Day 28: Soft food

Wow, it's been 4 weeks since surgery already! Things keep improving steadily and yesterday I was given the all-clear by my surgeon to start chewing soft foods such as scrambled eggs, pasta, and chopped meat with gravy. I should be thrilled about this (food tastes much better when you can chew it rather than suck and swallow!), but I'm finding it rather challenging to chew. My jaw muscles get sore quickly, and my jaw doesn't move side to side or front to back very well yet so only a limited up and down action is possible. It's also difficult to tell how hard I'm chewing because most of my teeth are numb, as well as sections of the inside of my lips. Last night at dinner I didn't realize I was chewing the inside of my bottom lip until a particularily large chomp, and now my lip is swollen and I have a blood blister. I also find that a lot of the food I chew ends up stuck in the brackets and between my teeth and cheeks where my tongue can't reach. My tongue seems so much shorter now than before surgery! I can't properly lick my teeth or lips, but it's probably because my jaw doesn't move well enough yet to allow full range of motion. It also may seem "shorter" now because my upper and lower jaws were moved forward so I can't stick my tongue out as far. Not a huge deal in the big scheme of things I suppose. :)

I only need to wear elastics for 12 hours per day now, from evening to morning. This is great news because I've been having soreness in my right jaw joint while wearing the elastics during the day. I told my surgeon about this and he said this was common and should improve quickly, but given my joint history I should take Advil or Motrin 3 times per day as an anti-inflammatory even if I don't necessarily need it for pain. Sounds good to me because my teeth tend to hurt after chewing too and this will definitely help!

My orthodontist checked my bite again yesterday without the splint and he said things couldn't look any better at this point! There are some teeth that need fine-tuning, but he said my bite looks great now and I had great surgical results. This made me so happy! I asked how many more months of braces were needed and he said he keeps everyone in braces for a minimum of 6 months after surgery. This is to make sure that things settle properly and are stable before the braces come off. He said I probably won't need to be in braces any longer than this, but given my joint history and the fact that there's some remodelling of the joints after surgery (especially lower jaw surgery) which can change your bite and can sometimes reinitiate joint degereration, he wants to make sure things are stable before debanding.

I've been having some bad acne in the last couple of weeks that's finally starting to clear up. My surgeon said that it's probably due to the steroid medication or modified diet (more carbs than usual), or both. The nurse at the hospital who gave me the steroid shot said that it lasts for about 6 weeks, so hopefully my skin is clear again within the next two weeks.

I still have some swelling in several areas of my face, but the most noticeable to me is the swelling on either side of my nose and in my upper lip which is still restricting lip closure and movement. I think lip mobility has definitely improved since starting the lip exercises, and now that I'm allowed to talk without elastics I think it'll improve even more quickly, but my surgeon said it could take several months before this swelling is completely gone. The bruising is finally gone from my neck, but I still have small stubborn yellow-green patches on either side of my chin. More patience is needed!

Lips relaxed

Lips forced closed