6 Weeks Post-Op

Good evening! I'm writing from my hotel room in Henderson, TX, where I just finished watching Grey's Anatomy and am about to watch Private Practice. I'm hooked, what can I say?

This is my second week on the new job, and I am completely loving it. It's amazing to feel like you can make a real contribution to a team and actually have it appreciated 100%. It's so exciting and it's so scary. My head is spinning, but I can't wait to really get my hands into everything. I'm going to be doing what I do best, along with a few things that I've never done before- should be great.

So...surgery follow-up. Yesterday was my 6 week mark...SIX WEEKS! In some ways it seems like so much more time has passed since the surgery...and in other ways it's like the surgery was last week. It's weird. So here is what is going on now:

• I can chew. I'm not biting into hamburgers or taking large bites of chicken breasts or anything, but I AM cutting up proteins into small bites and slowly chewing them....and it doesn't hurt! It's still weird, but I'm working on it. I'm adding more and more foods into my diet as I go along...just trying whatever I think I can. I wouldn't try a taco or chips or anything hard or anything, but most things are pretty fair game. I'm traveling a lot now, so it's sooo good that I have several options.
• I have most of the feeling back from my top jaw surgery-meaning I can feel my nose, have some feeling in my upper lip, etc. For example, when I put chapstick on my upper lip can actually feel where the stick is connecting to the lip! Yay!
• I still haven't gotten most of the feeling back in my chin and lower lip, but I can tell that some feeling is coming back. My chin itches and tingles some (which drives me crazy cause scratching does NOTHING to alleviate the itchy feeling), but I think that means it's healing. =) The surgeon told me that the lower jaw always takes longer to come back....so I'm not concerned at all. It's just annoying...I could put on chapstick without a mirror and end up halfway across my face without knowing it! LOL
• I can get about 2 1/2 fingers into my mouth now (refer to the gun analogy from previous post)...which is a big improvement. I see Dr. Lewis again in a couple of weeks, so I'm hoping to be up to three fingers by then....
• My smile is somewhat normal now. It's getting less crooked and more 'real' looking.
• I'm only wearing my bands when I sleep. I do, however, go to see Dr. Smith next Tuesday and expect that he's going to want me to switch some things up.
• I can go out into public and no one has any idea that I had major surgery just a little over a month ago. People who know me just look at me and know that something is different, but they don't necessarily know what it is
• I still find myself waking myself up in the middle of the night pushing my teeth together really hard. It hurts and wakes me up. I'm not sure why I do it...I think I'm trying to make the pressure from the bands go away or something? I tried wearing the bands during the day instead so that I would be aware of what I am doing, but with work and meals and stuff it was just too difficult.
• I'm gaining weight. =( I had lost about 10 lbs during my recovery, and the other day I got on a scale and realized that 4 of those lbs are already back on due to my increased diet. I'm going to try to keep the rest off....cause I needed to lose the weight anyway. I lost around 35 total lbs last year (including the 10 post-surgery) from working on it...and this year I want to take off about 15 more so that I'll be at my goal weight. Wish me luck- it's a constant battle!

Well, that's about all the updates I have! I have a lot of personal updates as well, but I think I am going to develop a separate blog for that so that individuals who read this blog for surgery information don't get bored to death with my silly life updates. =) I'll let you know once I get it set-up..it might be a while with my crazy work schedule.

Here is my 6 week profile pic. I was going to post a smile and a front photo, but I just got done working out and look like a wet rat. Enjoy!