I haven’t updated in a few days so I figure it’s time. Today marks day 12 and I’m feeling pretty good. I’m handling the pain with only 2-3 Advil a day which I think is wonderful considering all the pain and swelling I had last week. I still have a bit of bruising under my chin and on the sides of my mouth but it’s not that bad. My stitches are finally starting to dissolve and I’m feeling better and stronger every day! I go see Dr. Mitton again tomorrow afternoon for a check up and to see what he advises about turning my appliance. I saw him on Thursday and he said things were going beautifully. He wanted to hold off on turning the appliance for a day to give my mouth and gums time to catch up with the movement. He feels turning things once a day is working well for me so we’re not going to rush it. Slow and steady wins the race.

I got bored earlier this afternoon and decided to give my treadmill a spin. I did 10 minutes on my bike the other day along with a 10 minute walk on the treadmill and that felt really nice. I tried using the elliptical but found it was too much bouncing around and hurt my mouth too much. I think I’ll have to hold off on that one for a while. The bike and treadmill are much easier. The only downside to using the treadmill is I want to go faster. Right now I limit my pace to 2.5-2.8 MPH (yes slow). I wore my heart rate monitor and noticed it wasn’t doing anything at all for me so I decided to crank up the intensity. “If I can’t go faster maybe I can go harder.” That seemed to do the trick. The treadmill will do a 12% elevation and I had it at 8. I could feel more work in the back of my legs with the elevation and my heart rate went up a few more beats so that’s good. Not enough to break a sweat but at least I felt like I was doing something. There was no clenching or pressure in my mouth so I’m confident it’s fine. As long as I can challenge my body in some way without causing pressure or pain in my mouth I think its okay. I only went for 20 minutes – don’t want to push things too fast. As I said before, I’m not going to do anything to jeopardize my health or results with this surgery so it’s all light and easy. But I have to do something or I will lose my mind. It’s just hard having to keep at such a slow pace. I want to go, go, go!

Diet wise I’m still drinking shakes and soups. I have a protein shake for breakfast, shake in the afternoon and usually a shake or some soup for supper. I went to GNC last night and stocked up on some Myoplex ready to drink shakes for when I go back to work on Tuesday. I also bought a shake mixer bottle, along with some Chia Pro. I had a chat with the guy at GNC telling him about my broken jaw and asked if he had any recommendations on how to keep things healthy with this liquid diet. He recommended this new product Chia Pro. It’s supposed to help with energy levels and regularity so we’ll see. You can read more about it here: http://www.discountanabolics.com/p/CMI014 So far it mixes really well with the shakes and you can barely notice any taste. I like it.

Again I have to thank my friends for being such a great source of support through the recovery process. Everyone has been checking up on me over messenger, phone and e-mail and I really appreciate it.

I started watching a tv show called Chuck while I was home and absolutely love it. Some episodes were painful to watch due to all the laughing but it’s just great. If you haven’t seen it I definitely recommend checking it out. PINEAPPLE!!! LOL *Sighs* Anyhow. Unfortunately I finished Season 1 so I don’t have any left to watch. I’m moving on to Season 1 of Nip/Tuck which looks very promising based on the first episode I watched.

I’m looking forward to going back to work on Tuesday. It will be nice to get back and see everyone. I stopped by yesterday evening to feed my fish and got to have a chat with Jeanne, Sarah, Mo and Mike. I received a thoughtful gift of my favorite vanilla protein powder which was nice. Everyone commented on how much my swelling has gone down and that I look great so that was very re-assuring. I’m self conscious about my speech being somewhat off but everyone assured me I’m clear. Hopefully this torture expansion device will come out at the end of 12 weeks. I hate it so much LOL. I work 8-4 Tuesday to Friday this week but I think I will be off the phones. Nancy said she would assign me to the e-mail queue my first week back. Hopefully I’ll be 100% by the end of week 3 so I can get back in my regular work groove.

Anyhow it’s after 11. I started this entry earlier this afternoon and got sidetracked with watching Chuck. I’ll post it now and head off to bed. I really need to get on a better sleeping schedule with work starting again on Tuesday.

I will post more tomorrow after my appointment with Dr. Mitton to let everyone know how it goes.

I went to see Dr. Mitton this afternoon and things are going well. He was relieved to see that my two front teeth didn’t turn brown. I asked him what he meant and he said due to my two front teeth being so close together it was possible he may have killed the root during the separation of the palate. He said the teeth would die and turn brown if that happened. Eep! They still look a healthy white color but we have to keep an eye on it. I sure hope that doesn’t happen!

I mentioned that I keep hearing/feeling a clicking noise in my mouth when I speak. When Dr. Mitton broke my palate he said the jaw was quite loose so he had to put some wire hooks in place to keep things steady. It’s possible the clicking noise I feel could be from that - or it may just be my appliance. He’s not concerned about it though and told me not to worry. It doesn’t hurt or anything it just feels weird. It’s odd knowing I have metal hooks in my jaw though.

I officially start turning my appliance once a day every morning starting tomorrow. Dr. Mitton gave Roy the run down on how to use the key so he can do the adjustment for me. “You just put the key in the hole like this and crank it back - see the gap that forms between her two front teeth?” *Nurses in the room all go “NEAT!” * Of course he ended up turning the key twice and decided the gap was too much and had to revert it. It hurt something HORRIBLE when he did it. I nearly jumped out of my chair screaming when it happened. Talk about a look of shock on his face “Oh I’m sorry, did that hurt?” No…I just felt like screaming and jumping out of the chair so you would remember I’m here. Gah! I hope we don’t do that again. I could feel the bones moving in my mouth and there was an insane amount of pressure when he did it. Freaked the hell out of me.
Anyhow, we have to make a gap the size of a tooth or a little bigger so I’m going to look like Goofy for a couple of weeks. It’s all going to be worth it in the end though - I can’t wait!! Right now I have a tiny little space between my two front teeth. To quote Dr. Mitton “Voila - you are now Madonna” lol. It’s so weird to see a change in my teeth after having them look the same way for years but I’m very excited. I have been taking progress pictures every day and I’m really impressed and surprised with the changes in my face. It’s very cool.

Pain and swelling have gone down quite a bit. I’m still pretty bruised but feeling fine. I’m still getting a lot of rest and trying to take it easy. Talking is still a bit of a challenge but it’s coming along. Slow steps. I’m off the steroids and VERY happy about that. I didn’t get weepy and cry like some women have reported but I did notice a change in my moods. I would go through periods of feeling happy then go down pretty hard and not be able to sleep. Hopefully all will be back to normal in the next few days.
The meals are getting a bit better. I swallowed some well cooked pasta for supper and some cranberry for dessert. Was quite good. I also picked up a variety of soups I’m going to try out. Overall I don’t think the liquid/soft food diet will be all that bad. Tried a tastey protein shake at the advice of Step - Peanut butter brittle. It’s basically a scoop of vanilla protein powder, some fat free butter scotch pudding mix, Kraft All Natural Peanut Butter and some rice milk. It tastes really good. If you use chocolate pudding instead of butter scotch it actually tastes like a Reese’s bar. A little sweet indulgence during my time of pain. hehe.

I’ve been listening to my gym songs and have a real urge to get going with my exercise again. I know I can’t lift weights but I might give my elliptical or the treadmill a try tomorrow at a slow pace. I’m just bored of sitting around and want to be on the move. I’ve been keeping busy with playing my guitar and reading which is fun but I want to get moving! As long as I go slow everything will be fine. My calorie intake has been around 800-900 calories a day which is low but it’s honestly all I feel like eating. It takes forever to eat a small amount because I’m eating with a baby spoon and it’s not an easy process trying to swallow all your food without chewing. LOL. There you go everyone - my diet tip of the day - eat with a baby spoon and don’t chew. You will really savour your meals and eat less LOL.
Anyhow that’s my scoop for today. Feeling good and very happy and excited for the changes to come.