Sam's Double Jaw Surgery

My chin is getting more and more liquid sensations, and now random pings of pain pop up randomly. It's actually a little obnoxious at times. I'm glad the mental nerve is regenerating now, at roughly 1-2 months in, ahead of schedule. From what I can glean online, full nerve sensation (if ever) can take 6-12 months to come back. The fact I'm feeling as much as I do now is a pretty clear sign I'll probably have full recovery. Before/After surgery comparison: Grey shirt is pre-surgery, scarf is at 7 weeks Just to be clear, if my nerve regrowth on my face were to stop today, I'd still be completely happy. There's no points with 0 sensation, and only the lower half of my chin has lets say 80% nerve sensation at this point, which makes shaving weird but otherwise is fine. As long as the inside-out sensation gets remapped correctly given time I've got no issues. My face swelling feels exactly the same. My bite is definitely connecting better nowadays. I was ...

The last two days I've started to feel the strangest sensations on the (previously) numb part of my chin. Whenever I drink cold water, it feels like the outside of my chin is wet! This gives me the uncomfortable sensation that water is seeping out from inside my mouth to the chin via osmosis. I have to check every so often to make sure that, no, my chin is not a permeable sponge this time. Work is going alright, still having trouble getting back into the right mindset, but each day it gets a bit easier. Home-made crab-cakes thanks to friends. We made crab-cakes yesterday, they were magnificent because not only were they delicious but they were also soft. Chewing has become a lot easier lately. I'm starting to be able to apply some force to do the actual act. I have pretty good lateral motion of the jaw (left-right), and my front teeth meet mostly equally. There's still a gap in the back right molars. My orthodontist feels the mid-line will probably get partially ...

Yesterday was my first day back at work! It went well, almost everybody said I looked exactly the same, except I'd lost some weight. This is great since this wasn't a cosmetic surgery, and that means that my swollen face is only noticeable to me and those who know me closely. 5-week (left) vs 6-week (right) Week 6, still have the lopsided swelling, but most people don't notice. I also got the go-ahead from my surgeon to do weightlifting and rowing again, so now I have no excuses to slack off. I can also chew on whatever I feel comfortable with, which is still at the lasagna stage, as my teeth and jaws are sore from all the elastics. Smile like you mean it I tend to eat ramen noodles a lot lately, using chicken bouillon to give some flavour to the soup. Mashed potato mixes are also great. I can eat most meats now, I just have to cut the pieces up a lot, and chewing gets tiring. Over the last 4 days, my face felt about the same, I've been eating more foo...

The orthodontist visit today was routine for checking how my bite was progressing (the last visit was even more boring). They were pleased with the progress on the left and front teeth, where it seems to be fitting at 100% already. The right side back teeth (molars) still have a larger gap, so in addition to the elastic there to help it move together, he removed the lower wire and replaced it with a thinner one. This allows for more movement of the lower teeth. The most exciting part about having the lower wires out was... the new wire didn't have any surgical hooks in it! Now, yes, they did add some wire hooks to the lower brackets itself, so that the box elastics could still be done to the teeth, but it is awesome to have removed the obnoxious hooks directly in the front and sides that used to be there from surgery. New lower wire and hooks. They continue to not worry about any cant. They felt pretty confident my teeth would be close to 100% by the time we're done wi...

Comparison photos! Also in terms of how I feel recovery-wise, here's how I felt last week (4-weeks) Energy was around 80%, I can do everything, I just like to complain about it. I still couldn't sleep side-ways comfortably (too much blood-pressure in face) Could walk at full speed up/down-hill, but when I got tired I got tired  like I needed to sit down or I'd black out. Leaning over to pick up things is doable, but only for short stints. No yoga, not that I do yoga. And now at 5 weeks Energy around 90%, I can do everything, I get mild headaches from too much exertion I am now able to lie sideways for an hour at a time without feeling too much pain, sleeping sideways is just barely uncomfortable enough that I don't do it right now. I can lean over for several minutes now without feeling a head-rush. I finally feel safe to do weight-lifting again, though I am supposed to wait for 6 weeks so I'll wait. Here's profile photos from before surgery an...

I just checked and it looks like all the visible parts of my stitches have finally dissolved. Over the last 2 weeks My lower stitches had dissolved (located at back of mouth where wisdom teeth were, and along the lower sides) quicker than my upper stitches (located above front teeth mostly). This is probably because they had more contact with saliva due to gravity. I'm pretty excited to see the upper stitches go because they were pretty painful pushing on the swollen skin, leaving an indent and causing swelling. I felt like now was a good time as any to make a timelapse video of my teeth showing how the braces moved the teeth around from the start all the way to jaw surgery and a little bit past. Once I finish my braces I'll post an updated video too. I'd say my most bruised/painful feeling spot is probably right above my lips on the outside, pushing there just feels like I'm ripping something. Now it just feels like it's bruised, so a nice step up. My nu...

Today marks 1 months since the surgery (30 days). Comparison photos time. Here's a link to all my Check-In posts here  also. Pre-Surgery (left) vs 1 Month Post-op (right) It sounds cliche since I've read it on several blogs, but I really am amazed at how my body has recovered in that time. My bite has finally started to come together, and I feel comfortable saying it's better than where it was before surgery now. Considering I still have several months of braces to go perfecting to bite, it's all gravy from now on. Sleeping last night with the elastics was a struggle. There was just a constant dull pain from the pulling on a few teeth in particular. This morning was much better. I had one scare, where as I was swishing mouthwash I sneezed automatically through my nose. I had a moment of sheer panic; Did I just release the blood valves to my untimely demise? After a few seconds, some snot came out. So it turns out I'm okay. Eating ramen for lunch has bee...

I've been wearing the elastics pretty consistently since my orthodontist appointment. My bite is definitely starting to form. Whereas before I was complaining about contact on one tooth, now I can complain about uneven contact on several teeth :D, a nice step forward. Comparing from about 2 weeks ago to now, my bite has closed by what seems like 1-2 mm. In fact the teeth are starting to overlap/touch the metal brackets. (top) 2 weeks post-op, (bottom) today, 4 weeks post-op. The teeth close further now. My left side teeth seem to be coming together nicely, but my right side is still lagging (left side in the photos). This is probably in part due to the slight cant to the teeth/jaw, and partly because of that one tooth that was holding up the line. When the orthodontist shaved it down a little that helped the teeth know whose boss and they have started to line up quickly. There is still a constant and annoying tooth and jaw pain from the elastics forcing my bite together in a...

Today marks 4 weeks post-op! I'm amazed at how quickly my jaw has sprung back. Just yesterday my friends and I made a giant amount of ramen and spent all night eating it. (left black shirt) 4 Weeks, (right gray shirt) Pre-surgery Before I continue talking about ramen, here's a comparison photo between today and before surgery now that my swelling has settled a bit (my cheeks, left in particular are still pretty swollen). My jawline looks pretty awesome now actually! Somehow it's a bit squarer than it used to be, which is probably due to swelling, but it's not an unwelcome change. I think a large part of why it's squarer is that before my jaw hung forward and down so much that my face was more ovaloid (ie. why the long face?). The lower lips and chin are positioned behind my upper lips now which is much more natural. An interesting byproduct of the new lower lip position is that sometimes I drool by mistake. Before surgery, I was so used to my lower lips and ...

A few friends and I were discussing how a recent article on a shooting in the city was bereft of details. The article said someone was found shot in the afternoon. I was bored enough to create a potential story for it. The guy who died was actually a drug kingpin in the middle of a critical deal to create a new product called Gold Leaf on the PCP market. His trademark came about from tiny white scar above his upper right temple in the shape of a leaf. He got that as a 6 yr-old child, when he was attacked by a rottweiler at the 'daycare', which was also a front by the local gang for laundering blood money raised from an underground dog fighting ring. The child grew up with an understandable but irrational hatred of rottweilers. So from that moment in daycare he promised himself that he would never let himself be hurt again. He studied hard in secret, training in self-defense and concocting powdered drugs. Using subterfuge and purposefully bad batches, he killed off all ...

These last two days my energy continues to return, I can walk at normal speeds now. My mouth is opening much wider thanks to the jaw exercises, at about 1.5 fingers now. This makes brushing much, much easier, since the toothbrush can fit inside the mouth fully, whereas before I had to kind of angle it in several places just to fit. This is still the baby toothbrush, the other one is still too big. An interesting aside with my new jaw position is how it changes a lot of things I used to take for granted. You know how when brushing you spit out what's in your mouth into the sink after you're done? The first time I tried doing that, my spit went in the wrong direction. My muscle memory for pursing my lips is completely off now. Luckily nobody saw the results of that mistake. Similarly, I was getting dinner with a visiting friend, and as we were discussing this, he asked if I could still whistle. I've been able to whistle before the surgery, the simple not super loud one wi...