Third week of recovery
If you are following my progress then you might have figured out my schedule now. I will try to update every Monday with how the week have been and after every check-up appointment (the next of which is on the 16th of June for those of you who are interested).
This week started off well enough. I felt good and my recovery was well on its way and then off course everything started going downhill. After my appointment at the doctor’s office my right cheek swelled up once more. Obviously my mouth was not happy that I decided to start poking there (since I now have a rubber band on the teeth on that side as well). This put a damper on my mood but it was not worse than that. I could learn to live with it once more.
On Friday and Saturday I felt very bad and on Saturday evening I finally gave in and took a painkiller. I am not fond of taking pills but I will take them when I can not stand it any longer. After this action had been taken my day, or actually my evening, took a turn for the better. That evening something a bit unpleasant happened… (This will be TMI I know but I promised myself to write the whole story without editing so here we go.) When I was putting the rubber bands back into my mouth after dinner (and brushing my teeth) then puss started to leak out of the scar on the right side of my mouth. I quickly grabbed the sponges I had gotten from the hospital and placed one in my mouth to get rid of it. After carefully disposing of the sponge I decided to use my dad’s antibacterial mouthwash.
This repeated itself after lunch and dinner the next day and I took the same precautions. The amount was smaller each time and after that first time at eleven pm on Saturday my swelling started to go down. So even though it was terribly unpleasant it brought with it a welcome change.
Speaking of mouth and dental hygiene. I ran out of my specially prescribed mouthwash after about two weeks and have now started to brush my teeth like a normal human being… almost. As I mentioned in my last “recovery-week” update toothbrushes are a lot bigger then you expect and I can not open my mouth very wide as of now. Therefore I brush my teeth just as normal except on the chewing surfaces or whatever you would like to call them. The whole toothbrush can not fit in between the teeth so I have to angle it to brush the chewing surface. Then I put the rubber bands back on my braces and finish with mouthwash. This takes me about 10 minutes which means I spend 20 minutes a day just brushing my teeth… But it is worth it in the end! :)
I do not know if I have written about this before but here we go. A tip! When you are restricted from moving your jaws then you have the reflex to bite down really hard and basically go about your day like that. Take it from me! It is uncomfortable. You might even do it without knowing it. Therefore I recommend that once awhile that you actively try to relax your jaw. This will make the whole situation much more pleasant and easy for you.
Finally I can not stress this enough! Do not try to eat all of your food through a straw and mix everything that otherwise will not fit through a straw because this tastes AWFUL! If you need ideas for things to eat then make sure to contact me and I will give you my list of eatable foods. I do understand that I am in a better position to eat things then someone who had double-jaw-surgery since I do not have to worry about being careful with my upper jaw. However mixed food, that is not supposed to be mixed together, is really horrible.
With that happy note I am done for today. See you on Monday. Bye!