jaw surgery; 6 weeks on

I apologise for this post being 6 weeks and a day on, however I have been to the hospital this afternoon and wanted to keep you updated on what occurred there. I was hoping that they would let me take my elastic bands off my brace, but unfortunately they haven't. Instead I've been given elastic bands of a different size and I'm going back again in 4 weeks. Hopefully they will take them off then as they are annoying me so much; I don't know how something so small can be so irritating!

As you can see, my face looks pretty much normal now, although I still have a little swelling under my chin and along my jaw line, but that is to be expected considering what the procedure actually entailed. I have seen a video on youtube of someone else undergoing the same procedure as myself, and even as a person that is not usually bothered by things like that, I did feel a little squeemish and astonished with how rough they can be. For those who are interested, you can watch the video here, but I do warn you, it's gross and not for the faint hearted.

Other than the swelling, I am pretty much back to normal. I no longer get tired, I have very little pain anymore although my jaw still feels a little fragile, and I am over the moon to say that I can eat normal meals again. Eating takes a long time as chewing is weird with my new bite, but I am improving. Hopefully now I can start to put some of the weight that I lost in those first few weeks back on. I had a bit of pain last week after my mum elbowed me in the jaw accidentally but that has thankfully gone now and no lasting damage was done. My chin is and lower lip is still slightly numb, but my folliculitis is getting better and the rash is clearing up nicely.

In these past 2 weeks I have seen a lot of family, and most of them were amazed with a) how much of a difference the surgery made and b) how quickly the swelling has gone down in such a short space of time. Both are something that I too am impressed with. I would also like to thank my family and friends for all the support they have given me over these past weeks, without which I wouldn't have been half as optimistic about my recovery as I have been.

Six weeks post op seems to be a pretty big milestone, as this was the period I was told originally that things would seem like normal. I am absolutely made up with the results of surgery and already my confidence is on the up. I would certainly go through it all again for the same results!