Day 50 Post Op

Hey all,

So I'm about 7 weeks post op.  Each day gets a little better.  I'm not longer wearing my rubber bands during the day.  I'm supposed to wear them at night but I gotta be honest I ran out of them.  I have weaker ones from my ortho that still do the job but I feel like its kind of contradictory to what he's asking me to do.  Plus he didn't give me nearly enough rubber bands to last like a full month.  Currently im have to put my thumb and forefinger into my mouth and kind of pry open my mouth and hold it for like 10 seconds a few times each day.  I have been pretty good about that.  The numbness has subsided quite a bit but its still there but I'm almost positive its all coming back which I'm pretty pumped about.  I can tell because there are no like super numb spots in any one area or side, its all coming back together.  The jaw stretches actually help cause when I get done I can feel more each time for a few seconds.  I feel like its what he said that as I start opening my mouth and chewing and stuff it would come back and it has.

Speaking of chewing, I'm basically eating now anything that isnt like rock hard or super chewey as long as it can fit into my mouth.  Since I haven't seen him in so long I don't even know if this is allowed but whatever its awesome.  I had a chicken quesidilla the other day and while it was still really sloppy and a little difficult I managed to get it all down and it was awesome.  Other foods are nachos, snacks like doritos, cheez its, salmon, pasta, veggies, etc.

My speech has also improved but it still inst where I think it will be once I can feel my bottom lip fully again.  I've seen a bunch of my friends who I haven't seen yet after surgery and there were quite a few who noticed the difference compared to before so that was cool.  Otherwise life is pretty normal.  I'm anxious to get back to my surgeon and get cleared for a normal dentist appointment and also an ortho appointment so I can get my first adjustment and hear his thoughts on the results and possibly how much longer he thinks I'll be in braces.  Oh and even though they don't really bother me I want to get these hooks off it just feels weird having them there sometimes pressed against my gums.  Not really in the mood for pics but they are probably pretty similar to last time except now I can open more.

I'll post again after my next meeting with the surgeon 5/14th.  I have a feeling it won't be that interesting or that anything will really going forward haha.  Just really for the readers I guess I'd wanna see what the final result looks like (before and after) and I'd want to know how much time until the braces came off after the actual surgery.

One last thing I forgot was I did get my bills, 2 different ones totaling about 1.9k.  One was for the anesthesia costs and the other was for the actual surgery.  Not bad at all I think.