Week 4 - It's wearing me down

Another week has gone by and it feels like my progress has been very slow.

Each morning I wake up and the lower part of my face is very stiff. Firstly I reach for the painkillers and sit in bed waiting for them to kick in. I am still taking Panadol & Brufen. Once they've dulled the pain I can start my mouth stretches. It takes a few minutes, but my mouth and cheeks loosen up and I feel like I can face another day.

I am getting more and more feeling back each day but with the new feeling comes new pain. I get little twinges here and there. It is mostly the back teeth and gums. The roof of my mouth still feels very bruised and I still can't open my mouth wide enough to see inside. I also have a sore throat some days. It comes and goes. I still have a bit of swelling along my jaw and across my cheeks. 

I have been having afternoon naps each day. I tend to wear out after lunch. I was expected to loose about 5kg but I still weigh the same. I need to eat something each time I take the painkillers otherwise I get pains in the stomach so I'm actually eating more than I would normally.

The doctor said after week 4 I could start eating what ever I was comfortable with but I think I will stay with mush for a while longer. 

You can see in my photo that one side is still recovering quicker than the other.

I thought I would make a bit of an effort a wear a little bit of make-up for today's photo. I really couldn't be bothered over the past month but now I'm pushing myself to stay up beat.

I have good days and bad days. I'm sorry today is a bad day but I'm getting there :)

Week 3 - So happy

Well after 3 weeks I'm back in the land of  living and so happy with the way it's coming along.

I saw my Orthodontist and he explained that now we had joined the front teeth, the back teeth are no longer touching. So in 3 weeks time, when everything has settled down, he will put elastics on my back teeth to pull them down from my gum.

I also saw my doctor and he is very happy with the progress I'm making. I have to stay on soft foods for 1 more week and then eat whatever I can manage. He also gave me exercises to do. Basically I need to retrain my face muscles, so lots of mouth stretching.

One side of my face has bounced back quicker than the other but it shouldn't take to long to even out. I have another check up in 3 weeks after the elastics go on.

Day 18 - Coming along in leaps & bounds

 

What a difference a couple of days can make. I feel so much better now.

I still tire very easily but I'm more active now. I spent several days just lying around, but now I can do a bit of housework and go for a walk. My appetite is back. Ive put the weight back on that I lost in the initial few days and I can now sleep slightly on my side rather than virtualy sitting up in bed. It just keeps getting better everyday.

The pinkish color has now returned to my gums. I have to say I was getting worried looking in the mirror each morning to see that they were still dead white, but over the recent days I have noticed the feeling coming back to the roof of my mouth although my top gum is still completely numb. The stitches are still there, all along the top gum and all along the bottom. It's quite odd to look at something that you would think was quite painful but in fact doesn't hurt at all. The part that hurts is where the jaws meet, just in front of my ears, but this is getting better each day too. I can only open my mouth enough to fit in a spoon. The swelling around the jaws is stopping it from opening any wider.

I have a lot more feeling in my face now so I'm able to give a little smile or a big smile instead of just trying for anything.

My lips and chin are a bit tingly and numb just the same as they feel after a needle from the dentist. I just need to make sure I check the mirror after Ive eaten or had something to drink.

It's funny to wake up each morning with the thought, "I wonder what I will look like today"

Day 15 - Finally on the mend

I'm still having problems sleeping. I may have a bit of a cold and after everything I went through last week, I'm very nervous. There is no sign of a blood nose. Last week I had brown gunk coming out of my nose continuously. I do feel a bit of a runny nose that honestly, keeps freaking me out, but I'm doing my best not be concerned about it.

I also have a foul taste in the back of my throat. Not sure why. I did swallow what I suspect was a blood clot this morning and the horrible taste went away for a while. Hopefully the clots are now just going straight down my throat instead of coming out of my nose. Sounds disgusting doesn't it but unfortunately true.

There is still quite a bit of swelling but I can see that my face is now shorter than it used to be and the tip of my nose is now turned up. My nose actually looks a bit smaller to me but most likely due to all the swelling around it.

The color hasn't returned to my upper gum yet although I am starting to feel the nerves in my teeth. It still has a lot of white areas. I'm assuming that is due to blood supply.

I don't see the doctor for another week and I have so many questions.

Day 14 / Week 2 - Now I can move my face

2 weeks post-op today. Thank God the worst is over. It was amazing to wake up this morning and feel such a contrast to the past few days. No more bleeding, pain under control and a good appetite.

I finally feel like I have turned a corner. I looked in the mirror this morning and it's as though a lot of the bruising disappeared overnight. I feel like the healing process has accelerated all of a sudden. I'm really happy with the way it's all taking shape.

I still have some very firm swelling across my sinus area and along my jaw bone. A layer of skin is starting to peel from my nose and there are also some numb areas around my nose and my chin. Embarrassingly I have been sitting with food on my chin after lunch and not been aware of it until someone told me.

My lips are still sore and very heat sensitive. Food and drink can only be luke warm otherwise it feels like my lips are being scolded.

I also have more movement in my face now. For a while only one side of my face would move when I smiled. It now feels more even. My jaws are still very stiff and I can constantly feel the muscles underneath trying to pull the lower jaw back.

It's great to be in good spirits and hopefully have the worst behind me.

Day 13 - Going home

Felt so much better today. It's all going well. No more bleeds so the doctors decided to test the situation before sending me home. I had to try anything that might trigger a nose bleed. I walked around the ward a few times to raise my heart rate, had a hot shower for 15 minutes, drank a warm cup of tea had a hot lunch. Still no bleeds. Last on the list...bowel motion. My biggest challenge. The last 2 times I had been to the toilet it triggered a bleed but not this time. Good to go home.

I was a bit nervous going home. I had felt so protected in hospital. My thinking was if it happened, it happened (more nose bleeds), no big deal it all has to come out eventually but now going home it was totally different. I was just hoping the cause was as the doctors described and not something that had been overlooked.

I had a lot more energy instead of just laying there feeling half dead. Still taking it very easy.The doctor put me back on the purée diet for the moment but at least I had the choice of hot or cold foods again.

I did learn one thing today that concerned me. You can actually overdose on Panadol. I had always thought of it as a very mild pain control but as explained to me, if you take more than the recommended dose it can do serious damage and can shut down your liver, then kidneys and possibly death. It's a very painful scenario so you're best off taking a stronger medication than thinking you can just pop a couple extra Panadol each day.

Day 12 - Bleeding tears.

Well, well, well, what a turn. Massive nose bleed last night with several clots. It was running out of my eye and a little difficult to contain. Probably the worst one I've had, yet I felt reasonably calm having been through it before. I ended up back in emergency again. I'm familiar with a few staff members now which made it easier. It was a relatively quick admission procedure to get me back to the ward.

Several people in emergency thought id been in a car accident and others thought I had been bashed. It was a little embarrassing to admit that it was elective surgery. I wasn't nervous but I felt I needed to be at the hospital just in case.

The doctors agreed with me and decided to keep me in under observation. They still believe that it is old blood from my sinuses just being released particularly now there are a lot more clots and I find it smelly and such a bad taste. The bleeding through the eye duct poses no threat to my sight, it's just an overflow.

So here I am again, in good spirits, feeling quite well and being taken care of with no guilt. I felt a bit of a burden at home continuously asking for a drink or something to eat, tissues, glasses etc. I think I wore everyone out being confined to bed so it's all worked out for the best.

Can't believe it's only been 12 days.