Lots of appointments have been on my itinerary lately. It is hard to believe that a month from today, I will be having my jaw (orthognathic) surgery.
This beautiful crooked smile will be turned into just a beautiful smile. Ever since I started my job outside the house, I am having to talk a lot during the day. In the evenings, there will be times I just want to curl up under my blankets with my heating pad or a warm washcloth. The pain can get so intense at times. I am very much looking forward to the outcome and no pain. My jaw has started locking up on me on occasions but I am able to do massages and it loosens up usually within about 30 minutes.
The four surgeries that I will be having are:
Lefort 1 1 piece with bone grafts
Mandibular split with int RGD Fixj
Genioplasty sliding osteotomy single piece
Condylectomy
Every time I think to hard about the surgery, tears begin streaming down my face. I am very excited to have the surgery but very anxious as well. A splint will be placed in my mouth and it will be hard to talk and mainly liquids only for eating. I have heard several people will blend up main meals in a blender such as lasagna to have varieties. I am sure there will be lots of creativity on hand once I am able to begin doing things for myself. My husband will be a huge help to me, I am sure. He is not a cook at all but at least he can put things in the blender. It is the girls that I worry about for meals. Hmmm? We will figure out a plan.
My hospital stay should only be about 48 hours and then I am sent home to recover. It is a very hard recovery but from what I am reading, if I can get through the first two weeks, I will be smooth sailing the rest of the four weeks until I am able to get the splint out of my mouth. At that time, I should be able to begin moving and exercising my mouth.
The girls and I have been watching videos because there will be lots of swelling and bruising. I do not want them to be scared when they first see me, so I am hoping the videos will help give them an idea of how I will look. No one is sugar coating the surgeries at all. They said you really do look rough until the swelling and bruising goes down. They will send me home with a jaw bra. This will indeed be interesting.
I will be blogging and sharing videos of the entire journey. I hope you all will stay along for the journey and send prayers for the surgery and recovery. Also, pray for Scott and the girls. I keep this family running with schedules and sorts, so this will definitely be a huge change to have Scott take care of the household for the first couple of weeks. We shall succeed. God will get us through it along with my amazing support system of my family and friends.
Stay tuned….
