Post-op oral surgeon visit #3

Another two minute appointment with Dr. C. Same as last time, basically. First thing he always asks is "How's the diet going?" I said good. He then proceeded to "check my wounds". All good. He looked in my mouth and said "Lovely." Then he told me there's nothing more for him to do, that Dr. J will now take over and "work his magic." I don't have to see Dr. C again until I get my retainer. Yay! No more half-hour drives for a two-minute appointment.

I asked about the residual swelling/stiffness under and around my nose, and Dr. C said he'd done some muscle recontruction there because if he hadn't, my upper lip would have flattened out and been pretty much invisible. Yikes. So he shortened those muscles so my upper lip would look balanced with my lower lip. Which it does. He did a wonderful job there, I must say. I love the new placement and appearance of my lips almost as much as I love my new chin. My lower lip used to look so huge compared to my upper one, and it stuck out and looked even bigger because of my lack of a chin. Now my lips are the right size for my face, and balanced to each other. The lip transformation was the one thing that really surprised me. Pleasantly.

To reduce the stiffness, he told me to do kissing exercises several times a day. Hehe. Like fish lips. Then he demonstrated, which was quite amusing. I almost told him my husband would love this kissing exercise idea, but I was too tired to joke around this morning. So tonight you'll see me sitting in front of the TV watching Grey's and making fish faces like an idiot.

Did I mention that one of the assistants in Dr. C's office looks exactly like Mrs. McCluskey from Desperate Housewives? I almost asked her if she was hiding her husband in her deep freeze. I guess you'd have to watch the show to get that.

I asked about food, of course. Dr. C said I can eat whatever I want as long as it's comfortable for me. Which I've been doing for about a month now. So Saturday? Grilled steak. Awwww yeah.

And that was that.

Can you believe my gum is STILL bleeding from the Floss Incident? It's been weeks and it is not healing. Last night I thought it had healed and when I brushed my teeth, blood came gushing out. Yes, gushing. I was spitting out mouthfuls of it. I have no idea what's going on there. I must have sliced it pretty good. Of course I can't feel it, but it must hurt. I've been swishing with Peridex to try to heal it but it's stubborn. I didn't really mention it to Dr. C but I will let Dr. J know.

An old friend of mine and my hubby's came over the other day and he was freaked out by my new face. We haven't seen him since December. He's known me since high school and he could not get over how different I looked, my face, my smile, and especially my profile. He didn't tell me I looked good, just different, and "not in a bad way." I guess that was a compliment? But everyone, absolutely everyone, tells me "I didn't see anything wrong with the way you looked before." I think that's bat-$hit crazy talk. To me, it's glaringly obvious what was wrong before.

I'm always surprised when people say I look different because I'm so used to how I look now, I don't even remember the old me. I actually forget sometimes that I look different. The transition into this new face has been so seamless for me, so natural, that it shocks me when someone notices a change. So weird.

On April 30, it will be my one year braces anniversary. CRAZY!

I go to Dr. J on May 2, which is also my "2 months post-op" day. I will update with pics next time. Ciao.