Day 6 post-op

Guys! Today has been a successful one (: My swelling has gone down, I slept great and I found wonderful things to eat! To top it all off I got my x-rays done, and I now have pictures of my new bite!

Take a look:

There she be! The thousand dollar smile. Sheesh!

You can see the 3 places where they screwed in nails to hold my jaw in place. Also, if you look at my right jaw (your left) there's a slight rigid bump before it goes into my chin. This is a good sign. NOW looking at the left side (your right) , you don't see any thing bumpy at all. The reason why is when they went to fracture my bone, it split lots lower to my chin than they wanted.

The good news is my body is handling it well. I already have sensation coming back even more today, a little less on my right side but its there! This is HUGE progress from what my Dr. said. :D

Here's another xray we took today:

Side profile! The best part about this xray is you can see how much swelling I have under my chin..bahahaha! Classic.

When I was at the office they also took out the stitches on the side of my face, and added some more rubber-bands. I'm scheduled to go back next Monday.

Last but not least, I wanted to share pictures of happy day 6. Here are those:

Not too bad, eh? (; Haha getting there!

So I've decided that since I'm pretty much to the week mark of surgery, I will start posting only on days with appointments, or if something crazy happens. I don't want to bore you guys, so I'll continue to post, but it will probably be only once a week. That way when you read you'll get detailed information rather than random stuff that isn't of much importance.

I'll post next Monday! Mayyyybe sooner if needed (:

-Jess

Day 5 (post-op)

Well, here I am..day 5! I can't believe I'm almost a week post-op. Today has been a great day (: I slept most of the day, and once again only woke up once during the night. Progress!

The only concern  I have is my arm pain. It's the same arm as my IV (right arm) but it seems to be something pretty serious because of how bad the pain is. It feels like a tendon or vein is pinched, and it KILLS. Not really a bruised feeling, more of an "out of place/torn" feeling. No good!

I go into see my surgeon tomorrow, so hopefully I'll get some good news on how my jaw is looking, and also an answer to my arm pain!

Here's my pictures from today :

Thanks for reading guys!
-Jess

Day 4 post-op

I'm about to go get my hair washed in the salon, so this post is going to be pretty short. I don't have much to say other than I've had lots of tingling and not lots of energy. It helps a lot if you can get yourself up and out of bed even for a minute or so.

I slept great last night, only woke up once! I actually ended up sleeping in until 1:30pm! It felt great, and the best part was even though I was a couple hours without meds I felt pretty great. I'm taking Motrin during the  day and lortab at night.

My diet still is simple: shakes (special K), diet coke and water. I don't have much of an appetite, but as of right now I am kind of in the mood for soup or something more like food.

My surgeon said today would most likely be the worst swelling wise..but I'm doing great so I am very happy with my recovery thus far! (:

Here are my pictures from today:

Also, check out my YouTube channel if you want to learn more about my recovery 

Click on this link: thejawsurgeryjourney

I'll post/video more tomorrow. Bye!

-Jess

Day 3 post-op

I. am. HUGE! Haha my swelling is crazy big, and I've been having tingles in my chin and lip all day. I slept pretty well last night, and woke up around 3 or 4 for more meds..then I slept for a good long time and woke up around 11am. Everything is kinda a blur, so its hard to say if that is completely accurate or not!

I got up and walked around a bit today, as well as went outside to get some fresh air. I ate out there, and my sister (8 years old) came out and gave me a super adorable get well letter that she made for me at school. That was definitely a highlight of my day, considering she has given me two extremely precious cards since I've been home.

I am currently drinking pureed chicken noodle soup. It's not to heavy on your stomach and the taste is excellent! Accompanying my soup, I'm drinking a diet coke. (: I also had about 2 shakes this morning, and only took Lora tab(however you spell that nasty tasting drug!)  once during the day. I am taking children's Motrin as much as I can in the day time so I'm not as sleepy.

There's not a whole lot you can do by yourself yet. You are always fighting to stay awake, at least I am, but its good because when you do need sleep, you fall into a deep sleep!

I've been taking my anti-biotics which are bubble gum flavored. YUMMO! The only drug I get excited to taste, and that one I take 3x a day. Mouthwash I usually do after I eat. *Special mouthwash for after surgery ONLY! Other mouth washes have the wrong stuff you need for after surgery, and could seriously cause problems* They recommend 2x a day, but I'm sure it wouldn't hurt to have a cleaner mouth..just don't swish too vigorously because of the stitches!

That's pretty much it for day 3, believe it or not. Something that I find very interesting is how fast time is going by. I swear I probably just stared off into space for most of the day, but I have no recollection because my meds make me feel out of it. That's something I wasn't aware of..how drugged up you are with time passing quickly.

Here's my day 3 photos from this afternoon!

Also, if you want more information on my surgery, check out my YouTube channel! Here's the link:

thejawsurgeryjourney channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYB4Siahc0_id92uwLD12Yw

I'll blog/make a vid again tomorrow. See ya then!
-Jess

Post-op day 2

before and after photo's of my teeth.

Well I wanted to start of by sharing that picture so you guys see the difference with my bite. Also, today hasn't been the best. Look how much more swollen I got!

This was even taken in the morning, and its gotten MUCH more swollen than this as the day has gone on.

Like I said, I didn't get much sleep last night because of having to pee, eat and get checked up on a lot for meds, vital signs, etc. I'm pretty groggy today.

I woke up and got some diet coke which helped my stomach not get nauseated. I also kept putting lots of aquaphor all over where my lips and chin are.

Dr. Harris (my surgeon) stopped by around 7 am to see how I was doing. I told him I felt my swelling was getting worse, and he said this is just the beginning! He said by about Saturday I will have reached my highest swelling point, then it will finally go down. He was happy with the results, and that I am already getting feeling back in my bottom lip and chin! :D

My Uncle Steve is the CEO of the hospital I stayed at, and he was able to come say hi after one of his meetings this morning. That was a wonderful surprise! He had the same surgery done to him before he served an LDS mission, but his jaw kept growing so ultimately he still has a slight under bite. Lucky for me I only have bands, he had to have his wired shut! He had to get going but it was so nice to talk to someone who understood where I was coming from!! Thank you, Uncle Steve!

Today its been harder to talk due to swelling, and a scratchy throat, but I am still doing pretty well. My mom came to the hospital around noon to pick me up and take me home. I could have left in the morning, but I wanted to take it slow because of my lack of sleep.

I got all dressed and my mom helped we walk up and down the hospital hall for some exercise after my IV was gone. I did quite well, but I did definitely have to use her support! (pic of IV below)

After we walked one time up and down the hall, the nurse helped wheel me out to our car so we could go home. I had AMAZING nurses the whole time I was there. The only complaint is it got pretty slow sometimes. I'd call the call button and I wouldn't have any help for almost 15 minutes sometimes. I know whey are super busy, but it did get a little hard to wait around just to have them help me get to the bathroom or something,

The drive home wasn't too bad. I had my mom help me walk up the stairs to my room. I got situated, used the bathroom again, then slept for about 3 hours. I woke up with swelling, achy bone pain and hunger..but my mom has been SO helpful! She's at the store right now getting me some shakes to keep down. I've only had vanilla protein shakes and diet coke thus far, but that's all that sounds good. I feel like I'll get sick trying something crazy right now.

It's currently 9 pm, and I took childs motrin about an hour ago..i'm still in some pain because of swelling. Swelling gets bad and starts to pull on my stitches on the outside of my face. My bottom lip is HUUGEE, and it is becoming harder and harder to talk without pain because of swelling purposes.

That's pretty much all I have to say about today. I still have to pee lots, I am tired but trying to stay awake during the day so I'll sleep best at night, and not wake up alone. My room feels SUPER hot, but I might just have a fever.

I'll let you guys know how tomorrow goes!
-Jess

 PS this is my picture I took right as I got situated here in my home (:

Lower jaw surgery (September 11, 2013)

Here's all about my lower jaw surgery, and how it went for me yesterday!

-Got to hospital around 11

-Did lab work

-Went to small room and got dressed in hospital gown (purple! Cute and heated!)

-IV put in

-Dr Harris came in around 1ish

-Anesthesiologist came in and talked to me

-Went to the bathroom

2 nurses got me all ready to go into operating room. They gave me an "I don't care" drug as they called it..haha also I took my contacts out and were asked a bunch of questions! Here's my pictures of before surgery, about to get my IV started and everything going!

Then they rolled me into surgery, switched me to the bed for surgery, then put the mask on.

My surgeons so sweet. He came up and said "you're going to do great" and squeezed my hand as he had a reassuring smile on his face.

They put the anesthesia mask on, told me to take deep breaths, and I remember the girl holding the mask on wasn't doing a very good job. It wasn't even on my face evenly, so I told her...and that is the last thing I remember before surgery.

After surgery I woke up in the operating room. *surgery was about 3 hours long. I got out around 5:15 ish. They switched me to the normal bed and wheeled me into recovery.

I didn't want to be in there for long at all, so I forced myself to wake up (it was so hard to do!) and I remember my nose was SO DRY.

I didn't think I could talk, but to my surprise I was able to communicate that to the nurse, and asked here when I could go to my room.

Pain was coming soon. Quickly. She told me she could either give me pain meds and keep me longer, or I could wait about 10 minutes and go to my room to recover and get my pain meds.

I wasn't in a ton of pain at the time, so it sounded like a great idea! I said yes please, and thank you.

I was once again trying to prove to them I was ready to go up to my room, so I just forced myself to keep my eyes open.

20 minutes passed, and I was beginning to be in much more pain. I told her, and she apologized and tried calling upstairs again.

The nurse who answered told her to call back AGAIN in 10 minutes. She was awesome luckily, and called the manager and told him what was going on. They sent a guy nurse over to my bed shortly after that phone call, and I was on my way upstairs.

I was so pleased with her so I said thank you several times, same with the guy who brought me upstairs.

The guy who wheeled my bed out first said he was going to be late to school to another nurse, and I said im so sorry! This is my fault!

He was so sweet and was determined to get me to my room. His other guy nurse friend came and took over for him, and he wished me luck before he left. The new guy who was wheeling my bed upstairs was super kind as well. We met up with my mom before we got on the elevator. I was so excited to see her, and I waved really big as I saw her blurred shadow(didn't have my contacts in) walking over to me with a proud smile on her face.

All three of us then proceeded into the elevator. The nurse warned me about the bumps the bed would go over, so I tried to prepare myself but it hurt a little because I was in lots of pain already.

I finally got into my room, and told them I SERIOUSLY need pain meds because I can feel everything and my bones were aching. She was doing the best she could to get my meds to me as quickly as possible, but it still took a while because she had to request it, put it in the computer, etc.

When I was waiting for her, the manager came in to say hi, and I told him I am in lots of pain, I haven't had any pain meds yet, and I need them asap! He tried his hardest too to help me get them.

Long story short, my mouth was hurting so bad I couldn't talk much, so I tried talking to my mom on my whiteboard to help me get stuff out of my bag(food, lip balm, etc) I almost lost it because it was so frustrating to not be able to communicate when I knew exactly where everything was.

I FINALLY got my pain meds about 35 to 40 minutes after I woke from surgery. Moral of the story is: im stubborn and have high pain tolerance so I tried to play it cool, but at the end of the day...dont do what I did! Stay in recovery. Get pain meds ASAP, and rest. They will bring you to your room soon enough, so don't rush it. Relax and recover.

Half the reason I really wanted out of recovery asap was because I knew it had been about 4 hours since I put a pad in my hospital underwhere (yes...im on my period AND recovering from surgery. Bad timing? I think yes!!)

So I wanted to come up and change it in my room, eat, and put lip balm on.

I didn't sleep at all during this whole day. Crazy right? Haha I have been fighting it all day long. I wanted to really try to get food in my system to avoid the nausea. And it worked!! I had some diet coke in my hair dye bottle (which works like a CHARM!) and a canned vanilla shake. It tasted AMAZING. My tongue has never been numb so I could taste the food and it was great.

I didn't get much food down when the nurse came in and gave me more pain meds. At this time I just got a new nurse, my first nurse had her shift end around 6pm.

I decided try to get to the bathroom and use a tampon because it was after surgery and I HATE pads, so I desperately wanted to change it.

I raised the bed y so I was sitting up straight, and I moved super slow. I stood up and I was feeling fine as I held onto the metal bars on the wall. I wasn't moving very fast because I didn't want to pass out or get nauseated. The nurse waited until I sat down on the toilet before she would let me be in there alone.

Well, as soon as I sat down, my head just immediately started to go through the blackout feeling. You know, that feeling where you stand up too fast and your eyesight starts to leave you..and your head feels super hot.

I said "Oh no. This isn't good..I feel like I might black out"

As soon as I said that my mom came in panicked and told me to stand up and to not worry about the tampon right now.

Like I said, im super stubborn and I said "chill! Just let me breathe for a second and I'll be fine. Then I can put the tampon in and not have to worry. "

My mom said "holy cow Jess you are so white."

The nurse left the room for a minute at that time.
I started to feel a little better so I stood up and decided to do the tampon later. That's when my mom and the nurse were calling my name several times. I could hear them, but I didn't care to respond because I was pretty much passed out. I kept going in and out of consciousness, and when I heard my mom calling my name over and over I was so annoyed haha so I was just like "stop mom. Im fine. I can here you, I just don't want to talk".

After that I slipped further into my blackout. My mom and the nurse said I was walking back with them to my bed, and my body just gave out. My tiny little mom was trying to hold me up, and as I blacked out my jaw went straight down into my neck so I cut off my breathing. My mom and the nurse tried frantically to wake me up. My mom pushed my head up and back, and that's when I gasped for air and woke up. When I was passed out it felt like I was just in an amazing good deep sleep. I couldn't hear a thing and I completely had no idea of what just happened. I woke up and they tot me I blacked out. I was like "really?! How long was I out!?". Before I asked the question, it took me a moment because I was so confused that my mom and the nurse were holding me up. I thought I was asleep in my bed because it felt like that, so it really freaked me out when I woke up because I was so confused.

I couldn't stop apologizing. I felt terrible! I scared my mom and the nurse half to death. Once again...moral of the story: don't be stubborn and forget the bathroom if you feel that you're anywhere near blacking out!

After I got back in bed safely, I was wide awake. I had some more food, kept applying lip balm, got some pictures of my new bite and video, and kinda cleaned my teeth a bit because they were bloody. Oh! That's another thing!

As I was in a ton of pain waiting for medicine, my right stitch on the outside of my face was dripping blood which made me even more pissed and grouchy because I completely forgot that they do one stitch on the outside of your face for surgery. So that didn't add to my pain, etc.

As for the rest of the day, I've just been doing great! Since I've received pain meds I feel great. I've felt ridiculously sleepy all day long, but once again I'm stubborn and wanted to stay awake to eat, talk and look at my mouth ( I brought a hand held mirror, which is absolutely AMAZING. bring one! You can watch yourself eat and you don't make a mess because you see what you're doing.)

Its currently the middle of the night, like around 3 am. My mom stayed until around 11 with me, then she went home. I was able to use the bathroom once right before she left, and again about an hour later without feeling faint or like I would blackout.

As I lay here, I actually need to pee again. /: the IV drip continues to keep you hydrated and makes you have to pee a lot! What sucks the most is the nurse has to come in, unhook you from several machines, then help you with your IV so you can make it into the bathroom without tugging on it. (ouch, that would hurt!) Then they tell you to call them again, and they help you over to the sink to wash your hands and connect back up in bed again. It's a long process!

I already feel tingling in my chin and lip..which means the nerves are coming back to life and they aren't damaged. This might still take a while for the nerves to come completely back, but I'm feeling hopeful!

Well, I really wanted to write all this down tonight so I could remember what it was like today. I'm glad I took the time, but I could really fall asleep in a split second. Goodnight world! (the nurses keep coming in to check on me, so its hard to sleep, but I'm going to try my best!) Day 2 here I come (:

Surgery is TOMORROW!

Where the heck did time go?! I can NOT believe I go in for surgery tomorrow. It is seriously crazy. I've been waiting for this surgery for so long, and now its here...and I don't even know what to do. I'm a little freaked out to be honest haha because I don't exactly know what I'm getting myself into. Yes, I've done my research, watched vlogs, read blogs..but it feels so surreal. I don't think it will become real until tomorrow morning.

I'll be going into the hospital for check-in at 10:45 am. I'm not completely sure when my surgery will start because they have a different surgeon performing surgery before me, and my surgeon shares a room with him..so it just depends.

Once I'm all prepped and ready to go, I'll be in surgery for about 3 hours. I've never been under for that long, so it's a little scary to think about! Not going to lie (: I am also on my freaking period, so I'm hoping that doesn't further complicate things. Grr (bad timing mother nature!)

I'll be staying at the hospital the night after surgery, and it depends on how well I'm doing before they will let me go the next day.

Tonight I'm supposed to not have anything(no water, mints, gum, nada!) after 11pm. :( The fun begins! Ha the liquid diet is going to be interesting. I went to an amazing Mexican restaurant with my mom for lunch as my "last supper" but...I cheated and got a subway to eat before 11:00 for dinner. Technically it wasn't my "last", but it was great food, and I won't have it for quite a while!

I'm almost done packing my hospital bag for surgery. I'm bringing a whiteboard so I can write when I wake up, my meds (crazy, right?), syringes, Gatorade, some type of shake (boost or ensure? Something!) entertainment, change of clothes...yada yada. You get the idea (:

The most exciting thing about tomorrow is I can roll out of bed like 10 minutes to because I don't need to be ready! Best. Thing. Ever. (: Haha it will be great. The only thing that sucks is I only have contacts, and I'll be wishing I had glasses to throw on for recovery. /:

That's about it..! I'll definitely post as soon as I feel up to it. I'm planning on bringing my computer to the hospital, so if I feel okay I'll make sure to let you know how it went! I'll continue to post. Wish me luck!!

-Jess