Brandy's Braces, SARPE, Jaw Surgery Journal

This is my daily journal to my eventual perfect smile and Apnea free life. It logs my surgeries, and daily progress.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

15 Months Post Op

Ok, technically its 4 days away from 15 months but its close enough I think! Things continue to go well and I continue to heal! I sortof look forward to the day I post and everything is back to normal and I have nothing to post about though.

Feeling continues to return more and more as each month passes. It is just a slow process now, and takes 3-4 weeks to really notice a difference rather then just a couple of weeks. My bottom lip is still slightly numb but has actually improved a lot this past month. It is becoming less tingly and more normal feeling. The area below it, and down into my chin is also getting much better. It is still tingly when I scratch it, but it has a lot of feeling now and almost feels back to normal. Not totally but definitely improved. I think if I spilled something on it, I would be able to feel it now as opposed to before where I would just walk around with it stuck to my face. I have gotten a lot of feeling back this past month in the lower left quadrant of my teeth and can feel all of my gums now. The bonded retainer has helped a lot with the upper tooth pain I was experiencing, and I'm thinking that some of the pain might have just been the nerves regenerating in that area. Either way, I can now bite into things pretty well without any real issues to speak of. I figure since I have a bit of root reabsorbtion that it is probably better to not overstress my upper incisors so if its really hard, chewy, or tough, I just use my fingers to break it up into smaller pieces and eat it rather then biting into it. I have found it still to be uncomfortable with very hard things, but I can bite into a soft sandwich, and if necessary turn my bite a bit to allow my canines to do some of the tearing work now.

Overall things seem to be coming along very well. My range of motion has returned, and while the jaw joints are stiff sometimes, it is pretty much back to normal without much effort. I can't say enough about how thrilled I am with the results of this whole surgery experience I mean my quality of life has been dramatically improved, and while it has been a long recovery, it has been sooo worth it.

So....here is some other good news. I have not had a sinus infection in 6 months now! A record for me, so that is pretty thrilling. Overall I feel incredible! I'm back at the gym working out, and doing very well.

I will post again in another month and let you know how the healing is coming along then. Thanks for reading my blog and I hope it is/has been helpful to you.