Hey everyone! Since today was my last day wired shut I thought I would tape myself talking so you guys can hear what I sound like with my jaws wired shut:
Like I said, I taped that video on the way to the doctor's office. I was so nervous! Dr. Fujimoto had warned that it would be a pretty weird feeling once my wires were cut so I wasn't really sure what to expect. As we all know, Jen does not do well with the unknown! So as Mom, Kevin and I were escorted into Dr. Lee's office (Dr. Fujimoto was on vacation) my anxiety was peaking.
By the time he came in, I was just ready for this to happen! We chatted a bit, and then he decided to just get on with it. He laid my chair back and started snipping away. It took quite a bit to get those damn wires out of my mouth. At one point, he snipped a wire and it was digging into my lip. I think he thought that my lips were still numb because he was not in any rush to move it until I told him I was in pain. After he snipped the last wire, he lifted my chair up and said he'd give me some time alone to work on opening my mouth.
I'm really struggling with words to describe how it felt when I first opened my mouth. It just felt so insanely foreign. I also felt like my mouth was so wide open, but when I looked in the mirror, my mouth was barely open. It was a weird flood of emotions too. I saw Kristin Bell once on Ellen and she said that emotionally, if she's not between a 3 and an 8 on a scale of 10, she's crying. That pretty much perfectly summed up how I was feeling. I immediately welled up and started crying. I was just so happy that this first leg of my recovery was over, but at the same time, so scared and frustrated at what was yet to come. After I calmed down, I was able to check my mouth out a bit more. Without the plastic splint in my mouth, my teeth felt so weird touching each other. Dr. Fujimoto had warned me that some of my back teeth would hit each other after the surgery, but that Dr. Kaprelian would work on fixing it once I could get back to working with him.
After a bit, Dr. Lee came back in and checked my progress and bite. He said that everything looked really good. I asked him if I could brush my teeth, and he kinda chuckled and said I would't be able to fit my toothbrush in my mouth. But I was determined, dammit! So I tried…and he was right. But I did my best, and just being able to open my mouth and rinse it out felt phenomenal. After, Dr. Lee came back in and put my elastics on. I was very confused, because he never put my splint back in! So I asked him about it, and he said that my bite was doing so well that I didn't need it. You see, since I had an asymmetry in my jaw, the muscles have built up and are always going to try and open/close my jaw the same way it always has. The elastics are there to train my bite to open and close properly in its new alignment. And since Dr. Kaprelian did such a great job setting my teeth up before the surgery, I don't need the extra help that the splint provided. So huzzah! No more splint!
Dr. Lee handed me a baggy of elastics, explained that I need to wear them all the time except when I'm eating or brushing my teeth and sent me on my way. The whole car ride home I just couldn't believe how my teeth felt. For example, now my front bottom teeth fit snugly behind the backs of my front top teeth! I've never felt that sensation before, and I know it's just going to feel weirder once I start eating.
I tried to stay relaxed the rest of the afternoon. I ended up having to take some tylenol, because I was just a bit sore. After a bit, I figured it was time to try my first meal unwired! I was really craving refried beans with cheese and taco bell mild sauce! So Mom, Dad and I went on an excursion to Taco Bell to grab some. After we came home, Dad got everything together, I pulled out the special gelato spoons that I had bought because I figured they'd be small enough for me to fit in my mouth and I sat down to enjoy my first meal. I took off my elastics and went to dig in…but no dice. The beans were too thick and big and wouldn't fit into my mouth! The other problem is that the beans kept getting caught on the inside of my lips, but I couldn't fit my tongue between my teeth to lick it off! Quite the frustration… So I ended up heating up a bowl of tomato soup and having that as my first meal. I guess I'll just have to try again tomorrow…
But before that, I decided to film myself talking without the wires! The doctor said I'm not supposed to do any unnecessary talking. I really need to baby my jaw for the next two weeks, so don't get too used to hearing me talk :P
Going forward, I'll probably start updating the blog on a weekly basis, since my life is starting to get back to some semblance of normality. But don't worry, I'll keep you all updated on the important stuff ;)
Thanks for reading!
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