Day 32: Soft Food Diet

Day 32 of Double Jaw Surgery

Even though it was such a struggle to eat those mashed potatoes and fried rice a couple days ago, I had to keep trying to eat soft food and not just stick to liquids. The day after, however, I did just eat thicker soups, but at least they were more substantial.

I started with my great breakfast shake again, which filled me up pretty well because of the oats. In fact, I couldn't even drink it all because it was a lot and since my diet has been so light, my tummy gets full quickly.

Then I treated myself to a relaxing pedicure and started reading this book that my former Regional President gifted us when we worked on a project together last year. I can't believe I'm just NOW reading it. I only got through a couple chapters but I'm intrigued.

The last couple weeks I've been craving some Chinese Congee, a.k.a. rice porridge. I've never made it myself and remember my mom making it as we grew up. It was hearty, filling, and warm. So I scoured Pinterest and Instagram for recipes because I wanted to make sure I did it right. You typically would cook it with chicken, which also provides the stock, but since I can't really chew on anything yet, I used chicken stock instead. Below is how I made it:


Servings: 4

4 Cups Chicken Stock
6 Cups Water
1 Cup Jasmine Rice
3 thick slices of fresh Ginger
White Pepper and Salt
Sesame Oil
Low Sodium Soy Sauce

1. Rinse rice 4-5x until water runs clear to wash away all the impurities and "flour"
2. Soak rice in water for 10-15 minutes in a bowl
3. Pour chicken stock and water into a heavy bottom pot large enough (rice will expand on top of water amount)
4. Pour water out of bowl and dump rice into pot and bring to boil at medium high heat
5. Cover and lower temp to medium low. Let simmer for 1 hour
6. Stir occasionally and you'll notice the rice to break up. Stir frequently the last 20-30 minutes to prevent it from burning on the bottom
7. Check the consistency, I like it medium thickness and turn off heat
8. Remove the ginger pieces, season with salt and white pepper and some sesame oil
9. Pour yourself a bowl of congee and add some soy sauce if you want and enjoy!

You can save the rest for the following couple days to reheat. It's super easy to eat with this jaw situation because you can still slurp it off of the spoon if you can't properly insert a spoon in your mouth yet. Once I can eat better and chew, I'd garnish it with some chopped green onions, poached egg, shredded chicken, and whatever else I feel like. You can play with it too!

I know I said this was filling, but I still was hungry... so I heated up some leftover Tomato Bisque and made some scrambled eggs, feeling extra ballsy. The combination was delicious, however eating the eggs was pretty tough. Even though they were scrambled, they still had a thick consistency and it was hard to slurp it off my spoon because my jaw still didn't open wide enough.

 I'll just wait to eat eggs for another week or so.. lol.

Day 30: Eating Struggles

Day 30 of Double Jaw Surgery

Since I can sort of open my mouth (still a little less than the width of my finger), I decided to try out some mashed potatoes and fried rice from my local grocery store's hot bar. I also bought some thicker soups (butternut squash, tomato soup, and chicken soup).

Uhhh... It looks easy to eat, but boy was it difficult!! It took me 30 minutes to eat that little box above! I did not realize how much my jaw had to move and tongue action I needed to even feed the utensil in my mouth and scoop the food off it. It was very uncomfortable and hurt a little because sticking your tongue out was really awkward. You don't realize how much goes into eating until you can't properly do so. I ended up just holding the spoon full of rice or mashed potatoes up to my lips and sucking it off it. I guess that means I'll keep practicing my jaw movements until I graduate to this level and stick to full liquids.

Day 29: Fruit Shake

Day 29 of Double Jaw Surgery

I'm nearing 30 days, at which point, I'll switch my posts to every 2 days or more since there's not much to report these days.

I've had an incredibly lazy morning and watched show after show lounging around. I was happy to finally make a fruit milkshake! I used to make a shake almost every morning because it was filling (with all the ingredients I put in mine) and it's fast.

Milkshake consisted of:
- Frozen Strawberries
- Frozen Blueberries
- Frozen Peaches
- Peanut Butter
- Honey
- Oats
- Milk

I blended it all up and it was delicious and a lot! Had no problem drinking it besides some of the oats getting stuck between my braces, nothing that a swig of water can't fix.

Opening Wider

Within just 3 days, I'm able to open my jaw bigger than Day 1 of my bands off. Yay. Just gotta continue practicing. 

Day 28: 4-WEEK UPDATE + Thanksgiving

Day 28 of Double Jaw Surgery

Here we are! We've made it to the 4-week mark! I can't believe it's already been a month and I'm so happy to be off the Ensure diet. Now that I have the bands off, I have to practice opening and closing my jaw so I can at least fit utensils into my mouth to have mashed potatoes, flaky fish, scrambled eggs, etc. Until then, I at least upgraded to thicker blended soups that won't get caught up anymore with the band barriers.

4-Week Comparison

Not depicted here, but my left side isn't as swollen anymore and everything seems to be falling into place well. Still numb on my left cheek and upper lip area, along with my entire upper gum line and portions of my nose. You can also definitely tell from my past photos and this one above how my weight is changing just by looking at my collar bone. Below is a comp of my body changes.

Facing Forward: Before/4Weeks After ...... Facing Right: Before/4 Weeks After

Everything has slimmed down.. my chest, waist, hips, booty, thighs, etc. I'm drowning in my clothes. Now that I'll consume more, my weight should stabilize and increase again.

Starting Weight: 142.3 lbs / 32.9% body fat
7 Days Later:  134.2 lbs / 32% body fat
14 Days Later: 132 lbs / 30.1% body fat
21 Days Later: 131.6 lbs / 30.7% body fat
28 Days Later: 130.8 lbs / 30.3% body fat
TOTAL LOSS: 11.5 lbs / 2.6% body fat

 
Happy Thanksgiving!
Since I already celebrated Thanksgiving with my mom last weekend and my dad and step mom are unfortunately too far for me to drive (without the risk of falling asleep at the wheel), I stayed home for the holiday. I was invited to spend Thanksgiving with a good, old friend and it was really great. His mom made delicious soup and I enjoyed 3 bowls full of it!! hahaha.

I am so thankful for my recovery and progress thus far and all my family and friends who have been so incredibly supportive. Throughout this journey, I've grown closer to some of my friends and also further from others. Thank you to all those who have helped me, visited me, checked in on me, provided for me! Big kisses!

Day 27: 4th Post-Op Appointment - BANDS OFF!

Day 27 of Double Jaw Surgery

I changed my 4th Post-Op appointment earlier to the day before Thanksgiving, instead of the day after Thanksgiving because I did not want to get caught up in the traffic and mess that is called Black Friday. The purpose of this visit was to hopefully get all the rubber bands off that held my jaw shut.

Waiting patiently to see what the verdict is.

With Bands / Without Bands / The amount I'm able to open

Bands That Make Me Dance.. Finally!
Dr. Baker examined me and then went ahead and removed all the bands! Yayyyy! He told me to open my jaw.. and I pretty much couldn't. I asked what type of jaw exercises or timeline expectation I should have to regain better mobility, but he didn't really give me any specific instructions besides just practicing to open and close my jaw. I read on other blogs of folks going through the same that they were told that they should be able to fit a stack of 3 fingers with the jaw fully open. So I'll use that to gauge my progress, one finger at a time.

Opening Struggle
As you can see in the above photo, the last photo depicts how much I can open my jaw without bands right after the appointment. It felt really tight, but no pain. In fact, I still talked as if my jaws were still shut because I was so used to it for 4 weeks! I can talk much clearer but def have a lisp because I have to learn how to talk again with my new jaw positions and where the tounge now hits to pronounce words. At least I can open my jaw enough now to have much thicker soups and smoothies. I'll practice opening and closing by singing, reading aloud/talking more, and just simply opening and closing. It's tough because I have to break up the scar tissue I think and my jaw has been immobile for 4 weeks.

Things that feel awkward:
- Sticking my tounge out (especially when I want to lick some soup off my lips)
- Rubbing my lips together (when I apply chapstick and want to spread it)
- Yawning (just slightly opening my jaw)

Pay It Forward
After that, I headed downtown and because it was right around the corner from the hospital to go furniture window shopping and get more interior decor inspiration. As I'm looking for a parking spot, I saw a guy enter his car parked on the street to leave. I'm waiting patiently with my blinker on and all of a sudden he jumps back out of the car and walks towards me. I roll down my window and he gives me his parking pass he paid for and says he only used 5 minutes of it. I thanked him! and looked at the pass and I still had 55 minutes left! I have to pay it forward this week! How nice of him!

Day 26: Cut Wire

Day 26 of Double Jaw Surgery

Today is very, very short and sweet. When the surgeon adjusted my upper jaw by breaking it into 3 pieces, he had to cut my wire on my braces so the pieces would move. The cut was made on my upper left corner near my canine and the end of it kept poking and catching the inside of my lip. Very annoying and sometimes painful. So I made an appointment at my ortho to get it clipped or shaved down.

When I arrived at the ortho office, everyone was so happy to see me :) My orthodontist, Dr. Ghatri, and all the assistants came over to check out my new face and were really happy for me. It was so nice to see their excitement. They ended up clipping the wire down to the surgical hook and shaved it down too. No more snagging!

Told ya this post was short and sweet.

Day 25: Social and Concert

Day 25 of Double Jaw Surgery

Shopping for Skinny Me
Today was a very active day! It's been getting pretty cold these days and in Game of Thrones fashion, Winter is coming! During this recovery process, I've lost a lot of weight, in addition to my past year weight loss, a lot of my clothes do not fit anymore. I haven't bought any proper clothes in a very long time.. the only things I've bought consistently are active wear for the gym, but let's be honest, as much as I want to wear active wear ALL THE TIME, it's just not that practical and civilized when you're going out. Other than active wear, I pretty much wear the same things at work due to our "uniforms"... which also consists of sneakers, choice polos and sweaters, and slacks. So again, I haven't bought any proper clothing for my new size in a very long time and it really was made evident to me when I put on my black wool coat today. 1. It's getting pretty raggid and 2. it's super baggy.

So I headed out to Burlington Coat Factory to go through a sea of coats. I figured I should be able to find something and find something, I did. I found 2 coats and debated which to get. They were both black, above the knee, and similar silhouette - despite that, I ended up getting both! I don't know why, especially since they were so similar, but I just thought I'd like to have a choice in the future.

I wasn't going to stop there though! What I really needed was a new Parka and decent leather jacket. I currently own both.. I completely drown in the Parka and the leather jacket isn't real leather and doesn't fit well. I headed to Madewell and already had been eyeing a parka there. I snatched it up and then came across a leather jacket they sold. It felt really great, sturdy, soft, and expensive. Boy, oh boy, was it expensive! The sales girl felt my dilemma and offered me 20% off to sweeten the deal. I couldn't say no. I am thrilled with my purchase.. It's probably one of my first grown woman purchases, besides my car - a real leather jacket to last a lifetime. What I loved most about it is that it didn't have any of the trendy frills on it - just a great cut and silhouette.

In the end, I purchased 4 coats/jackets! I may have a little buyer's remorse for those 2 similar coats but I'll sleep on it a few more nights haha.

Old Friends and Happy Hour
An old friend invited me and others out to Happy Hour at the Sugar Factory in DC. It was a lot of fun and we haven't seen each other in a couple years. Most of us danced together in a little crew for fun and camaraderie and all of us have a dance history, which is what brought us all together back then. Sugar Factory is a store filled with candy and sweet nothings. They offered alcoholic beverages that were nothing short of mesmerizing with their big goblets of colorful drinks we saw others order. Again, since my diet is sparse, I chose to have 1 drink and ordered a martini and asked the girl to halve the alcohol. Once I drank it all up, half the alcohol didn't matter because it definitely hit me. I immediately ordered a tall glass of water!

Impromptu Concert
When I looked at my calendar this morning, I had forgotten that I wanted to see a concert at a local venue in DC that night. I had not bought tickets for it, but after checking out the site, there were still plenty available. So I said, what the heck.. I'mma go and enjoy some live music of artists that I like listening to! It was ASTR, HOLYCHILD, and Ryn Weaver. I asked around to see if anyone wanted to join me, but no one really could because of work the next day or other obligation - it was Monday night after all. Then randomly, another friend hit me up and asked what I was up tonight and after letting him know and asking if he wanted to join me, he accepted. So we met up and headed out to the venue and had a great time. It was a pretty long day but I felt productive, saw some great friends and enjoyed live music. Can't ask for more. Less than a week until I'm back at work.

Day 24: Missing Singing

Day 24 of Double Jaw Surgery

It was a pretty calm Sunday today. Started with church, furniture shopping, and then met up with friends for a movie. Today, in particular, I realize how much I sang normally. You don't really notice that until you can't really do so with a shut jaw. For example, worship today in church was really great and I normally would have sang my little heart out because I really loved the songs; I sing each time I'm in the car and listen to my playlist; I sing in my apartment when I play music non-stop... Let me clarify - I like singing for ME.. not karaoke in front of people or on stage.

I spent the good afternoon of the day checking out some furniture stores to get some inspo. I've lived in my apartment for a little over a year and the walls continue to be bare. It was nice to shop around - didn't walk out with anything - but it definitely inspired me to spruce up my place.

The evening looked to be boring and I didn't feel like sitting at home alone. I reached out to a bunch of friends to see if they wanted to check out a new movie that released and 3 of them were free to hang! Yay! It was their first time seeing me physically since surgery and it was nice for them to notice the changes and be happy for me.

Day 23: Early Thanksgiving

Day 23 of Double Jaw Surgery

It's Saturday and I drove out of town to see my family to celebrate Thanksgiving early. It was so much fun to see my little sister, mom and grandma. My mom had several friends over for dinner too and some of their kids came along as well. Needless to say, it was a packed house! Since I don't have tons of energy still from the limited diet, I get exhausted quickly. This definitely had me at my limits because of all the screaming and running around of the kids, interaction with a big crowd, etc. I was really tired by 7PM and it had just started an hour and a half ago! lol.

Big (food) Tease
But let's talk about the food!! While I helped my family prepare some of the food, I smelled the goodness of the turkey, pies, etc. And I was alright. In fact, I knew I wasn't going to be able to eat anything, so I came prepared with a 6-pack ....of Ensure. lol! The entire day as we're preparing, I downed bottles of Ensure. My family felt so bad and kept saying how they're sorry. I assured them that there's nothing to be sorry about it and I'm pretty much used to it now.

Then we laid out the food on the table and that's when I really wished I could've had SOMETHING. The deviled eggs looked delish. I asked my sister if I could smell her plate of food real quick.... hahaha! So funny, but I survived.

The drive back home had to be quick. I already have a hard time staying awake on the road when I drive long distances on a highway (bad, I know), but paired with the dark and being exhausted, it was going to be tough. I blasted my Spotify playlists and responsibly switched lanes a lot to keep myself awake. Phew! I safely arrived home in the end :)

Day 22: 3rd Post-Op Appointment

Day 22 of Double Jaw Surgery

Some Bands Off
Yay!! My 2nd post op appointment was today and I was excited because I was told that I'd be able to get some of the bands off. Before that happened, one of Dr. Baker's doctors came in to check on me initially and I brought up 2 questions/concerns:

1. I notice my left side seems to be lower or more swollen than my right.
   A: You definitely have some swelling there. That can take anywhere from several weeks to several months for it to completely resolve. We typically tell our patients you don't know what your final results look like until 6 months to a year because you still have edema in the tissues from the big procedure you had. That can take a long time to resolve. So that's not a surprise, it's normal.
2. What were the stitches for on my lip? The final stitch dissolved last night and there are now little bumps were the stitches used to be.
   A: When your mouth is spread wide open, your skin tore a little on the lips. It was superficial and it didn't really need anything, but we put a suture there anyway. The bump is probably just scar tissue which will smooth out, but everything was on the skin and not deeper.

I also let him know that I now have a bit more sensation on my nose than the week prior, but my left cheek is still numb.

Then Dr. Baker came in to get some of my bands off! He pulled some off and placed them on a sheet on the table, clipped and removed 2 wires that held me closed too (which I didn't even know I had), but then put some of the bands back on.. So I was confused. Turns out he removed 3 rubbers bands and 2 wires and switched the pattern. He advised me to still not open and close.

The reason why the pattern is angled is because my jaw wasn't centered so the bands will pull it to my right more. (EDIT 2 days later: which it did. I guess from just slightly opening and closing and the angle of the bands, my jaw is now centered).

Wine Outing
A couple of my best friends from work asked me to join them at the winery after they got off work. I have nothing else to do these days and we always have fun together, so I said I'll be there. It took an hour to get there with the traffic in our area, but it was worth it! I opted for 1 glass of mulled wine because I don't have much in my stomach as you can imagine and it was my first alcoholic drink since surgery. It was so delicious and warm and it didn't affect me much but I stopped it at just 1 glass because I had to drive back too. We chatted it up, laughed, cursed, drank, and had a great time as we knew we would. Love these girls!

Day 21: 3-WEEK UPDATE

Day 21 of Double Jaw Surgery

Today marks the 3rd week since surgery day. Not much has changed from the week prior. My swelling is now a slow and steady progress and I heard it'll be like that for weeks and months.

3-Week Comparison

My face looks a little fuller on Day 21 at the top because I can smile a little bigger now. Otherwise, there really isn't much change from Day 14 and Day 21. I would like to point out though that my nose is now turned up a little. You can now see my nostrils when looking straight at me because when moving my upper jaw forward, it moved my cheeks and everything forward. It doesn't bother me. I'll see how it all settles months from now. I'm definitely in love with my profile though!!

Regarding my weight, I'm still losing weight but not as drastically anymore. The fact that I'm still going to be shut for another week, making it a total of 4 weeks, is a factor in more weight loss.

Starting Weight: 142.3 lbs / 32.9% body fat
7 Days Later:  134.2 lbs / 32% body fat
14 Days Later: 132 lbs / 30.1% body fat
21 Days Later: 131.6 lbs / 30.7% body fat
TOTAL LOSS: 10.7 lbs








Exercise Begins
I kept saying this past week that I'll start exercising but I never felt up to it because of my low energy.  Today, I said "Screw it! It's the 3 week mark, doc said it's fine to keep it light and low-impact, get your ass up and do some!" So I pulled out my exercise bands and did 3 sets of 15-20 of the following exercises:

• Bicep Curls
• Overhead Presses
• Bent Over Row
• Tricep Extensions
• Upright Rows
• Pulsing lunges
• Kickbacks
• Squats
• Elevated push ups
• I did more.. I just can't remember

Some were tougher than others and I could only do 15 reps because I could feel my face getting red (and I was breathing) and I didn't want to pop a blood vessel, lol! Joking aside, I felt pretty weak! Wow - what a difference 3 weeks on a non-substantial liquid diet and no activity does to you! I can't wait to get back to the level of strength I had before this and get back to my routine.

Tomorrow is my 3-week post-op appointment with Dr. Baker and I'm supposed to get some of my bands off. Cross my fingers! Let's hope tomorrow is the day we do that, because last week wasn't.

Day 20: More Friendly Visits

Day 20 of Double Jaw Surgery

Non-Elevated Sleep
Last night I slept without my elevated pillow. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I thought I would feel a lot of pressure on my head and I even slept sideways too. Maybe the numbness of my cheeks prevented me from feeling the pain, if there was any, haha. Had a pretty light sleep in general though and woke up early. So I went back to sleep until noon and felt refreshed. I'll probably go back to sleeping elevated though.. anything to help lower the remaining swollen areas.

Friendly Visits
I was pleasantly surprised when 2 of my favorite co-workers came to visit me today! We've definitely grown to be more than just co-workers over the years and are more of a pack. We all have such different backgrounds but love each other for who we are and always find a way to laugh and have a good time! I forgot to get a pic with Brandie because she had to head out sooner :(

Day 19: Dissolvable Stitches

Day 19 of Double Jaw Surgery

As the days pass, I have less and less to write about the recovery itself because the recovery process is now slow and steady and much of the same. I started the day early at 8AM (I've been sleeping in later and later until 11AM the last few days) and cleaned my apartment, laundry, and finally submitted my documents for my accident claim back in August. That was an accomplishment in itself because it took a lot of work and time to get all my ducks in a row.

Home Decor Shopping
I headed out to TJ Maxx and Nordstrom Rack to find a specific dry shampoo and facial cleaner. Sometimes they carry it, sometimes they don't. This time they did not, however, that did NOT stop me from perusing the aisles and spending money on a few things to spruce up the home. Guilty! I purchased a couple candles, a framed graphic saying "Hello Gorgeous", and a round wired basket. I still have to print a bunch of photos to insert into my empty frames.

I also got a gel manicure and my lip waxed. I told the esthetician to be careful when she presses down for obvi reasons. I waited until the 3rd week to get this done because I didn't want to wax too soon, because of the meds I was taken originally, and then a weakened immune system from not having proper nutrition and I didn't want an infection. You never know.. well it worked out great and I felt better haha. 

Stitches
This past week, my stitches along my upper gum line have been dissolving and coming out every other day when I brush my teeth and swish with mouthwash. When I lifted my upper lip to see, I was surprised how well it looked. It doesn't look like patchwork anymore and it seems to be healing very well. That entire area is still completely numb and I still cannot feel a thing there.

Day 18: Cruel Dreams

Day 18 of Double Jaw Surgery

Hello Monday! El Nino is causing quite the climate change around here and it was 68 degrees today! I took advantage of it and dressed up because I was tired of wearing sweats. I ran errands to finish submitting docs to insurance, visited one of my stores and said hi to all the staff, and went to the auto body shop to check something out on my car. It was really great seeing my coworkers and they were enthusiastic to see me and my new face lol. They all welcomed me back, only for me to say that I still have 2 more weeks to go before I'm back. It's the first time that I saw many people who've known me all at once and I was very appreciative of their observations and happiness for me. One of them said they wouldn't have even recognized me if I just walked by them elsewhere. That's crazy to me!

Day 18: I was quite tired of wearing lounge clothes and bumming around at home. Today, I said "Screw it, it's Monday and I'm gonna dress up!" With nowhere special to go. Hahaha. Ran errands on this gorgeous, warm day. Felt great. Thx @undeniablebtq for this lovely top :) #doublejawsurgery #jawsurgeryrecovery #orthognathicsurgery #maxillofacial #ootd

A photo posted by Tina Leu (@tinaleu) on Nov 16, 2015 at 2:59pm PST

Dreams of Yummy Food
Lately I've had dreams of steak, bacon, and more deliciousness, among also opening and closing my jaw.. that's just cruel. Cruel, I tell you! And it just hit me that I'll be held shut for 4 weeks! That's not normal. Normally it's about 2 weeks. I have to get really creative with my liquid food options and introduce better things into my diet than just Ensure. Also, I'm losing muscle mass and need more nutrition and protein.  

Day 17: Numbness

Day 17 of Double Jaw Surgery

I'm continue to experience numbness. It is mainly on my left cheek and nose, as indicated below in the blue overlay. When I asked my doc if I could start to blow my nose, he said to be careful, especially since I'm numb in that area and may not realize how rough I am.

Dancing Machine
I've been hit with the dance bug hard the last couple days and today I couldn't contain myself. After Justin Bieber dropped his album, Purpose, and then all the videos that followed the release, PURPOSE: The Movement, and Missy's comeback of WTF video, and an upcoming dance competition being held next month that I'll be attending, and and and and.... you get the idea. I just wanna dance!! I recorded myself dancing after my friend said I should, but then I changed my mind on posting it. lol! I can't wait to attend the dance competition to see all the awesome talent we have in this area!

Day 16: Operational Cost

Day 16 of Double Jaw Surgery

I received an informational letter in the mail today from the hospital outlining how much each part of the surgery cost. Holy moly! It was a lot. I never really knew how much it would cost because every single surgeon I've spoken to (6+) never gave me even a ballpark figure, I guess because they didn't want to misspeak and then be held against that figure if it differed. Well here it is below! However, it may vary for other people.

My personal deductible was $1100 and the splint cost $1388. I have yet to receive any additional bills. I originally had the option to get a genioplasty and get a chin but my surgeon ended up not recommending it and not necessary after analyzing my 3D photos. If I had gotten it done though, it would have been an additional $5000 or so out of pocket because that would've been a cosmetic procedure outside of the medical necessity of the jaw surgery.


Once this is all over and I'm back on a normal food diet, I will compile all my expenses of liquid diet foods, prep materials, etc. to see what the ultimate cost amounted to be.

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.