So, today is exactly 6 weeks post-op. That sounds crazy, but I guess time can't do anything but pass. Every day I'm able to eat a little more normally, although I'm still trying to be careful until I hit 8 weeks because that is what Dr. L wanted me to do. As far as chewing goes, I'm not having any problems. I don't think I could do anything chewy..but so far everything I've tried I've been able to eat fine. The only issue is that my range of motion is still limited. I can only open about as wide as one knuckle. I think this is slowly getting better, but I'm not pushing it. I know that my jaws are still healing so I'm not really worried about it right now.
Here are my big annoyances at this point (sorry all I do is complain on here, but this is the only place I can really vent, lol):
1. My face is still broken out with acne or rosacea or whatever this is. A few days ago my face got so irritated that it turned bright red as if I had a really bad sunburn. I looked like a clown :P I think this was a result of the medicine I've been putting on my face to try to get rid of the break outs. My skin got really itchy and irritated and then it started to peel. Very attractive. Thankfully, that only lasted a few days, and now my face is mostly back to its normal color. It is no longer peeling, and it doesn't feel as dry. However, it is STILL broken out. So, I scheduled an appointment with a dermatologist for Wednesday. I'm really hoping he gives me something more effective so I can finally get this stuff cleared up.
2. The area behind my front teeth that had been covered by the splint is still completely numb, and a little swollen. At least, I hope its still a little swollen, because I still have a lisp and I'm praying this is temporary. I'm trying not to get too worked up about it. I think my speech is getting better. I'm just terrified of ending up with a permanent lisp. I havent heard of this happening to anyone else. So, I'm hoping that I'm just worrying about nothing. I would think that my surgeon and orthodontist would have warned me that I could end up with a lisp. If it's still there by the time feeling comes back to this area then I'll get worried, but right now I'm really trying to not think about it.
3. I don't like my current face shape. There is one spot on the left side of my face right along my jaw line that sticks out like that one spot is still swollen. It looks really wierd. I'm hoping this is just residual swelling, and will even out soon. However, even without that I still feel like my face looks wierd. My smile looks off and my face just looks soo wide. I don't think I can really describe how I feel it looks, but it's not great :/ I know most people still feel wierd about their new look at this point so I'm just holding out for that happy place. I know 6 weeks is still too early to try to judge my "final" outcome.
Now, with all that said clearly my biggest issue is my lack of patience. All of these issues are (hopefully) temporary. So, I just have to wait it out. I'm trying to just focus on life and school and friends and put these things out of my head. It's just really hard when all I've been thinking about for the past 6 weeks is recovery progress. Sigh. Have I mentioned what a long process this is?
Anyway, I have an appointment with my orthodontist this week too. In fact, it's on Valentines Day..so Happy Valentines Day to me :) haha. I know it is probably going to be a painful adjustment, but I'm actually kind of looking forward to it because it means that progress is being made. I'm so ready to have the minor crookedness left over (and partially caused by) surgery to be fixed so I can get these things off my teeth :) I'll be at home for almost a week so while I'm there I'll take some pictures of both my face and my teeth to show how successful surgery was, because despite all my complaining surgery really was very successful. I really like the way my teeth look now. I'm just not sure about the rest yet, haha.
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