Day 171- Update- ongoing physiotherapy

Holidays and come and gone at this point.

Its been almost six months since undergoing my surgery and I'm still attending physiotherapy.

I'm better than what I was when I first saw the therapist but its been slow going and quite honestly I'm not working as hard as I used to on it. Mostly I think it is because my lack of jaw movement doesn't really affect me as much as it did before in my day to day life. I hardly notice now that my jaw motion is limited. I use my jaw jack for stretching and see the actual physiotherapist once a month- since the jaw jack is supposed to be a replacement for my appointments.

I started seeing the therapist with a max opening of 15 mm and now I'm up to 30 mm, but I can't open from a closed mouth to 30 mm- I've got to stretch it first. Without stretching I can open my mouth from a closed position to about 25-28 mm.

I've seen the surgeron too since my last post, he is happy with my results and I'm basically done seeing him until I get my braces off. Once my braces are off I go back to the surgeon to have an implant for my missing incisor tooth.

There is no set date for braces to come off either at this point and in May it will have been three years with my wire mouth.

So to sum up this update I'm not back to pre surgery jaw movement, still in physiotherapy, and there is no date for braces to come off. But on the positive side the feeling in my chin and bottom lip is getting better!

Day 106- My physiotherapy jaw jack

At week three of my physio, I was given this jaw jack- to help with at home exercises and stretches. Honestly this tool is the best thing I can do for my jaw, doing the exercises with just my hands and fingers felt like I was getting no where.

I just had my fifth physio appointment this week and my changes have been very slow but a huge difference from where I started (which was 1.5cm), I'm now at 2.5-2.7cm. I've been seeing the therapist once a week for about 30 minutes for five weeks. Now we are moving two a biweekly appointment. The idea is that the jaw jack will sort of replace the need to go every week.

I'm feeling positive about this part of the recovery and for the most part I kind of forget that I'm unable to open to the fullest. The only reminder for me of the surgery at this point is the numbness in my lips and chin. However my physiotherapist keeps reminding me not to get discouraged that I'm not having drastic changes. I would say that at every about appointment I've been able to maintain the width and by the end of the appointment I'm up by .2cm which feels like a big win.

I'm also able to move my bottom jaw forward and side to side, I am still limited by my right side of jaw as it is really stiff- so I really focus on that side during my stretches. In a couple of weeks I'll have my second orthodontist appointment since the surgery and they should have a much easier time working on me now that I can open almost 2x more than I could when they saw me last.

Here are some pictures of my torture device (since it looks like something out of a movie) but honestly there is very little pain using it. The most pain I feel with stretches is the amount of force being pushed on my teeth when I'm with the therapist

so you push the button on the bottom and it will slide open and each notch has a measurement associated with in millimetres

first day using the tool 

If anybody reads this blog and is feeling sad or hopeless about their recovery-there is light at the end of the tunnel. You got this!

Day 80- Little less than an inch

I was feeling a little nervous for my second physio appointment yesterday- I guess really just anxious to be 100% back to my pre surgery self.

My appointment was only 30 minutes long this time and we jumped right in. He measured me again at the beginning and at the end of the appointment. I can't remember what I started with today but I started the last appointment at 1.5cm opening. Lots of massaging and pulling but I could tell there was progress on the left side of my jaw. I could hear sounds while he was pulling and pushing my jaw similar to what I imagine a very rusty shitty hinge starting to open. I'd rate the pain for this appointment at a 0 more just discomfort until the very end of the appointment. The last stretch he did was to have me open my mouth as wide as I could, and then relax- he had his hand then holding my mouth in place or something. Then he had me open even wider and that's when it started to hurt but I could feel whatever he was doing is working! At the end of the appointment I was at 2cm and can a max of 2.2cm if I've got some help (being held open).

My goal between this week and next week is to maintain how wide I can open and I have physio appointments for the next three weeks. I'm also going to be getting that jaw-jack I mentioned in my last post so that will help with my exercises and getting my jaw to open.

FYI: 1 cm is equal to 0.39 of an inch- so my max opening is not even an inch!
 if that helps for visualisation

Day74- First physiotherapy appointment

Physio went really well, I really like the therapist. He measured my opening and it is 1.5cm which is almost half of what I would of been before surgery. The appointment was a hour long and about 20 minutes of it was an initial assessment of my jaw and why the surgery and what type of pain and movement do I have now. My pain is zero and I feel about 75% normal- all I really want is to be able to eat a gigantic hamburger. The other 20-30 minutes the therapist did stretches and massaging of my jaw at the joints. Lots of pushing and pulling it open-which didn't hurt and actually felt kind of nice. He also went over some exercises I should be doing at home to help get the muscles and joints working. I have an appointment with the physiotherapist once a week for the next two weeks. He also mentioned a therapy device called a jaw-jack that works much like a car-jack to help with at home exercises and maintaining work that is done at the sessions. I'm really excited to get back to normal and am feeling positive about it all. The therapist also said that we won't know if the disc is problem or if it is just very stiff muscles until we get more motion.

Day 56- Canadian turkey day & orthodontist visit

It feels like ages have passed since my oral surgery and very little has changed since my last post. I've seen the oral surgeon a couple of times since and they were only 5 minute appointments. The surgeon I've been working with for the past two years leading up to the surgery has actually gone on medical leave so a different surgeon has been looking after my recovery appointments. All he does is look at my face and ask me to open and close my mouth a couple of times, tell me how often and where to wear my elastics, and then sends me on my way.

I also had my thanksgiving dinner since the last post, everyone at home is impressed with how well I've recovered and am eating. They did see me a week after my my mouth was released from its prison- so this is quite a difference. Still numb all along my chin and lower lip and I can open almost two fingers worth. (If that makes sense).

Today I saw the orthodontist to get my surgical lugs removed- super happy about that since my bottom lip was starting to look really awful even though I can't feel it. Unfortunately I still can't open super wide so it was hard for them to take off the lugs and put a new wire in. Although my orthodontist is referring me for physiotherapy, he thinks that my limited range of motion is from a displaced disc, I've watched a couple of videos on TMJ and what is actually happening to the joints and I feel like it's dead on for what my problem is. That pain I had in my temples may have been related to the joint being squished. This video I watched explained it really well. TMJ & disc displacement animation

Learning about what may be happening to has sort of freaked me out a little, I keep wondering if my recovery would be the same if I would be been able to see my original surgeon and get those wires out a week earlier. I guess there's no use dwelling on the past and the disc displacement may not even be my problem. I'm hoping I'll hear from the physiotherapist soon. I really miss hamburgers and this limited movement is getting old.

I now only have to wear my elastics for 8 hours a day which is super awesome. Before I was supposed to wear them as often as I could (surgeon's words not mine).

6 weeks post 

7 weeks post

Day 34- Updates & comparisons

I haven't forgotten about the blog :)

For the most part I'm back on a "normal" diet and a regular schedule. I'm eating lots of scrambled eggs and I'm migrating to more solid food. I've been eating ground beef, some soft chicken, noodles and pancakes. It makes me so happy to actual eat with spoons and forks, even if the utensils can't actual fit in my mouth. It's still a very messy process, lots of food on my chin and face and sometimes I prefer to eat with my fingers since I can actual tell when the food is close enough to my mouth. Eating meat again is definitely a good change, it gives me more energy and makes me feel more full.

I saw the surgeon this week too and he told me I didn't have to wear my elastics during the day anymore just at night- which has been a big change for me. I feel less pressure to eat when the elastics are off so I'm eating more and more often. I'm trying to get used to talking now with my teeth not "wired" together.

Comparing my week three to week two was a big difference. I had a lot more energy and didn't feel so tired- knowing this I wouldn't of gone back to work two weeks after the surgery even though they were only half days. But I guess you live and learn.

Difference between week three and four was a good change too! I moved from doing half days at work to full days. I've been going home to eat at lunch and I start running out of gas around 3pm but I'm glad to be back at work and feeling normal.

Even this week the difference between how wide I could open my mouth at the beginning and now feels huge to me.
I can tell I'm so much happier this week and feel more like myself.
My next check up with the surgeon is one week away and an orthodontist appointment is three weeks away. I think the hard part is almost over, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel

4 weeks

3 weeks 

Sept 25th

Sept 20th

SO MUCH MORE ROOM FOR FOOD!!!!

Day 19 &20- Experimenting with food

Spending time back in my hometown was nice, got to spend some time with family and friends. I think they were surprised how well I'm recovering. Lots of questions about my diet and struggles I'm having. Questions too about the procedure that I under went and I can't really explain it other than they cut the bone and moved it forward. So I've started just giving them the actual procedure name for them to google it: bilateral sagittal split osteotomy.

My mom helped me eat some alphagetti when I went to her house. It took about 40 minutes to eat maybe a cup worth and was super messy. I had to eat each little pasta letter individually even with my elastics off. My mom also made me some sweet potatoes. Microwaved the potato for a couple of minutes and then mashed it up with some nutmeg and my ensure supplement drink. For breakfast she mushed up some banana and peanut butter with milk and yogurt. So I've graduated from totally blended liquid diet to squished/mashed food. I'm grateful I've got that gap in my teeth, it helps a lot to get the food in.

Going grocery shopping with my mom was really useful, I told her how I'm usually too tired to prepare a whole meal for myself and eat it afterwards. So we looked at a lot of food that is super easy to prepare. Got myself some instant mashed potatoes, beets, flavoured tofu (dessert ones are delicious) and some childern's liquid advil to help with my head pain.

I've noticed when I'm experiencing head pain especially around/in my ears I'm sensitive to loud sounds and changes in elevation - I don't know if others have experienced this.

The second elastic I'm supposed to wear that goes all the way to back of my teeth has become nearly impossible to change and put new ones on each day. I don't know how the surgeon thought I could get back there everyday and do it. The inside of my mouth is swollen and weird from all that is going on in there. The hooks are so close to my gums the struggle to get the elastics on isn't worth it. So this weekend I've only been wearing one on each side. Maybe I'll call the ortho and tell them about the struggles, if it is that important to wear two elastics on each side.

Widest I can hold my mouth open with elastics off