13 weeks after surgery... BRACES OFF!!

So today marks 13 weeks since I had double jaw surgery! I was going to post at the 12 week mark but, my surgeon said he wants my braces off at 13 weeks.... I just thought I may as well wait until now! 

My braces are off, finally! And it feels great!! It was weird when the orthodontist was taking them off, lots of pressure and a bit of pain... But it wasn't too bad. It just went through me, like nails down a chalk board.. 

It's weird looking at myself in the mirror.. Probably because I've had braces on for so long!! Here are some photos anyway. Before braces, before surgery and now :) 

                              AND FINALLY......

8 weeks post surgery!

I know I haven't really update this in a while but I thought that 8 weeks after surgery would be a good time to post something.

Everything is going really well and the 8 weeks have flown by! Most of my swelling has gone down now and I do feel a lot more normal and back to my old self. There is, however, a bit of swelling around my top lip and nose. I think I read somewhere that most, if not all, of the swelling will go down after 3 months. So only 4 more weeks to go!

I can now eat everything but I still have to be careful with hard and crunchy food. I have been able to go the the gym everyday in the past 4 weeks now and so, I didn't put back on the weight I lost which was in total around 9-10kg (1.5 stone).

In terms of appearance, I feel as though not much has really changed,  which is good. I think I was expecting something dramatic. However, occasionally people will say that I look really different - maybe I don't feel that way because I see myself everyday in the mirror. Even if I do look a lot different though, this was the way I was supposed to look because my jaws are perfectly aligned now hahhaa.

Placement has been going really well and I'm currently on my planning placement which is very interesting. The uni work load has increased though and it's getting to be quite stressful!!

Here are a few photos taken a few days ago:

4 weeks after surgery

So after starting placement on Monday I do feel a lot more tired, but that's probably because of the early morning! 

I'm not swollen anymore but my face is 'puffy'... Still in the same places but the feeling is coming back. 

My gym workouts have been more intense and I feel quite tired afterwards, but, my healing is coming on well and my trainer is amazing. 

I went to the orthodontist today and she has given me tighter elastics to wear at night so my mouth is even more closed (I can't even fit a straw through). She also said that I can start chewing!! Thank god! So when I was finished I called up my friend Rich and went for a mcdonalds :) I had a bigmac meal - very nice!! 

Everything is going well though. Here are some photos: 

                    McDonalds 😁

Excuse the nakedness - I'm off to sleep :)

3 weeks post surgery

Yesterday was 3 weeks after my surgery and the past week has gone quite well. 

On Tuesday I went out for a meal, seeing as I can't chew, finding something from the menu was quite difficult. Luckily we went to a Thai restaurant so I had noodles! It was quite nice. 

For the past two days I have been attempting to chew soft things like overcooked pasta, it felt really weird an I couldn't really do it properly - but at least I tried! 

I have another appointment next week to mark 1 month since surgery so I'm goin to ask about chewing and eating then. 

I'm still swollen around my nose and upper lip... Also my right cheek. 

I still don't have any feeling in the roof of my mouth or upper teeth so brushing my teeth is really weird and I'm still feeling tired. 

I start placement properly again on Monday so hopefully will be able to find some food that's soft enough there. I also have a new trainer at the gym who specialises in recovery, so it's all looking up! 

Weekly updates

Not much is really happening so I'm going to start doing updates every week. Probably on Thursdays since it was a Thursday when I had surgery. 

Day 10 - 15

In the past few days the swelling has gone down even more and I'm able to smile(ish) without any pain. I am eating soft foods but losing weight pretty quickly... I went to the gym on Wednesday (day 13) and weighed myself. Since surgery I've lost just over 13lbs(6kg) so it was like a pound a day.... My body is still healing and so, I still get tired easily, making my trip to the gym shorter than usual. 

On Tuesday I wet to see my orthodontist and she gave me very strong elastic bands to put around the hooks on my teeth to keep it closed... There's a picture  below.

 I'm going back into placement a week on Monday so hopefully I'll be able to talk properly by then... not much has happened really apart from the swelling and that I have loads of uni work to do. 

So here are some photos: 

Day 7 - 9

This is just a quick update really... 

Everything is going well and the swelling has gone down a tiny bit, I just wish it would go down around my nose because it looks really turnt up and I look like a pig hahaha! It doesn't hurt anymore when brushing my teeth and I've finally been able to shave!! 

Shaving with no feeling in your face is such a weird sensation (I only trimmed it with clippers). I don't think I'd want to use a blade on my face because I can't tell how hard or soft I'm pressing - it could end badly! 

Apart from everything going alright, I just want to eat food! I have moved on to solid food now but it's cut into tiny pieces and I can't chew it. Chewing is something that I never thought I'd miss... It's weird because chewing is something we take for granted and I can't wait to be able to chew again. 

I've also managed to have a haircut... My nose still bleeds every so often but not as bad as it was. I'm seeing my orthodontist again on Tuesday and I'm pretty sure that she's going to wire my mouth shut fully because last time she said that it's a bit too swollen to get the wires at the back of my mouth. 

Here are some more photos:)