Day 15: 2nd Post-Op Appointment

Day 15 of Double Jaw Surgery

Today is Friday the 13th, as Facebook keeps reminding me. It's also the day of my 2-week post-op appointment I've been waiting for for so long!

What's up, Doc?
I sat patiently in the waiting room for a half hour for my name to be called. "Tina?" "YES!" I was ushered into one of the rooms and Dr. Baker examined the outside of my face and then removed my surgical tape. By the way, the 2 incisions on my lower jaw were to access my jaw to make the cuts. They made the cuts from the inside but they also have to access from the outside to help make the osteotomys.

I asked 3 questions:

1. When can I stop sleeping elevated?
   A: I can stop now since it's the 2-week mark. If I wake up swollen, then elevate again. Generally, I should be good by now though.
2. When can I start exercising and to what extent?
   A: Every surgeon's protocol is different, but no vigerious activity for 6 weeks at least. Light cardio 3-4 weeks. In my case, give it another week. I can use light weights, stairmaster, leg presses, squats, etc. Just don't want me to cough or do something where I'd want to open my mouth.
3. When can I start blowing my nose?
   A: Probably safe to start now. Everything communicates, the nasal cavity and the mouth where they made the incisions, ...sort of collects fluid and the blood vessels are disrupted during surgery. So if I blow my nose too early, I could cause the blood vessels to blow and then I could end up bleeding. They just don't want me to bleed underneath my skin where it has nowhere to go other than swell up and cause a hematoma. The clear mucus is normal. Just be careful/gentle and not too aggressive. 
4. When should I see Ortho?
   A: Probably 4-5 weeks after getting the bands off and I can open and close a bit.

Bands (off) that make me dance.. of joy?
Then the most awaited decision! Am I getting some of the bands off?? Unfortunately no. He said next week we'll take half off and then we'll take off the rest of the bands in 2 weeks.
Again, normally you put a splint in and all the teeth line up and you just wire the splint to the upper teeth and allow the jaw to open and close. When he did that, I had a little bit of an open bite. My ortho probably could have closed it overtime but it would have taken a decent amount of time. So what they did was take the splint out and locked my upper jaw down to my lower jaw, which will make it much better for me in the long run. But because they did that they weren't able to have that extra level of stability with the splint that would have held the teeth edges together. So they're using the rubber bands instead to do the same thing. Patience, patience.

Pre-appt happiness, anxious for bands, sad they're staying on. Tape is off though!

Textbook Fame
What was cool is that Dr. Baker asked my permission to take my photos (with my eyes blurred out) and use it for a chapter in a textbook. Apparently he has to do a chapter on technique and the pictures would be to match my physical face with the computer modeling of my x-rays. I gladly obliged.

Grocery Trip and Thin Out Soups
I was really looking forward to less bands to allow thicker foods/fluids to enter my mouth. Nevertheless, I was ready to have some thicker soups. I headed to the grocery store to buy myself tons of nutritious juices and went home to thin out one of the soups I bought last week, butternut squash. I combined and blended organic heavy whipping cream and the the soup in the Nutribullet, warmed it up, and then enjoyed it! It was still a little thick, but I managed to drink it all, despite the tight spaces.

Natural Surprise!
I got home to a big tall box from 1-800-Flowers and was so excited and surprised :) After what seemed forever to unbox it, it was a nice tall Money Tree plant. The name makes me chuckle. It was really beautiful and from what I read, it doesn't take a lot to care for and indoor conditions are ideal for it. Phew! Good, because I'm not very good at plants. In fact, I have dead twigs and branches in my place for decor. Oh, and who were they from, you ask? My team at work!! The card wished me well on my recovery and that they miss me.  I thought it was so sweet of them to get me a plant of this magnitude! So cool. I love my team and I miss them.