Day 31 - 34 : Stiches dissolved! Braces timelapse

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 numbness has mostly gone on the outside at this point. The minor numbness I used to have near my eyes and on my upper cheeks is gone now, I'm back to 100% there. I still have some minor internal numbness around my chin area, but in a blind test with a friend who lightly feathered random spots on my chin, I could feel everything. It's not 100% yet, there are still partial parts under the skin that feel like random flesh instead of my chin. Inside my mouth, the lower jaw and cheeks are mostly 100% back at this point. The inside of my palate also has partial to full sensation. The upper teeth and gums are still mostly numb, with sensation on the right side coming back very slowly but surely.

Day 34. Swelling continues to not appear to reduce, but supposedly is.

My facial swelling feels like it's stayed about the same for the last few weeks, at this point it's mostly just my left jowl that is the most noticeable, causing an asymmetry in the face. There's puffiness on the cheeks, kind of like after recovering from a cold, and that will take time to go away.

In terms of jaw stretching, I can fit two big fingers in my mouth, and sometimes a little gap above the teeth as well! This means we're past the 2-finger mark and making our way to 3 fingers now. I read on another blog the goal is 2 fingers by 1 month, and 3 fingers by 2 months. I seem to be on track with that.

I did a little arts-n-craft woodworking projects the last few days, visited with some friends, and today I popped into the office for a little bit, even though I have another week left on leave. It was great to see my coworkers again, and on the whole everyone thought I looked pretty much exactly the same, if not thinner due to weight loss. This is great to hear, since I didn't do this surgery for any cosmetic benefit, so it sounds like any changes were subtle, since I'm the only one who can really tell.

On a side note, commuting to work has become incredibly fun thanks to the switch.

I wonder if Nintendo knew they were targeting a commuter crowd with their latest console.

On to Day 35.