Day 30 and pulled a stitch out

Boring day of laying around at home.  Zings in my lower lip and chin.  No ichy feeling today.  Only fun I had today was panic from accidentally pulling one of my stitches out.  It was soooo gross.  I ate shredded chicken with sauce on it this afternoon and I was looking in my mouth awhile after I brushed my teeth because I felt like something was stuck by my back left lower molar.  When I got a good look I saw what I thought was a string of the chicken.  I found out it wasn't.  Ugh.  I was trying to get it with my toothbrush and it wouldn't come out.  It looked like it was stuck between my back lower molars.  I couldn't grab it with my fingers so I got my tweezers out.  Ugh.  I got it with the tweezers and gently tried to pull it out.  I felt a light tug on my cheek as it was slowly being pulled out of my cheek.  Ugh.  I felt it tug, tug, tug as it was coming out of three different stitched spots.  Then I realized what it really was and felt sick.  I was still holding it with the tweezers and the string was still attached to my cheek when I yelled for my daughter to get scissors.  When she came I asked her to carefully hold the tweezers and I cut the string as close to my tooth as I could without pulling it out more.  I called my surgeon and he said it was fine.  Don't want to do that again.  I won't be pulling anything out with tweezers again.

My upper lip and the area above it is still more swollen than it looks.  This is what happened when I lifted my lip up to look at my gums at the stitches that are right in the middle.  See the line that is left from lifting my lip?

 

Day 29

Woke up super early again and got the kids ready and went to my mom's really early.  We had a nice, relaxing day while she was at work.  When she got home in the afternoon we went to a store that had my current favorite juices on sale, Kern's.  They had so many more flavors than Walmart and I was so excited.  Pineapple Orange Passionfruit, Pineapple Banana, Strawberry and so many more.  They are so good.  Then we took the kids to get their hair cut.  Again I felt weird being in the salon.  Didn't bring my scarf with me this time so they got to see all my fun going on with my face.  After my mom took me to Baskin Robbins and I got a banana split.  I really, really want to eat a banana and I was hoping if I mashed it enough I would be able to.  The ice cream and different syrups were unbelieabley good.  After I ate most of the ice cream I mashed the bananas up super good and was able to eat some of them with the rest of the melted ice cream but since I couldn't chew I didn't get to taste the bananas and it wasn't what I was hoping it would be.

My stitches are officially falling out.  I thought I might have had some fall out over the past few days but I wasn't sure.  Today I totally got some on my toothbrush when I was brushing my teeth.  There was at least 6 in the sink by the time I was done.  Then I went back to the front room and I felt like something was stuck on the roof of my mouth.  I found a couple more and it seemed to be fine.  They didn't hurt to come out but I really hope I don't swallow them.  Gross.  When I lift my upper lip up to look at the 2 stitches I saw before I could see they were tied to each other and their are a couple more sticking out now in the same spot.  Fun stuff. 

 Ichy feeling in my lower lip and chin today again.  Lots more today.  Again fell asleep super early when I got home and had a great night's sleep. 

Day 28

Slept awesome again.  I guess this surgery is making me a morning person.  For years I loved to stay up until 2am.  I have been falling asleep super early every night this week and waking up ready for my day at 3 or 4am.  Haven't decided if I prefer to stay up later or wake up early. 

Today is the most normal I have felt since surgery.  I cooked for the first time in almost a month.  I made them french toast and eggs.  It felt so good to be doing my normal thing.  Making all that yummy food did make me want to eat it.  After I thought about it for a bit I realized I could try to eat it without chewing it.  I cut off all the crust, cut the french toast piece into tiny, tiny pieces and doused it in syrup.  It wasn't the same at all but it was totally worth the effort.  I basicly ate syrup soup with bits of bread in it.  lol. 

super yummy scrambled eggs with cheese and french toast/syrup "soup"

After my yummy breakfast I had my friend call and make an appointment to get my hair done.  Now that I have been taking pics of myself everyday I get to see how horrible my hair has been looking.  :)  I usually flat iron it and make it look cute.  I also usually wear makeup but I haven't cared lately.  I got a Brazillian hair treatment a couple different times and LOVED it every time.  It is like a semi permenant flat iron treatment that makes me not have to do anything to my hair to make it look good.  I was super nervous before I got to the salon.  I go to a local school to get it done because it is super expensive at a regular solon and 1/4 of the price at the school.  The only problem is this super weird girl I went to high school with goes to that school.  I saw her the last time I went for a trim before my surgery and I really hoping I wouldn't see her this time.  I was also nervous going to a huge school full of so many people and trying to act normal when I totally don't feel or look normal.  I tend to tell anyone that looks my direction that I had jaw surgery just so they don't have a chance to get that weird look on their face wondering what is up with me.  I decided to take a think scarf with me to hold in front of my mouth.  I would rather people look at me wondering why I'm covering my mouth than why I have this weird thing in my mouth and why I'm not closing my mouth.  :(  The sylist I got was super nice and she made me feel comfortable.  She did a great job but this process is rather long even for an experienced sylist and she took longer than expected.  I didn't mind because it was a nice change instead of being in my house or my mom's.  The only problem was the longer she took the higher the chances of me running into the girl from my high school.  I was pretty sure that girl was a night girl and I was getting into the night student hours.  When my sylist finished it was so much later than expected.  She walked me to the front to pay and I was almost to the counter when I realized that the girl I was hoping to avoid was walking right towards me. UGH.  REALLY!!??  I had my scarf in front of my face but I know she totally recognized me.  Weird since you could only see my eyes and hair and body.  She spun around in a circle and turned around and walked back the way she came.  I whispered to my sylist that I didn't want to see that girl and she rushed me into the shop part of the salon so I could pay in a different area.  Who knows if that girl is friends with my sylist but I hope not because I really don't want her to know what is going on with me at all.  She was not a nice girl in school and I'm sure she is just as pleasant now.   Sorry to sound so petty but it just seems that you run into poeple you are not a fan of at the worst times.  On a good note.... I LOVE my hair and I'm still glad I went. 

I started feeling itchy feelings in my lower lip and chin today.  I happened quite a few times and it was so weird to get this crazy itch come on and straching it wouldn't make it go away.  I heard this happens and hope it doesn't happen too often.  I also have been getting sudden painful pangs in select teeth.  It has happened on and off for awhile now.  I don't like it but my Dr said it is just my nerves trying to come back.

Look how smooth my hair looks.  :)

Day 27

Today sucked!!  Went to my surgeon today for my weekly checkup. My surgeon told me weeks ago that I would get my splint off at 6 weeks. I was so excited.  I'm almost at 4 weeks so I thought only 2 weeks left. Well 6 weeks is Jan 12th and he just told me that I can't get it off until Jan 16th. :( soooooo disappointed. They said I have to wait and get it off at the beginning of the week because I have to go straight to my ortho after my appointment. Worst part is they just called and said my ortho can't see me until the 17th so now they bumped my splint removal to the 17th too. Sooooo disappointed.   5 EXTRA DAYS!!!   My husband told me "it's only 5 more days than you thought." I told him that he needs to live on a liquid diet those 5 days since it's "only 5 days." He said he will, thinking I'm joking, but I'm going to hold him to it.  

I called my mom after I told my husband and I totally broke down.  I didn't think it would effect me as much as it did.  I have been counting down the days until the 6 week mark and was so upset when they extended it like it wasn't a big deal.  When the girl from my surgeon's office called to tell me about the appointment change I asked her if I could have it taken out the Tues before I hit 6 weeks which would only be 2 days early.  She very rudely said no and that this is what I had to do.  Then I told her my ortho said I could see him the day after I got the splint out so I could keep my Monday appt instead of doing both on the same day and she again said no and that this is what my surgeon wanted. 

I went to my moms and spent the day there trying to not think about the sucky news I was told.  She make me THE BEST garlic mashed potatoes and my grandma made me my favorite milk gravy.  I took a long nap and woke up feeling a little better.  Still sad that I have to wear this 5 days longer but I hope it goes by faster.  :( 

My awesome friend came over with dinner for my family and she made me awesome, awesome potato cheese soup.  Her and her daughter spent the night and we had a nice time hanging out together.  A good day after a sucky morning. 

Day 26

Every year I go shopping with my family in the predawn hours of the morning for the day after Christmas sale.  I was up at 4am but didn't feel up to go out in public with my face all covered up.  I'm sooo tired of this splint.  If I didn't have it in my mouth I would feel and look more normal.  I feel asleep at a decent hour last night finally.  I was so tired that I actually feel asleep at 7pm and slept all the way until 4am.  I woke up feeling awesome and full of energy.  So much better than staying up all night.  Didn't take a picture today because I feel asleep super early again while watching tv and didn't realize I was that tired.

Day 25

Merry Christmas!!  Had a great day with my kids, hubby and family.  Nothing much to report about my progress other than the occasional zing in my chin and lower lip.  I was sad not to get to eat food with my family today.  I usually don't sit in the same room when any of them are eating but I didn't want to hide while everyone was eating today.  My mom made me super yummy mashed potatoes but I reallllly wanted the food everyone else was eating.  It felt weird eating in front of so many people with my syringe and food all over my lower lip and splint.  Oh well.  It is over now and I'm getting closer to the month mark.  :)



Day 24

Different parts of my lower face keep twitching.  I feel a part of my lower lip quiver or a quick, dull pain in a tooth or a weird sensation in my chin most of the day.  Also, I didn't think my teeth were numb but now I'm thinking they were/are.  I just started feeling the left side of my lower teeth rubbing on my splint.  I never felt my teeth touching my splint but didn't realize I wasn't feeling it until I was super aware of my splint touching my teeth.  I close my bite and only feel it on my left side.  It almost feels like my teeth on the right aren't touching the splint at all but it is so huge that isn't possible so I guess that side is still numb.  Makes sense because the majority of the dull tooth pain I get is on the right so it is still trying to connect.

I took a super late, long nap yesterday so I ended up staying up all night.  My kids got up at 630am and I gave them a quick bath and we headed to my moms so I could take a nap and she could entertain the kids.  I had to do it all really fast before I started getting tired and wouldn't be able to drive.  It was really cold outside so I had to wrap the scarf my friend lent me around my face to keep my jaw joints warm.  It is not an attractive look but I don't care.  She took the kids out shopping and eating for 3 hours while I slept.  My grandma made me my favorite, milk gravy.  I could eat it all day.  Had a nice time relaxing.  When we got home the kids were quick to get in their beds since it is Christmas eve.  They are so excited for tomorrow and I can't wait to see it.  :)   Had to finish getting ready for Christmas by going to the 99 cents store to get little things for stocking stuffers.  I wore my adorable scraf disguise and I'm sure people thought strange thoughts about the way I looked but they were polite enough to not look my way.  I am totally cool with that.  Better go to bed because it is late and I'm going to have to get up in a few, short hours.  Merry Christmas!!!

My adorable disguise to keep me warm.

My kids ready for Christmas

 

Day 23

Soooo not cool. I was woken up by my son coming to my room carrying a dirty diaper this morning. I leaned out of my bed to clean him but my face still hurts when I bend over. So after I got him clean I pulled him onto my bed in front of me and was waiting for my daughter to bring me his diaper. All of a sudden my son tried to sit up and jerked his arms out totally karate chopping right below my nose. Pretty much right where my plates and screws are. I about died. I jerked back and started sobbing holding my face. My husband wasn't in the room but he knew something bad happened and ran to our room and took my son out. My husband brought me meds and a syringe full of juice. My face was throbbing for about an hour but now it feels much better. Just thought I would share my not fun experience with you. Good thing is I can cry without my face feeling like I am ripping it apart now. I know my son wouldn't want to hurt me and it was a total accident. But still not cool.  I found myself going backwards with my talking.  I am not moving my mouth as much because it feels sore.  Hope the swelling and soreness goes away soon.

After my face started feeling better I got ready to meet my family at the movies.  I planned on going with them today and was glad I was still able to go.  Didn't want to spend the day stuck in the house again.  The theater was really cold so I had to put on my scarf my friend lent me to keep my face warm.  It felt so much better, even though I'm sure I looked silly. 

Came home and took a nap and woke up feeling great.  Only 1 more day until Christmas now.  Woo hoo!  My kids are getting so excited.  I usually do tons of crafts and baking with them  but I'm just not feeling up to it.  This Christmas is the tamest we have ever had but the kids don't seem to mind.  I really want to get a picture of them with Santa but I'm running out of time.  Don't know if it is going to happen this year.  :( 

Can't wait until my face has more expression.  I'm really over the mouth hanging open, blank look on my face pics.  My nose hurts at the outer edges again.  Don't think it is from this morning since it has been hurting on and off a couple days.  Also wanted to add that I lost another pound.  Down 24lbs.  :)

Day 22

I finally slept normal again!!  Woo hoo!  After we got home from my mom's house last night I fell asleep around 11pm and sleep until 4am.  Doesn't sound like a lot of sleep but I woke up feeling so much better.  Starving but better.  Ate some of my grandma's pudding because I didn't want to blend up anything that early.  My lips keep burning and I can't get enough carmex on them.

Had a good day today but didn't have much energy.  I am not hungry at all and need to remind myself to eat.  It is such a pain to brush my teeth until they are as clean as I can get them so I'm not always excited to eat.  The twisted metel on my upper right side is totally digging into my cheeks and it does not feel good.  I find myself talking with my mouth barely moving because it hurts less to keep my mouth still.  I tried to put gishy goo on it but don't think I got it covering the whole bad part because it still hurts. 

My chin is feeling different again.  I feel deeper layers when I touch it.  I also have been getting zings shooting in my chin and lower lip on and off most of the day.  It usually only happens when I am sleeping or just laying still but today it was happening a lot.  I had to call my surgeon because my lower teeth were sooo sensitive.  They were sensitive when I brushed them or got cold water on them but today they were just throbbing for no reason.  It felt like I bit into ice cream but on all my lower teeth.  My surgeon said that I could take some Advil to try to help it but there really isn't anything I can do.  He also said it was a good thing because it meant the nerves were coming back.  My teeth and chin definately feel weird. 

I folded laundry and put it away and I pretty much needed a nap after I was done.  Since I was having a problem with lack of energy I asked a few of my friends if they would come over and help me wrap my Christmas presents.  They were so sweet and come over from 830pm until midnight.  We had a great time hanging out and it was so nice to have a distraction and do regular things.   

Awesome news... I lost 3 more lbs.  Now I'm down 23lbs since surgery.  Haven't weighed myself in a couple days because I pretty much stopped losing weight around day 11.  I still had on baby weight since my son was born and I kept putting off dieting to lose it because I knew I was going to lose weight with this surgery and didn't want to torture myself dieting only to starve on a liquid diet later.  Surgery was supposed to happen a year ago but kept getting put off because my teeth weren't ready.  Ugh.  I know most people gain weight after they can eat real food again but I plan on going back to Jenny Craig as soon as I get this splint out of my mouth.  I won't be able to eat most of what I want anyway and I might as well take advantage of this not caring if I eat stuff and continue the weight loss and keep it off. 

Now that my lips doesn't kill me to touch it I wanted to show you the fun metal sculptures going on in my mouth.  Crazy!

Look at my not cool stitches hanging out under my upper lip. 

Don't know why my two front teeth have this gap between them.  The dark little dot at the top of my teeth is a gap.  The pic makes it look smaller than it is.  Awhile before my surgery my ortho put monofilament around my brackets on these two teeth because a gap was starting to form.  It closed the gap but I guess the widening of my upper jaw must be starting the gap again. 

Day 20 and 21

Day 20

Slept horrible again.  My upper jaw is just so achy that I can't get comfortable and end up staying up all night.  Ugh.  I didn't go to sleep until 6am.  Luckily I woke up in time for my appt with my ortho.  But barely.  Woke up at 830am and tried to brush my teeth as good as I could with me still technically still asleep and delirious due to lack of sleep.  Threw my clothes on and ran out the door. 

I was nice to go to my ortho's office.  I was happy to see everyone at his office.  They are such a nice group and it was cool getting to show them how I currently look.  They know how long I have been waiting for this and they always make me feel like they genuinly care.  :)  My ortho told me that my range of motion is currently 26mm and that I need to come to his office as soon as I get my extra hardware and splint out of my mouth so he can make a mold of the roof of my mouth.  He is going to send rush orders to the lab to make me a bar that will go across the back of the roof of my mouth from molar to molar.  Not sure how long it will be there but I think I remember someone saying 1 or 2 years.  My surgeon and ortho said I need this to prevent my jaw from regressing. 

Went home and dived into my bed and slept until my uncle came to visit.  Had a nice visit with him and dived back into my bed for another nap.  Then I went to my mom's just to have a change of scenery.  My grandma made me my favorite pudding and we had a nice visit.  As soon as I came home I fell asleep.  I couldn't believe how tired I was.  I ended up sleeping from 8pm until 2am.  Ugh.  Can't wait until I can sleep normal again. 

Excuse the hair. 

This picture was taken by me at 2am after I woke up. 

I didn't plan on going to sleep so early so this pic was a little late.

Day 21

My chin feels different.  I used to be able to feel the top few layers of skin and the deeper layers felt squishy and numb.  Now it all kind of feels the same.  Not sure if it is all getting more feeling or more numb but it definately feels different.  When I gently rub my fingers across most of my face it has a light tingly feeling that hurts just a little bit.  Again, it is weird.  My face looks like the swelling is mostly gone but I can feel it is puffy all over my whole face starting under my eyes.  My nose used to hurt a lot to touch it but it is less painful to touch now. 

I was sooo ready to go anywhere that when Andy got home from work I asked him to go with me to my moms.  I forgot the extra pudding my grandma made me so I wanted to go pick it up.  We ended up stopping at Target to get something for my mom for Christmas and I decided to go in the store.  I haven't really been out in public much and I always have a washcloth in front of my face but thought I would try to go without it.  I was happy that no one really even looked my way.  I did find me putting my hand up quite often kind of blocking my face while we were there but I was trying to keep it down to not draw attention to me.  The only person that really looked at me was the cashier and I quickly said that I had jaw surgery and seemed ok with that.  then we went to Jamba Juice to get me a smoothie and I saw a store that was called Elbows Mac n Cheese.  I wanted to try it sooo bad.  Got my Jamba Juice after I told the cashier that I had jaw surgery and she nicely asked the guy making my drink to blend it really thin.  Then we walked over to Elbows and ordered their classic mac.  It had 4 cheeses and sounded yummy.  I wasn't sure if I would be able to eat it but I was going to try.  When we got to my moms house I mashed some of it up into little pieces and tried to eat a small amount.  It was awesome and I was totally able to "eat" it.  When I eat things that are not liquid I pretty much just put it on my tongue and swallow it.  Sometimes it doesn't want to go down all the way due to the lack of saliva I would mix with it if I was allowed to chew so I just squirt some liquid down my throat with my syringe and I'm good.  Had a nice visit with my mom and took my leftover mac n cheese and pudding home. 

Day 19 and Before and After Smile

Saw my surgeon today and he said everything looks great and to keep doing what I'm doing.  He also told me to keep streaching my mouth so when he does let me eat I can do it. 

Don't think I posted this before but when I sneeze I do it with my mouth open.  It feels weird but I'm afraid to sneeze with my mouth closed.  I don't want to accidentally hit my teeth together forcefully.  I read that if you sneeze too early it will feel like your head explodes.  That is enough for me to happily sneeze with my mouth open for now.  My nose started running again last night.  Don't know why but it is only my left side, which is the side that wouldn't stop after surgery. 

Slept a lot today because my days and nights are still messed up.  My awesome cleaning lady came to the rescue and cleaned my house an extra time this week.  It was so awesome to wake up to a clean house.  I kept the kids outside for most of the day because I didn't want them to make the house explode again.  Bored kids can do lots of damage to the house.  My Aunt Elaine was so awesome and came over to make one of my favorite meals, milk gravy.  It is a family recipe and I looooove it.  It is poured over bread normally.  I usually love big ripped up pieces of bread.  She shredded the bread really tiny and put lots of gravy on the little pieces, then she stirred it up into mush.  It didn't look bad and was sooooo good.  Didn't take as long as I thought it would to brush my teeth so that was super good.  My father in law makes the best homemade macaroni and cheese and I was thrilled that he made me a mini batch for dinner.   Soo yummy.  When I eat food like the milk gravy and mac and cheese I need to have my syringe with my drink nearby so I can shoot liquid to get the thicker pieces to go down my throat.  The macaroni was awesome but it took forever to clean out of my mouth.  I always brush my teeth as soon as I'm done eating but it felt like something was stuck behind my upper molar.  I carefully brushed and brushed and it wouldn't come out.  I felt around my teeth with my finger because I can't feel anything with my toothbrush anyways and can with my finger.  I felt a lot back there but no noodles.  I got a flashlight out and looked in the mirror and saw craziness.  I had all these stitches coming out of my cheeks and gums.  Mostly on my left side but some on my right too.  I know I didn't feel those there before and I'm not sure how they are coming out.  Today was a yummy food day but I think I need to go back to my liquid diet for awhile.  I'm afraid to brush with all those stitches and I don't want to have to brush as long and hard and no chew food requires.

While my aunt was visiting I asked her if she wanted to see a video of the type of surgery I had.  I actually found it months ago on youtube.  It is pretty intense.  She was very interested in it until they started breaking the bone.  She was actually doing a small scream out a couple times.  I wish I would have recorded her reaction.  It was very expressive and kind of funny.  I also told one of my friends about the video and she watched it while we were talking on the phone.  She told me she doesn't get grossed out by that stuff.  But when she saw the video she was yelling out, "She is still alive!  How are they doing this to her?!"  I laughed and reminder her that they did this to me.  lol.  I was totally able to watch this video before my surgery but I don't recommend it to others.  I just looked at all the positves about why I was doing this and didn't care how scary the surgery looked.  I'm glad I saw it before because it helped me to understand what they did and how they did it.  The work these surgeons do is amazing.    

Interesting stuff.  I can feel my lower lip and move it more.  It is weird because I can feel me touching my lip and chin on the top layers but the deeper layers still feel dead.  My husband kissed me today and I could feel it on my top lip but not my bottom lip.  It felt weird to me to not really feel it.  Even though I felt the touch of my top lip I couldn't feel it like a kiss.  Sorry if that is too much info but just trying to keep all the details in.  lol.  He said it didn't feel weird to him.  This was something I wondered about before surgery and thought would be good to post on this blog.  I will let you know when things feel more normal in that area.  :)

Before smile and nose

Super gummy :(

After smile and nose  :) :) 

Still swollen and not as natural as I would like but look....NO GUMMY SMILE!

Day 18

I almost feel totally normal.  The drooling has drastically lessened.  Woo hoo!  I actually went out all day today and had a great time.  I sell something called Tastefully Simple and our group had a training today.  I really wanted to go but I was weary of being gone all day and hanging out with so many people looking and sounding the way I do.  Since I don't sleep well at night right now I take naps during the day and this wouldn't be an option.  Also due to my lack of calories I get tired easily. I didn't want to be drooling in front of all these people either.  Plus how would I talk or be heard in a room full of 20 people?  Since my drooling problem was improving I thought I would try.  I did feel uncomfortable "eating" in front of them.  They were cool enough to just pretend like nothing was going on when I sat there eating my corn chowder, wiping my face after every bite.  I tend to get a lot on my lips and chin and don't feel it due to the numbness.  I also pulled out my awesome syringe to drink my smoothie my friend Linda was sweet enough to buy for me.  Since I haven't really been out for almost 3 weeks I am not used to needing my purse or wallet.  Totally spaced on those when I was packing my bag for the day.  I brought some Kern's with me but I was happy to have the smoothie instead since it would have protein powder in it and the Kern's only had sugar.  This group of people are so awesome and I thought I would feel more comfortable exposing my fun with them. It was intimidating but I'm so glad I went. I was able to get great training and hang out with friends.  Other than the eating with an audience part I had a great time.  Happy to be out of the house and back to normal things even if it was only one day. 

When I touch my face I have feeling in the first layers of tissue but the deeper layers still feel dead.  It is weird to feel my face with my hand and only feel it a little in my head.  I barely needed a towel today because I only drooled a few times when I would get up or lean forward and forget to swallow.  I was slurping all day but the amount was so little in my mouth that I was able to contain it all.  My runny nose has started again.  Not sure if it is a cold or just my sinuses deciding they are still jacked up.  My swelling feels way better but my husband noticed that the area were my jaw joints are looks caved in.  Not sure if we didn't notice it before or if it is something new.  Can't believe it has almost been 3 weeks.  So happy to be this far already.

Sorry about the cute hair.  I fell asleep at 8pm and woke up at 1am ready for my day.  This picture was taken at 2am so technically it is day 19 but we will just pretend. :)  I just realized I didn't take any pics so I took them in my bathroom since my husband wouldn't be thrilled if I woke him up with the light in our room.  

Day 17

I realized that I can open my mouth and get two fingers between my bottom teeth and the splint.  Woo hoo!  I am having an easier time brushing my teeth too.  It isn't as scary getting my tooth brush everywhere it needs to go to clean my teeth.  I also think some of my swelling has gone down in my upper lip.  Not much but it doesn't feel as tight and strained.  One really cool thing was I was able to move my lower lip.  Double Woo hoo!!  I was able to move the left and right sides of my lower lip independently even.  My chin still feels weird to touch it but I'm still happy I can feel me touching it.  Ended up eating my yummy corn chower 4 times today and my husband made me homemade POG juice.  Soo good.

I am so excited!!!  The amount of drooling has drastically gone down!!  Last night when I was attempting to go to sleep I noticed that all of a sudden I wasn't drooling as much.  I thought I might be dehydrated since I didn't drink much yesterday.  And if that was what it was I would be totally fine being dehydrated to keep the drooling to a minimum.  This morning when I woke up I was still drooling less than normal.  I was actually able to take my naps without a towel and even walk around the house without a towel beneath my face.  Let's hope this is permenant progress.  :)

A strange thing happened tonight.  Andy and I went to the movies and it was lightly raining when we got there.  As we were leaving I thought it felt quite cold but no big deal.  Well, halfway arcross the parking lot I told him that my face was hurting a little.  Pretty much as soon as I said that my face started hurting a lot.  Then my lower jaw started chattering.  I couldn't stop it.  I didn't think it was that cold but my jaw joints were super tight and my lower jaw wouldn't stop chattering.  We rushed to the car and blasted the heater but nothing was helping.  Andy took off his flannel and wrapped my lower half of my face in it got me home.  It helped a little.  It hurt to chatter and it really hurt to have my face sooo tight.  As soon I got home I put our little heater on in the bathroom and Andy suggested that I get in a hot shower.  Finally my face started relaxing under the hot water of the shower.  Don't know why that happened but it wasn't fun.

My attempt at a smile.  It looks more natural than it feels. 

 I think I look more like the joker than I would prefer.  Hopefully it looks and feels more natural as the size of my lips goes down.

A better view of the splint in my mouth.  Again this is for the jaw surgery people that are going to have this thing in their mouth for 6 weeks.  :)  Don't know if you can tell but this thing is really thick.  It is wider than the length of my thumbnail. 

My range of motion (ROM) is 2 fingers plus my splint.  My Dr was very happy with how wide I can already open my mouth.  The first week of surgery I could only open it one finger wide.