I can't believe it has been over a ear since I went through double jaw surgery! I'm actually late in posting this update, because I have been pretty pathetic about keeping up with this blog after the first couple of months past surgery. However, I know that when I was reading all the blogs in preparation for my surgery I absolutely loved seeing the one year updates because it showed tat jaw surgery can actually be survived :)
So, here I am to say that at one year after jaw surgery I am still here and enjoying life. Jaw surgery is certainly not something that I think about every day or even every week anymore. I do still have jaw pain sometimes. The left side of my jaw gets sore if I do too much chewing or if I get stressed (I tend to tense up my jaw and if I do that for too long my jaw gets sore). Overall though, I am very happy that I went through with this surgery. I look at pictures and videos of myself from before surgery and I don't recognize that girl! To remind you, she looked like this:
That picture is from my college graduation about 7 months before surgery. I have no chin! Now I look like this:
Look at that chin :) It is insane to me reading back over my posts on here at what an incredible journey this surgery put me through. I'm not going to lie, it was extremely tough at times. If you are about to go through this surgery you will probably think you're dying for the first week after surgery. Things do get better though. Progress is slow, but you will get there. I no longer have an of the issues that I spent so much time complaining about on here. My swelling hug around for a long time, and the skin issues took the absolute longest to get under control, but it was always manageable. I think the most important thing to keep in mind in recovering from this surgery is to not spend too much time worrying about how you look. You never look as bad as you think. It will take a while to get used to your new look and your new bite. You might have people not recognize you immediately and you might have to teach yourself how to eat and smile with your new jaws. In the end though you will be really happy with the results! Eating is so much easier these days. It's astonishing really, because I remember what it was like before and I didn't realize back then that I ate weird. I can actually bite into things now! When I smile people don't see all the way to the back of my throat! Haha, it's great and I don't think I can fully explain how great all the changes have been.
I have gotten several questions about the scars but they really don't bother me much. They are also still healing. I've actually noticed recently that they are much less noticeable than the were 6 months ago. Also, I have never had anyone mention them to me. Usually when people ask about my surgery and whether I have scars I have to point my scars out to them even if my hair is pulled back. So, I've gotten to a point where I don't care much about them, and I'm sure that one day I won't even notice them anymore :)
So, to summarize, life a year after surgery is good :) I can look back and say I'm glad I did this, and that is a place I was worried I wouldn't get to. So Hurray!
