post-op visit to my orthodontist! Boy, 2 months away from that chair and I'd well and truly forgotten how... Quick my orthodontist was. I was in and out of there in 7 minutes.

Cliffnotes from our session:

• I really need to start training the muscles in my mouth. (Why does this all sound kind of sinister all of a sudden?) He emphasized that ideally I would be able to accommodate about 3 fingers in my mouth (sinister thoughts be gone) and now I'm only at about 1.5.
  
  
• He put me on rubberbands. "Loose ones", according to him. "Not so loose", according to me. On my upper and lower canines. I have to change em' out every day and remove them when I eat, thus the big bag of rubberbands.
  
  They're 'cranberry' sized. I always thought they'd be named after animals! I was looking forward to those. /childish.
  
  
• He also changed out the wire on my bottom teeth (with precision and staggering strength, might I add), the top ones will be switched out next sesh.
  
  
• Thus explains the escalating soreness in my bottom teeth. NOOO....
  
  
• Because my muscles aren't trained yet and my mouth can't open as wide as necessary, I walked out with scratches and some blood on my upper gums. I don't like this whole pain thing :(
  
  
• AND FINALLY. HE SAID I CAN EAT! CHEW! BITE! !!!!!!MASTICATE!!!!!!
  "like normal" - I QUOTE!!!
  Wow. Already?! I'm about 4.5 weeks post op and I thought I'd have a good 3-4 more before I could start chewing but not according to my orthodontist I guess. My teeth are too sore to do any real chewing right now, but I certainly cannot wait to try in a couple of days. (Who am I kidding. I'm sure I'll try (tortuously so) during lunch.
  

So that's where I'm at right now! My monthly visits to the orthodontist have resumed, and I see my surgeon in about a couple of weeks for some follow-up. Though I think most of the work from here on out will be back with my orthodontist and the annoying metal in my mouth. I definitely have not missed the soreness from braces......

day 24: breakfast of champions!

ASIAN CARROT CAKE

Delicious ♥
(actually it's pumpkin but details, details.)

day 21: i am a couch potato

Scratch that. I am a bed potato.

Given that I've been home and in my pajamas for 72 hours STRAIGHT (including new year's eve and new year's day ), I should probably have been updating this space a lot more frequently to let you guys know how this recovering jawsurg patient is doing.

But alas, I haven't. I have no good excuse except that I've come down with an infection as a result of my antibiotics. Without going into too much detail, suffice it to say I feel awful. Girls, this is a our gender only type of infection. Make of it what you will. Yes okay I'll stop now.

I told both my surgeon and my GP that this actually feels worse than recovering from major jaw surgery. How in the world do 75% of women (wiki tells me so) handle this so seemingly effortlessly? And some multiple times? How in the bejeebus????

On to the PSF:

• Pain: Remember how I said there was little to no pain?
  
  I lied. Clearly I was still under the wonderful lull of painkillers.
  
  It's not that it hurts per se but let's just say that once you're off painkillers, the soreness and tightness becomes that much more acute and you're plenty more aware of the strain in your face. Should I wuss out and pop an Aleve? I'm not in enough pain though...... We shall see.
  
  
• Swelling: Swelling (well, de-swelling) has definitely stagnated. I've been looking at the same puffy hamster face for the past week now. I've developed these midsized bump like things (wow, descriptive) on my left jawline. I don't actually know what they are but they're hard - they almost feel like bones but spherical. My surgeon says not to worry so I am not worrying. I am, however, looking forward to regaining full control of my facial muscles. Every time I smile, I reluctantly look very, very reluctant. Zzz.
  
  
• Food: This is one area where I've been A+++. I have been eating like a fiend. I just had fishball noodle soup for breakfast and over the course of the past 3 days I have eaten half a durian cake (like THE WHOLE CAKE), mee siam and popiah vege. The weight loss part of my recovery has definitely come to a sugar filled end.

Some photos:

my family had teppanyaki for new year's eve lunch (HEARTLESS FOLKS)



.. what I had -_-



dinner at din tai fung with my girlfriends


dumplings, meet scissors!
food, meet mouth!

day 19: jagged little pills

Sent via BlackBerry from SingTel!

day 17: is that real food i see?

"That's all for today dear! If you feel your bite moving, hurry up and call me!"

"UM DOCTOR IN THAT CASE PLEASE KEEP THE RUBBER BANDS ON PLEASE PLEASE"

"No no it's fine. I shall let you be free for a week. See you next week!"

Well alrighty then! I guess I'm free from the dreaded rubber bands for one week! My surgeon reminded me that I'll have plenty of banding action once I go back to my orthodontist so I shouldn't miss it too much right now. I'm most definitely going to take his word for it. I am, of course, freaking frightened that my bite is going to shift in this one unfortunate week and yes I realize that there are plates holding it all together but still, y'know? Please remind me to rein in my raucous laughter this week.

It's kind of surreal that I've moved on to 'real' food just 2.5 weeks post surgery. Of course I'm not chewing anything, but most food can be easily broken down to swallow-friendly morsels though, right? Just look at my lunch yesterday:

double boiled soup/ ice cream!

RICE! REAL, NON-BLENDED, WHOLE GRAINS OF RICE! And 2 bowls of double boiled soup: pear and apple with pork rib + sea cucumber with pork rib. Mmmmm. I put some rice in my spoon, added some soup, some shreds of pork and/or apple and voila - a very delicious spoon full of real food. I followed that up with a large cup of green tea and royal chocolate ice cream from haato. Who said recovering jawsurg patients had to go hungry?

In preparation for recovery, I bought an extra large tin of chocolate flavored Ensure milk and tin after tin of canned soup. Looks like I'm not going to be needing them anymore....

day 15: christmas aftermath

my steamed egg + blended porridge vs.
X'MAS EVE POPIAH FEAST

And trust me, Christmas dinner was even better worse.

I was surrounded by an incredibly sumptuous looking spread of food that ran the gamut from roast beef to sliced ham to sushi to lobster salad to chocolate cupcakes... Thankfully, I ate at home before heading out but that certainly didn't stop the green lasers from shooting out of my eyes nor my greedy self from making a mess because I was stuffing smooshed morsels of chocolate cupcake into my mouth. Whoops.

The good news is my new mug has received plenty of positive reviews from my family and extended family! It's a bit unnerving because HEY WAS I THAT AWFUL BEFORE but compliments are always nice to hear. I know a big part of it is because they'd heard that I legit looked like a ginormous potato so when I arrived looking like nothing more than a chubby hamster they were pleasantly surprised.

On to the bullet points:

• Pain: Very little left! I'm done with my painkillers. Remember how I was only given 6 to tide me over? I asked for 3 more (wuss am I) and after I was done with the 3 extra I took an Aleve the next day because.. Well.. I don't know. I was scared I guess. But I've since stopped with the painkillers altogether!
  
  Most of what I feel now is tightness in the mouth/nose area and even then it's the strongest when I first wake up. Other than that, totally bearable schtuff.
  
  
• Swelling: I've been looking more and more like a human these days, but my cheeks are still 100% chipmunk. My philtrum (remember that) is still swollen and there are a range of emotions that I can't quite master. For one, I cannot pout. Nor can I smile naturally. And I most certainly cannot purse my lips. WORK IN PROGRESS!
  
  
• Food: Still chowing down on mush. Christmas dinner I had lotus root soup (just the soup, of course), steamed egg and blended porridge. See? Recovering jawsurg patients can have more than just liquids! *awkward fist pump?*
  
  Yesterday though, in a bid to eat and buy some normal food, I peeled some shreds of fried Shihlin chicken (with kimchi powder!) and morsels of a sugar bun from Breadtalk and stuffed em' in my mouth. Slowly, but surely. It may not have been a pretty sight, the roof of my mouth was throwing a fit by the time I "finished" (I had the grand total of 2 pieces of cut up fried chicken and half of the bun.) but the flavor explosion in my mouth was worth it. Most definitely worth it.
  

Replies

Mai: My syringes are just boring and made of clear plastic! And you're right, this is the best Christmas gift we can ask for. We just need to tough out the next 8 weeks!! Oh I'm not actually totally banded up anymore! Just 2 rubberbands on my upper and lower canines :) But I can only open my mouth a teensy bit...

Cindy: Hi Cindy! Don't worry about the extractions or braces! Extractions are totally bearable (painkillers, cotton wads and ice cream will be your bff) and braces only really hurt you a few days out of a month. Don't worry!! ^^

day 12: merry xmas everybunny

Merry Christmas everybody!
Tis' the season to feast on mush ♥

(regular posting resumes tomorrow.
let's just enjoy Christmas today!)

day 10: home sweet home

make lip balm your bff

Getting jaw surgery done a couple of weeks before Christmas probably sounds like a really silly idea to a lot of people, and can I just put this out there - I agree. Especially since Christmas is a huge deal in my family and we really do celebrate and by that I mean we feast. By good golly do we ever.

Sigh.

I didn't specifically choose to get it done so close to the holiday season (not that much of a masochist ya know), but upon finding out I was ready for surgery I did choose to have it done as soon as possible. Graham mentioned in one of his posts that if you do intend to go through this whole process, you're bound to miss a holiday event or two. Be it Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year, Chinese New Year, Easter, Your Birthday....... You see where I'm going with this. So Christmas is the holiday I have to skip out on this year!

I came to terms with it by telling myself, and I do genuinely believe this, IT'S JUST ONE CHRISTMAS. One! One of many, many, many more to come (optimistically speaking of course). What's missing my 23rd Christmas when I have my 24th and beyond to look forward to? What's a mush diet for just 8 weeks when I have many, many, many more weeks in my life to eat any dang thing I want? Is it not a worthy price to pay for a perfect bite?

It's a resounding "HELL YES!!" in my head. Oh don't get me wrong - I'm sure I'll whine all of tomorrow night when I see my family members chowing down (this year, we're having homemade popiah so please excuse me while I run to a corner and sob) but I know that in time to come, I'll be devouring popiah. With my corrected bite. Happily.

Food that made me feel less like a patient and more like a real person today:

• Snack: Ice cream in previous post;
• Snack: Custard in Beard Papa cream puff;
• Snack; Berry yogurt;
  
• Dinner: Pumpkin soup & Steamed egg with shredded chicken

Honestly, a positive attitude is imperative to push through the recovery period. Time just crawls by that much slower when we're being grouchy and upset and cheesing off our caretakers with our attitude. Mm freakin hmm.
Holiday Season, I'M READY FOR YOU!

i scream for ice cream

Eating häagen-dazs cookies & cream ice cream with a teaspoon. I am a very happy camper.

day 9: work work fashion baby

With Christmas just a turn away, I had to leave my cocoon and go Christmas shopping. Even though I still look like I'm partaking in a never ending round of Chubby Bunny.

WHAT'S UP, YELLOW NECK?
(i didn't actually go out with the sunglasses.
i know i'm not a superstar :D)

So I graced Orchard Road with my high fashion ensemble. The pièce de résistance? Why my purple surgical face mask, of course! My attempt to shield the world from my face and vice versa totally kind of backfired though. I ended up being short of breath from the combination of all that walking after a week of total inactivity and breathing behind my face mask. I was so grouchy at the end of the day that I bought a cup of mashed potatoes and strawberry cheesecake ben & jerry's ice cream from 7/11 before I made my way home. You know, as a treat.

Really though, cheap mashed potatoes are the bomb. You know how fancy mashed potatoes have all those delicious chunky bits of potato and butter and bacon bits or whatever? Yeah well we can't have any of that good stuff right now so cheap, watery mashed potatoes are just the easiest to ingest. And they're yummy!!! To me at least since I'm not much of a food connoisseur.

I went out again yesterday sans face mask and it wasn't half bad! I could breathe properly for one. I did consciously try to avoid looking into mirrors because I'm still not used to my face just yet :\

Observations from Day 9:

• Pain: I really don't feel very much pain per se anymore except for the constant tightness in my (excuse this) snout area. Heh. But really the most of the soreness and tightness is concentrated in the middle of my face like my nose, the cheek area flanking my nose and my philtrum. Phillltrum. I finally googled the proper medical term for 'area above lip'. Philtrum. Learn something new every day don't we? :D
  
  I am feeling a bit of discomfort in my bottom right canine (way to be precise) because of the positions of my rubberbands and how they pull but I'm pretty sure I can deal with it. Cha.
  
  
• Numbness: I think I've been really lucky with this whole numbness thing. I've read stories from other jawsurg patients that have felt numbness even after a year post-op. But I think I've regained almost 100% of the feeling in my face! The chin area was set to be the most challenging but I can feel my entire chin no problem, though it's extra delicate now. I have a delicate chin. G that sounds so prissy. But I feel pretty blessed in this respect. My nose, cheeks and lips are definitely very tingly (As my doctor puts it - "it's like getting pins and needles right?") but I can feel them I can feel them. Scratching itches on my face still feels awfully unsatisfactory though.
  
  
• Swelling: Still chubs kebubs. Slowly but surely deflating every day!
  
  
• Food: I've moved on to mush! The liquid to mush transation happened so much faster than I thought it would (I mean, seriously? I'm only 9 days post-op! WOOO!!!) and I'm seriously super grateful for it. I've been eating blended porridge and mashed potatoes for pretty much every meal. Like I mentioned previously, my surgeons gave the okay for mushy log cake (YAY! Never thought I'd yay that, but YAY!) and pretty much whatever I can mush up without having to use too much strength from my teeth.
  
  SAY WHUURRT? THE POSSIBILITIES ARE ENDLESS MY SIEGE!!! Let's see what I can come up with during this cruel holiday season filled with food. Yum.
  
  (Side note: I still look like a total trainwreck when I eat. Food. EVERYWHERE.)
  

I just got back from my post-op daily visit with my surgeons, and next see them a week from today. I can't wait to hit the double digits in post-op days starting tomorrow. Off I go to brainstorm to see what delish holiday food I can mash up......