Day 4

Hi everyone,

I just got back from my appointment with the surgeon.  Everything went really well.  Since the resident doctor at the hospital told me to keep that gauze wrap on my head I wore it to the appointment.  All the staff thought it was pretty funny and said they never saw someone wear that into the office.  Apparently the staff at the hospital was new or something and they said I only really had to wear the gauze for like a day.  They also said I should have had my X-rays done at the hospital.  I specifically asked the resident doctor about that when I was there and he said they would just take them in the office so who knows who was right.

The X-rays were pretty awesome to see though as you can see below.  I cant believe how off my jaw was.  Two of the assistants at the surgeons office were also in a bit of shock and said it was so hard to see that there was anything wrong from the outside but that things look great now.  Also the resident doctor said I only had 2 screws put in on each side when in reality it was actually 3.

My surgeon seemed awfully pleased with his work and he put some new rubber bands in.  I explained that it still feels like my bottom jaw has to move to the left to properly have everything fit like it should and he said thats normal.  He said that my jaw has been biting down like that, off center, all this time so its going to take some orthodontics to fix it and train it to bite down on center.  He said I won't be visiting the ortho until another 1-2 months though.

All the good news I got was that I don't have to wear the guaze warp anymore, he said no more ice, and he said the swelling should begin to come down from here on.  He said I could shower and also shave but just to be careful around the stitches I have on the outside of my face.  He told me to do my best to try to get my toothbrush back as far as possible and do super light strokes but just to help to avoid any type of infection.  They told me to try not to open my mouth when I talk so much.  I asked them about the surgical hooks since it didn't seem like he ever used them.  He said he used them for the entire surgery to hold the jaw where it needs to be when he screws everything in so that was good to know.

I'm scheduled to go back in a week to get the stitches on the outside of my face out.  Can't wait to shower right now!

 

 

 

This was post-op. Look at how straight the brim of my nose got haha.

 

This was the day before surgery.  Pretty crazy the whole shape of my face changed!