Monday, November 30, 2015

Recovery Week 4: November 23-29, 2015

My recovery continues to go well. I feel better and have more energy after every week. I had a follow up appointment with my Surgeon on Monday. He said everything is looking and healing well. I go back to see Him in two weeks.

As far as pain I really don't have any in my jaw or face, just an occasional nerve recovering that tingles. There is still a tiny bit of swelling left in my face (mostly on the right side), and still some numbness in my bottom lip and chin. The Surgeon said that it can take up to six months for all the nerves to recover, and all the numbness to go away, so everything is normal there.

My hip and thigh are still sore from the bone graft, but his is normal as well. The Surgeon and his Nurse told me that being more active and walking will really help with that. I was much more active this week and have noticed a difference.

Thursday was of course Thanksgiving. I hope yours was great! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! It was cold and snowy here in Colorado Springs, but beautiful. Our family spent the morning at home, and the evening at my Parents house with them, and my Brother and his Wife. It was a good day!

One note about Thanksgiving. For my liquid diet, I have stuck with a lot of powders, soups, pre-made meal replacement shakes, yogurt, apple sauce, and the like. I have not really tried blending and drinking a "normal" meal. So, on Thanksgiving, I decided to give it a go. My Dad has a Vitamix blender, so in went some; turkey (white & dark), stuffing, yams, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, gravy, cranberry sauce, a little riesling (a sweet white wine), and some water to thin it all out. Surprisingly, it tasted okay and did not make me vomit. It was very strange drinking my Thanksgiving meal, but I am grateful I was able to have it. Good times indeed. Here is a picture of me with my blended Thanksgiving dinner.

Want to try my liquid Thanksgiving dinner?
Overall, I am feeling pretty good. I am growing weary of the liquid diet, but I don't want to mess anything up or knock some of my teeth out, so I will stay the course. Hopefully, if all continues to go well, I will be able to start chewing food in two weeks. Here are some updated picks of how my face is looking.

You can see the right side of my face is a little swollen still compared to the left side.


Thanks to the many who have reached out with kind words, thoughts, and prayers for my recovery. As always, thanks for taking the time to read my blog. I pray that God blesses you and your family.

Monday, November 23, 2015

Recovery Week 3: November 16-22, 2015

Monday I had a follow up appointment with my Surgeon. He said that my healing was ahead of schedule and everything was looking great. The drive to and from his office was not fun as a major storm was rolling into Colorado. It normally takes about 50 minutes to get home from the Surgeon's office, because of the weather and traffic, it took my Mom and I a little over two hours to get home. Thanks for driving me Mom!

Also I decided to try going through the day without taking any pain medication to see how I would feel with out it. For the most part I felt fine. I did end up taking some before bed to help me sleep.

Tuesday...HOLY SNOW BATMAN!!! A snow storm/ blizzard that started last night made for a a family snow day at home. Carmen's school was canceled and Sarah called into work, because she did not want to risk a car accident driving in the snow, ice, wind, etc. There was really no option for her, because she would not have been able to get out of our driveway or neighborhood. Several cars were stuck in the streets in our neighborhood. I did try to shovel some snow, but I could not do much as my right hip/ pelvis began to ache where the bone graft was taken. Overall though, I felt pretty good today and we had a nice family snow day at home. I went without my pain medicine until I went to bed again. Here are some pictures of the snow.





Wednesday was a lot like Tuesday. School canceled for Carmen, and Sarah had to call in to work due to the amount of snow still at the bottom of our driveway and in the street. Still no way either of our cars would make it through the 3-5 feet of snow piled there. We had another nice family day at home. Sarah and a few neighbors shoveled enough of a path to be able to at least get Sarah's car out of the driveway in the morning. One neighbor even stopped by with a snowblower and helped for a little bit. Other than my hip still a little sore from shoveling on Tuesday, I felt really good. My Dad with my brother's help brought his snowblower in the evening over for us to use tomorrow. I did once again take some pain medicine before bed.


Thursday Sarah was back to work, Carmen was back to school, and Uriah went to his normal Thursday child care. I had the day to myself to rest. I did use the snowblower for a few hours and make enough room to get my car out of the garage. However, I noticed that it was not working properly as all the blades were not spinning. I called my Dad to let him know. I might have over done it a bit as my hip area got pretty sore again.

Later that evening my Dad came over to the house to look at the snowblower with me. Turns out it's an easy fix as there are the pins in the axel that are designed to sheer off if the blades get stuck to prevent massive damage to the axel or differential of the snowblower. Then my Mom and Dad, said "You can keep this snowblower." What? Thank you Mom and Dad!!! Turns out since my parents moved and downsized my Dad felt this snowblower was too big for his little driveway and wanted a much smaller one, so he purchased a smaller one and gave me his! This will be a huge blessing for Sarah and I.



Also one last note, for the first time I took no pain medicine at all, even forgot before I went to bed.    
Friday, Uriah & I were together all day. Since I had not been taking the pain medicine I decided to drive for the first time today. I went to the the store to get some of the sheer pins to fix the snowblower. When we got home Uriah and I fixed the snowblower and cleared some more.

Saturday was Uriah's 5th Birthday! We celebrated with him most of the day and I felt pretty good.



Sunday, we went to Church & watched some football. The kids went to Grandma & Grandpa's house for a sleep over, so Sarah and I had a nice quiet evening at home.

Overall this was a good week of healing for me. I felt much better and had a lot more energy. My hip and thigh are still sore from the bone graft, but the Surgeon said that would be the case. The incision is healing well though. I still have some numbness in my chin and bottom lip, but really no pain in my jaw or teeth. The swelling in my face is almost gone. I have been able to take off the rubber bands to eat (well drink) one meal, and brush my teeth with them out each day. That has been really nice, because as you can imagine having your jaw held shut by rubber bands is not much fun. Also I have been able to go without pain medicine since Wednesday night which is nice, because that means, I can drive myself again and don't have to rely on others to drive me around. Here are some pictures of my face so you can see that it's almost my new normal.




As always, thanks for taking the time to read my blog, and for caring about my recovery from surgery. I pray God blesses you and your family!

Monday, November 16, 2015

Recovery Week 2: November 9-15, 2015

Recovery week two was better than week one. Swelling came down a lot in my face, and pain levels came down a lot as well. I have also been sleeping better this week. I was able to change out my rubber bands that hold my jaw shut a couple times on my own. It nice to be able to take those out and brush my teeth and drink a meal with out them in. I was also able to drink out of a cup some. My chin and bottom lip are still mostly numb, but I am figuring things out.

Monday was a pretty uneventful day. On Tuesday, my Mom took me to a follow up appointment with my Surgeon. It was a good appointment. The Surgeon said things were looking good and healing well.

Wednesday, I was home with my son Uriah. We had a fun day playing games, watching TV, and just hanging out together. In the evening my friend Grant came to hang out. He stayed for dinner and we watched some UFC Ultimate Fighter together. It was great day as it brought some normalcy for me.

Thursday was the roughest day of the week. I was in a bit more pain than the previous few days. I might have did a little too much the day before. I also had some stomach/ constipation issues. Once those resolved I felt much better.

Friday, I had an Orthodontist appointment as they wanted to see how things looked. Thanks again to my Mom for driving me. I was also able to attend my church Life Group on Friday night and that was fun. That was probably the most I have talked since the surgery.  

Saturday, I went to some stores with Sarah and the kids and in the evening watched a UFC PPV at friends house. Saturday was probably the most active I have been since the surgery. It left me pretty tired on Sunday.

Sunday, I went to church and then stayed home and relaxed the rest of the day. One weird thing. The bandage covering the bone graft incision spot came off. This is the first time I have seen that. Here is a picture.

Incision area in my right hip from where the bone graft for my top jaw was taken.

Overall it was a good week. I am feeling better as each days passes. I want to thank all of you who have been praying for me, texting, emailing me, commenting on my facebook page. I appreciate the love, support, and encouragement.

I also want to say thanks to all those who have brought meals for Sarah and the kids. That has really helped out, and Sarah and I are very appreciative of that.

Below are some pictures showing how much the swelling has gone down since last Monday. The pictures on the left are from Monday, November 9, and the pictures on the right are from this morning, Monday November 16.


 

 As always thanks for taking the time to read my blog. May God bless you and your family.

Thursday, November 12, 2015

Recovery Week 1: November 2-8, 2015

So for those of you interested in following along with the journey of recovery after my double jaw surgery and bone graft I will post weekly updates on Mondays. Obviously, I am a little behind on this first one, but it was a long week.

Monday was surgery day, Please click to read my previous blog post about that.

As Tuesday came, I was still in the hospital, but I was lot more in tune with what was going on around me. I was still fairly tired and medicated, but they were planning on sending me home late afternoon/ early evening. I was able to get out of the bed and sit in a chair. I was able to eat, well drink smoothies for breakfast and lunch along with some water and Gatorade. Here are some pictures of how the swelling was Tuesday morning:



During breakfast and lunch Sarah and I learned the process of eating from a syringe for the next few weeks would not be fun. Syringes sometimes glide very smoothly and sometimes they don't. When they don't glide smoothly and you force them a little, the contents inside explode, everywhere. As Sarah and I were figuring out this whole eating from the syringes thing, we both took a food shower or two.

My surgeon came to visit me again on Tuesday, and said that he would start the discharge process for us and wanted us to stop by his office in South Denver (Lone Tree) before we headed home to Colorado Springs.

The nurse came shortly after that and pulled all the tubes out of me (IV & Catheter) except they left a port (actually just an IV) that they put in my hip in the area where they took the bone graft. My Surgeon said he would give us medicine at his office that we could put through that port which in turn would help with soreness/ pain in the bone graft area.

Now it was the very fun process of waiting for your evacuation system to start working again on it's own before you can leave the hospital. Yes this means I had to pee a certain amount before I could leave. It took a bit, but I got it done and then it was off to my Surgeon's office. Below is a picture of me ready to leave the hospital. We were finally able to leave the hospital around 4:45 PM.

Still rocking that fashionable Jaw Bra!
At the Surgeon's office he looked things over, gave us some stuff, showed Sarah and I how to administer the medicine through the port in the bone graft area, and he gave me a portable suction device to use. Then it was off to home. We got home around 6:45 PM.

Wednesday, I just took it easy at home and Sarah I tried to figure out a routine for eating/ medicine etc. My Surgeon told me that today would be the peak of the swelling in my face. Here are a few pictures we took on Wednesday of the swelling.





On Thursday, we had a follow up with the Surgeon. During this visit he pulled the port from my bone graft area, which I thought would hurt, but did not. He took the rubber bands out that hold my jaw shut and let me brush my teeth with out them in, that was glorious. Then came the not fun part. He decided to put a pallet expander in my mouth. This is a metal bar that runs across the roof of your mouth and attached at the second to last molars. He also informed Sarah and I that he wanted me to get a reverse pull mask from my Orthodontist. Joy!

After the bad news, He taught Sarah and I how to change the rubber bands and let us know that we can do that once a day. He also told me I can eat (well drink) and brush my teeth while the bands are out. We did not know this would be the case, so that was nice to know. He also said I can shower as normal which was great news.

On Friday, I went to visit my Orthodontist to get the reverse pull face mask. This thing sucks. It's purpose is to help make sure that my jaw muscles don't try to pull my top jaw backwards, and help everything stay right where the Surgeon and Orthodontist want it.  Here are some pictures.



Saturday & Sunday were pretty uneventful days. My Mom, Dad, Brother, Sister-in-law and few friends stopped by for a visit on Saturday, and that was nice. My parents had been watching our dogs and brought them back to us as well. Mostly, I watched a lot of football and napped on Saturday and Sunday.

All in all, the first week of recovery went fairly well. There were a couple of times where the pain got pretty bad, but the medicine was able to help bring it back to a tolerable level. I am still adjusting to all the numbness in my face. My nose, lips, and chin are still very numb. The first time Sarah and I tried to change out the rubber bands that hold my jaw shut was an adventure as well.

If you took the time to read this whole blog, thanks! I pray that God blesses you and your family.

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Surgery Day: November 2, 2015

My first major surgery is in the books. The day started very early. Sarah and I got up about 3:45 AM as we needed to be to the hospital by 5:30 AM to register and check in. We took the picture below to capture the moment right before we backed out of the garage. 

4:15AM in the car about to drive to the hospital.
We got to the hospital, got through registration, and got checked into the pre-surgery room. My surgery was scheduled to begin at 7:30 AM. Probably the best part of getting ready for surgery is the awesome hospital gowns. They don't really make those for people my size and build. Of course you also have to get your IV. Here's a picture of me in my luxurious hospital gown waiting to be taken to the surgery room. 

Love the pink trim on the hospital gown.
About 15 minutes after the above picture was taken they wheeled me to the surgery room. Once they got me in the room my surgeon & anesthesiologist talked me through some of the details of the surgery, and then it was lights out. The surgery took around 7 hours total.

I have almost no memory of being in recovery after surgery, or being moved to my hospital room. Obviously, I was in and out of sleep a lot. The one thing I do remember is that while in recovery I found out I had been given a catheter before surgery, but after the anesthesia (Surprise!). I remember a nurse in recovery telling me not to pull it out, ha ha. Anyways, here is a picture Sarah took when she was allowed to see me in the recovery room before I was moved to my hospital room.

In recovery, notice my luxurious gown and jaw bra/ oxygen mask accessories completing the look!

In the picture above, the white and blue fabric holds ice packs on my jaw. It's velcroed on my head, and fun fact, is called a, "Jaw Bra." Most of the rest of Monday is a blur. I was in and out of sleep a lot. I remember the nurses taking my vitals and giving me medicine, the Surgeon checking in on me, and trying to to talk to Sarah. Here is a picture I took around 11:30 PM. That is one swollen face!

Swollen face, head bandage, jaw bra, oxygen mask, gown falling off...very attractive!
That pretty much sums up my surgery day. Thanks for following along with the journey. I will be posting weekly updates from here on out on how I am healing. I would greatly appreciate your prayers during the recovery. I will have my jaw wired shut (its actually rubber bands), and on a liquid diet for at least the next six weeks. 

As always if you took the time to read my blog, I pray that God blesses you and your family.

Sunday, November 1, 2015

Time To Rearrange My Face

November 2, 2015 will probably be a day I never forget, because I am having my jaw surgery to fix my under-bite. It's been a long journey to get here. If you need to catch up, you can read these other posts:

Post 1: My New Metal Mouth.

Post 2: My First Surgery.

Post 3: 2nd Level Appeal Approved.

Back to today. Today will be one of the most significant days in this journey. Surgery day has arrived.

The question I seem to get most is, "Are you nervous?"

The answer is, "Yes, I am little nervous."

I have never had a major surgery. I have never been under anesthesia. However, I am as prepared and ready as I can be. I also feel like I have an army of people praying for me, and I take great peace in that. I know God is in control and I am confident everything will go fine.

I am most nervous about the recovery. My jaw will be wired shut for six weeks. I will be on a liquid diet during that time, and on leave from work. I am not exited to have to drink all my meals, but on the plus side, I should have some much needed weight loss.

The next most asked question I get is, "What exactly are they doing to your jaw?" I will spare you the gory details, but the simple answer is they are cutting my top jaw and moving it forward, and adding bone from my hip/ pelvis area (via bone graft), and they will be cutting my bottom jaw and moving it backwards. Then they will use some screws and brackets to put it all back together and wire it shut so it can heal and I can have a proper bite.

I would really appreciate your prayers for my surgery and recovery and for my wife as she takes care of me.

I will post some updates and some pictures after surgery.

As always, if you take the time to read this blog, may God bless you greatly!