Friday, June 26, 2009

7th week

It has been 7 weeks today since the big O. I've let myself get so hungry that I (drat!!) managed to get a migraine. I guess that would be one of the reasons for getting a migraine..

Monday, June 22, 2009

Improvement

Went to see my ortho today. After another week of elastics, the distance of the open bite has gotten smaller by 0.5mm(only?). Since i mentioned to her that the elastics don't feel as tight as the first few days i wore them, she gave me another packet of elastics which had elastics smaller than the ones i previously used. Which means, the tension will be tighter. Ok..
I opened my mouth as big as i could for her to trim the cusp of the 8th tooth. After trimming, closing the bite was a bit better.

at 5th week

at 6th week..

tita! gap is closer no? notice the elastics wound around the 4 front teeth (the kobayashi hooks).

Saturday, June 20, 2009

6th week

urm.. 6th week was yesterday.
Not much to report. i've had to put on one more elastic band on the front part every night apart from the two (one on the left and one on the right) which are put on almost 24 hours a day 'cept when i need to eat.
Still on soft diet. Ate maggi noodles a few times. Easy to slurp down. I don't have enough confidence to eat out except when i'm sure the food i'm about to partake is soft and won't leave me having to worry if i'd make a mess of it or not. :)

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Food for the toothless

Tofu sprinkled with preserved radish

Steamed Tilapia ala Tom Yam

These two delicious dishes that don't need much chewing I had at Restoran Sedap at Hilltop. A very dear friend of mine treated me to this sumptuous lunch. No rib-eye steaks yet but these are just fine.


Monday, June 15, 2009

Extended leave..

The OS gave me 2 more weeks of medical leave. (relief...) Friends at work think I had a beauty make-over or something. Am sort of glad I won't have to go to work so soon and disappoint (or gladden) some enquiring minds. Anyway, can't really talk as much as my work requires me to. Then there's food issue.. What to eat aa.. where to eat..

say aaa...

My dad cooked some Tilapia dish on saturday. Small sized they were but delicious none the same. Went to my grandma's yesterday after calling her and asking whether she had Tilapia or not. She didn't recognize my voice! Maybe I sounded different than the times I had my teeth wired. Anyway, she said she had some fish. Two hours later I was at her place and the Tilapias were ready for eating!! I ate three ikur of delicious fish.. Next week datang lagi..

Saturday, June 13, 2009

5 weeks post op

Technically it was yesterday. The 5th week, i mean. Haven't gained back the weight I lost after going through 4 weeks of being wired. I don't feel like eating. I feel like it's such tedious work. I knowla i have to eat. i don't mind drinking my Ensure. But it can fill me up for 2-3 hours only. The other day I was at a camp and this friend whom i haven't seen in months gestured me over and asked why i looked plump. Umm... I was in uniform then, the uniform hid my body frame. i guess he mistook my swollen face for being plump.

My ortho put me on elastics to stabilize my upper and lower teeth alignment (i think that's what she said.) if the offending molar on my upper right won't shift back to position, it might have to go.. Sigh.. but it won't be pulled out until i can open my mouth wider.

Ability to open mouth : 1 finger's breadth (still)
eye : left eye still can't close properly. tho if forcefully done, i can fully close it now.
teeth : lower front teeth aren't as tender to touch as last week. upper front teeth feels better than lower.

My left cheek used to be more rounded than my right. Now, my left cheek is just this mass of swollen skin. Ooyee...

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Pop goes the weasel

I had actually tapau-ed the steamed fish because we couldn't finish it at the restaurant. So, that late afternoon, i had another go at the fish. This time I had it with a half-boiled egg. While maneuvering the fish and the egg around my palate, I heard a soft popping sound. After a while i began to really notice the sound. The pop- pop sound came when I was trying to make chewing motion with my jaws. I can't really chew yet so I was sort of practicing the movement. The sound came from my left jaw. Hm...

I had maggi for breakfast this morning. Huh.. it's not exactly nutritious but it's just something different. I could hear the soft 'popping' sound again.

Movements:
Eyebrow : minute creasing on immobile left
eye : inability to fully close left eye still. still practicing forcefull closure
nose : left nostril still unable to kembang :) heheh
cheek : slight pain when the spot next to the left nostril is pressed. left cheek not as rounded as right. palsy effect still around.
lip : lower left quadrant still numb. so's the gingiva (gums) If not careful, drooling happens..
chin : numb. tingling and sometimes an itchy sensation occurs, though when I put my hand up to scratch the itch, i can't feel a thing.
smile : still lopsided. If I do laugh, my right eye would become a mere slit while the left remain rounded (very eery... i think). However, there is a slight improvement with the crease of the smile on my left.

Friday, June 5, 2009

I'm free!!

It took two docs and a male nurse about 1 hour to clip off all the wires, eyelets in my mouth. I know it would be almost painless elsewhere to have this procedure done, but my heart felt as if it was nearly yanked out of my mouth.. many a times. The doc asked whether I wanted an LA, local anaesthetic but I opted for the spray only.

The occlusion isn't satisfactory said my OS after the two young docs finished what they were assigned to do. I think so too. The premolar and the last molar of my upper right seem to not mesh well with the bottom teeth. Those are some of the things my ortho doc will have to figure out how to fix.

And yes... had steamed fish and some braised tofu for lunch. It didn't matter I could only open about a finger's breadth of my mouth. I mashed the tofu and fish with the back of the spoon and gingerly pushed it between my teeth. Oih... delish...

And just now I could drink in gulps (not sips) the plain water I had poured into the tupperware tumbler.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Tomorrow's the day

Tomorrow will be exactly 4 weeks since the BSSO( Bilateral split sagital osteotomy). I'll bedewired! That's a welcome thought. Means i'll be able to eat, even thought that means soft diet still. At least i'll be eating, not drinking. However, i am dreading the process of taking off the surgical hooks. If having the wires stitched into my gums was quite the ordeal, i hope them being taken off will be only half the pain. I sometimes wonder where my threshold for pain come from.. really sears/serates through the heart.. the pain does...

I am still at 52.5kg. I take vitamins and supplements every morning. I've not beeen taking painkillers for 1 week now. I haven't had a migraine in more than 4 weeks (knock wood).

I will have my splint out also tomorrow. Aaggh... the slime that i can almost taste from within this enclosure of teeth. This tongue that feels almost furry with 1 month accumulated gunk from milk, porridge, eggs, needs a good scraping and cleaning.

My visit to the eye clinic on Tuesday was as expected. Appointment at 10am. Came at 9.30am. My turn only came at near 12pm. How prosaic. Jejune day it was not. Had a book to accompany me. Schindler's List.

Pakar mata and Head of the Eye Dept, Dr. Shuaibah checked me eye, flashed some light on both eyes, interviewed me some, enlightened me some. All seem not to be too bad. out of the 12 facial nerves, nerve 5 could've been affected due to the surgery. She can't be sure how severe the injury is but 'insyaAllah... it will heal tho it will take time'. Sigh. She recommended eye-lid exercise. Prescribed me some vitamins to help with the nerve recuperation and and also for some eyedrops.

Sigh.

I'm still lopsided on the left side of the face. So's the smile.