4 years, 3 months, and 20 days since......

Well its been over 4 years now since my surgery was complete. I have a very tiny area on my lower lip (so small it is almost not worth mentioning) that is still mildy numb. It gets tingly still sometimes and definitely has surface sensation, just lower down, deeper, into the thicker part of my lip, remains a little void of feeling. Otherwise I have made a full recovery. I sleep so well now! These last few days when I have been having glorious, full color dreams, I have been reminded of how wonderful this surgery has been for my overall health and life. I look back on my pre surgery pics, when I was so tired, and eating all the time just to stay awake. Now I'm rested, healthy, and rarely unless I'm truly hungry. I have renewed energy, and I feel like my thoughts are clear. I can focus, and remember things now. I do not regret one thing about having this surgery. It was totally worth every moment of grief to get to the end result.

I have had some issues with root re-absorption in my upper and lower front teeth in the last year. This is something that sometimes happens to older adults like myself with rapid orthodontic movement. It's just something we have to keep an eye on, and see what happens. At this point if I eat something hard, my front teeth sometimes get sore since they only have about 50% of their roots. I try and stay away from things I have to bite into like really hard sandwiches, etc. I will often cut it, or use the side of my mouth to bite so that I don't upset those front teeth anymore, but mostly things are just back to normal and I'm doing very well.

I feel like I'm still healing and really believe at some point I will get all the feeling in my lower lip back. Nerves just heal really really slowly, and at this point I don't really even notice my numbnes, its just so miniscule. I also had some minor sinus surgery done shortly after my jaw was done. They reduced my turbinates and expanded the airway on one side of my sinuses. What a difference that has made as well! I used to have reoccurring infections for years almost every month or two. As of late I have not had a sinus infection in over a year! What a blessing that has been! I feel like a totally new person these days!

I will keep posting as long as I feel there are changes to report, the time frame in between may be longer though since at this point improvements are slow. Good luck to all who are undergoing, or in the process of having this surgery done. Hopefully your results will be as positive as mine. I would so do it all again in a heartbeat!