4 1/2 Months Post Op / Swelling Persists

Today is the 4 1/2 month post op point. Things just continue to plug along. It sorta feels writing this that I'm just reported minutia since the progress is so slow but hey, I suppose it could be interesting if you are post surgery wondering what your recovery might be like etc.

Lets see, most of the changes continue to happen in my lower lip area and my lower teeth. My chin area and under my lip have been very tingly and sensitive. Touching the area is like pins and needles everywhere and the area below the left side of my lower lip when touched sends an annoying sensitivity to the gums below my lower teeth. I'm convinced that if this doesn't go away soon that I'm not going ot have fun when the ortho takes off my braces. In fact I think it will be down right unpleasant. If he touches my teeth with anything that vibrates (like a drill) I'm going to fly out of that chair I tell you!

Sleep continues to go well, and I have noticed an interesting result of my surgery. It now seems that I can sing better. Before I used to get a lot of congestion in my throat and would always have to clear my throat or would sound hoarse. Since the surgery this is no longer an issue. Everything is clear sounding and not cracky and messed up.

Well thats it, more to come soon. I go in next Thursday for Stage 1 of my implant (putting the post in) I will post after that appointment and let you all know how it went. Will probably include some nice new gory pics too! LOL

 
Just wanted to show all of you that looks are deceiving and that I still have swelling in my face at 4.5 months post op. You can click on the pic to enlarge it and see better, as most of the swelling is only visible if you really look at me when I'm not smiling. 1 and 5 show the continued swelling in my sinus area, and while this does go down a bit as the day progesses it is definitely still there. If you look lower at the creases on both sides of my face especially #2 you will see that there is still swelling through the left hand side (your left) as compared with the right side. 3. Shows the area on my left near the bottom of my jaw that is still a bit puffy compared to the other side. If you look closely at 4. you will see that there is swelling in the left side of my lip and that makes my lip look a bit lopsided. 6. Shows how the contour of my jaw is quite visible on the right, however, the area where the arrow points and my jawline indents is where the bone graft was taken on the right to fill in on the left. There are dips in the bone like that on both sides, but only the right side swelling has come down enough to make it visible (6. is visible), 7. is still swollen enough that it does not hug the bone yet.

So....I'm sure this seems like I'm nit picking, but I just wanted to point out that this is a long process and that it takes many months for things to return to normal. Even today my lip is doing some weird stuff, really really puffy feeling, and looking. I couldn't even wear lipstick as it was puffed so much it looked unnatural. Everyday it is something new, and even though it is not particularly noticible to others, the swelling is still very much present to a small degree.