a couple pictures

hmm

It's kind of funny, I've read alot of blogs where people aren't sure what they think of their new face right away. In every one of those though, I've always thought wow they look so much better now! but I find myself doing the same thing. I mean don't get me wrong, I love my new profile and the fact that my whole front teeth aren't showing...but...It's weird to change this much I guess...I know the swelling is still substantial and I will continue to look different for weeks and even months. It's still weird for my face to be around 6mm shorter though...I feel so chubby looking. I've been compared to a chinese anime cartoon. Plus my skin problems aren't helping...I've felt like i've had a sunburn...my skin is continually peeling. I did go to my grandparents on sunday where I got alot of good reviews though...my aunt said I looked 10 years older (hmmm...I'm only 24 so I seriously hope not), my grandpa looked at me and said, "You look great corey!" Awww...My grandma said she was really happy to see me and that I looked great too :-). My sister laughed at me but that's just what she does...I think tomorrow I'll fix my hair and play with my makeup...I'll take some pictures tomorrow. ok, done complaining. Thanks for listening :-)

day 15

I feel like I'm healing sooo slowly...still can't move my lips or barely talk...the splint doesn't help with that. pain in my jaw joints...it feels so awkward to bite into my splint sometimes..I feel like i'm having to posture my jaw forward to bite into the splint right, but it's getting better...I guess...has anyone else felt like that with the splint? As far as good news goes I can finally eat with a spoon (to an extent) and the easiest things to eat are things that stick to the spoon but that I don't have to chew...pumpkin pie is perfect! lol. Also was able to eat a baked potatoe. I think I'm going to end up living off of spaghetti o's, baked potatoes, pudding, and pumpkin pie!
Here's my "normal" looking x-ray

day 9...stitches out!

Chris has done a wonderful job putting up with my disgustingness and drooling and making me food. thank you and I love you!

here's my tiny stitches!


they were startin to get irritated :-(

I don't think that even once the swelling goes down that i'll be able to close my mouth still but i'm ok with that because it's such a HUGE improvement. He also said that my nose would not completely straighten out but that he did straighten the inside of it? I didn't quite understand..he said i had a deviated septum and that if i want to get it taken care of i have to wait at least six months....uhhh....no more surgery for me thank u. I can already breathe so much better through my nose and alot of swelling still has to go down. Also, still can't move my lips. :-(
Look at that tiny chin! My case must have been super bad...the surgeon always used the words "severe, really bad, really very severe, and severely bad" to describe me...and we got absolutely no fight from the insurance company, they looked at my case and threw me the money lol.


My The CHARLI!!!

Also, in the spirit of before and after pics...a Shihtzu named autumn that I groomed (I think I fixed the ear after I took the picture)


(it wasn't a full haircut or anything but it's a cute dog)

day 8

It hurts. But at least i'm not completely bedridden anymore. I stopped taking the tylenol with codeine last wednesday, I just take ibuprofen every 4 hrs or so and my antibiotic...which i will finish today! yey! The congestion has gotten better but I still have to breathe through my mouth, my nose is still pretty crooked. I actually just got most of my feeling back in my left cheek when I woke up this morning. Speaking of waking up...I probably got about 3 hours of sleep and i'm so tired. The skin on my face has been very dry and peeling..has this been an issue for anyone else? I generally don't have dry skin. Yesterday my rubber band broke, and since I don't see the surgeon until wednesday I asked Chris to call and ask if it's ok to leave the rubber bands off...he said that was fine. without the rubber bands I got to see how wide i could open (maybe 1 finger) and I was actually able to get my baby toothbrush all up inside my mouth! yey! I think I'm gonna try to go for a short walk around the neighborhood tonight...gotta wait for dark though, don't want anyone to see me a-droolin!

I look like CRAAP

but that's ok, eventually i'll get to post a pretty picture.
I'm starting to get that yellow bruising all over my neck too...and my IV hand :-(
My lovely sisters doing..obviously i don't remember this..

Before the carnage....when i could still wear clothes...

me in all my chubby-cheeked, crack ho glory

I'm hoping my nose will straighten out as the swelling goes down.
Here's my "No chin" picture...

and magically...a chin! (not magically, more like lots of blood and chopping and drugs later...)

Hopefully next time i post pictures i will look presentable...oh well though...

Home

Well, this won't be long because i get tired so easily and for some reason looking at this computer screen makes me a little nauseous.
I got to the hospital on monday at 5:30am and the surgery started (I was told) around 8:20...I was out by 7:30 so I have no idea what they did for that hour. The surgery last about 5 1/2 hours but it only seemed like a few minutes to me of course. I woke up in recovery with a nurse that was kind of rough on me... i remember I got upset when he touched my IV....so i threw up a bunch of blood on him...right when they were about to wheel me to my room :-)
Later that night, my surgeon came to check on me and I threw up a bunch of blood on him too...I felt bad about that one though, he was so nice he actually got me all cleaned up and was ordering the nurses around. I would expect a doctor to make the nurses do the dirty work but he was right there taking care of me and cleaning me up. My family got a little grossed out at that point I think...but it felt so good to get all that blood out of my stomach. I remember my dad got a little woozy when he first saw me out of surgery. I do look kind of like a frog/homeless/crack ho...I don't have button up shirts so i'm walkin around in my bikini top.
It is very uncomfortable to not be able to breathe out of your nose at all...thankfully i only have 2 rubber bands and can keep my mouth open to breathe. I have a splint in the roof of my mouth that makes it hard to swallow and everything that i try to eat gets stuck in it...and i can't clean in out. I use a turkey baster to try to flush my mouth out but it doesn't work that well...I have gotten alot of blood clots out that way though. My neck is killing me, especially when i first wake up...i think the roof of my mouth hurts the worst though. I got out of the hospital around 10:30 on tuesday night and went to the doctor for x-rays on wednesday. I cried when the lady stuck those things into my ears for the x-ray. poor lady, she felt so bad. It was so weird to see my x-rays...they looked normal (minus all the metal and my chin all up and out), i'm so used to seeing an outline that looks so abnormal and odd. Now it's normal! but it hurts! Probably the worst part for me in the hospital was the IV. it hurt SO BAD when they would put meds into it...they had to switch it from my left hand to my right wrist and it STILL HURT. What killed me though is I would be crying and the nurse would laugh and say "oh you should just feel pressure"..??? If by pressure you mean intense, burning, sharp, pain...then yes, it feels like pressure.
I'm sorry this is all over the place, i have to stop now...not feeling so good...i will post pictures later though!

Tomorrow!!

is the day!!! I'm so ready for this to be over! my stomach is in a million tiny knots. We cleaned the whole house yesterday...
i don't know what I should bring to the hospital..hmm... this time tomorrow, MORPHINE!!! gah, i'm freakin out. I keep thinking about that episode of the simpsons where moe has plastic surgery and then a wall falls on his face and it goes back to the way it was. :-(. I'm FreAKIN OUT MAN!!

Pre-Surgical appt

It was last wednesday....I found out they're going to widen my upper jaw slightly which means I get to wear a splint for 5 weeks! woohoo! :-(
He also said that when he did the practice surgery on the models that my lower jaw actually came forward alot more than he was expecting it would...which means I may not need the genioplasty. which would be nice. then we would get that $2600 back! He said he would be making that decision based on what happens in the surgery. He said the surgery would take 4 hrs, maybe a little longer.
I've been in alot of pain this week...I've had the same migraine since sunday, the ibuprofen just dulls it enough that I can get through the day...This surgery better work! 9 more days! woot!
(getting a mani pedi on tuesday and a haircut on fri!!!! yeyyyy!!! Love tips!! and I got more coming the next couple days with all my request customers coming in before I'm out of work for a while!)