A week later

Yesterday it was one week after the surgery, so I thought I'd hare some post-op progress info and photos!

When I got home to my boyfriends apartment, I went straight to bed. Even though the flight went surprisingly well, it took all my energy. This week has been bit of a blur to be honest, I haven't done much except resting in bed, getting lots of sleep, so the days blend into each other.
I got medium strength and strong pain killers prescribed, as well as anti-nausea pills. I've started stepping down, and now only take the medium strength 30 minutes before I brush my teeth.

The pain has been so-and-so. The painkillers help, but only to an extent. The upper jaw gum is totally numb, and my upper lip was/is often stuck to my upper braces. It makes talking, drinking, eating and smiling/laughing very painful. My lips are always dry, I'm glad I got the hospital grade lip balm, it's a saviour!
Now a week later I feel it's a bit easier to talk, but since I'm stepping down on my pain killers, laughing and smiling is still FUCKING painful! I didn't even know this was going to be a problem...

I can't kiss my boyfriend either :(

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On Thursday, only 3 days after the surgery, I went to my orthodontist to have him do a check up.
Since easter break was just around the corner we had to push the appointment 4 days earlier, so I was still VERY sore and swollen. I was very anxious, because he has a history of being cold and not very understanding. Lo and behold, the first thing he does is basically turn my upper lip to the side, instantly making me cry.. He didn't say or do anything to calm me down, he just asked me question about if the hospital said when to start turning my expander, I was like "??? DUDE?? Are you serious??" in my head, while frantically trying to stop crying. He went walking around the clinic on the lookout for the expander tool, so I sat up and calmed down.
He never found the handle for the expander tool, so I just got what looked like a bent paper clip to take home. Good thing about this orthodontist is that every visit is super short, so you're out the door before you know it.
Just after that appointment I started to see the tooth gap, and I got a bit excited!

Otherwise I've been out at the grocery store, buying all kinds of mushy food. I also bought Wii Fit U and the balance board, so I can start working out when I feel better!

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Eating:
Smoothies
Mushy toodler food
Cereals (esp. Weetabix, not anything supercrunchy)
Mashed potatoes
Protein drinks
15kr processed mushy pasta dishes

...and that's basically it. I've lost a bit of weight too quickly, which have resulted in dizzyness and feeling faint all the time. I've gotten better at eating, but it's really taken a toll on my body.

Anyway.

Progress photos!
Here I have photos from 5(!) angles from the 7 past days. You can really see how shiny and sweaty-looking I get when the swelling is on the worst. I look absolutely dreadful!
Just click on the photos to make them bigger (They will open in the foreground)

You can see the swelling has gone down considerably, but the little swelling that still lingers will stay the for quite some time, I think. It'll take some weeks before I'm "back to normal"


Turning the expander: 

This hasn't gone super smooth, but now I'm getting the hang of it!
Like I mentioned I got an expander tool, that I put into a hole in my expander. I'll just post a how-to video that I found on YouTube, because it's very hard to film this doing this to yourself!

As you can see, you get a easy-to-use handle, I only got the little metal part. I always try to turn with my head tilted a bit forwards, so I don't get the pin stuck in my throat if I drop it..

The turning itself doesn't hurt at all, it's just a bit uncomfortable. You feel pressure, if you're familiar with having braces, just imagine that pressure feeling in your head, it's really weird! So it's not the hardest thing to do, luckily!

This is my tooth gap as of today:
Pardon the gross close up.

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I guess that's it!
I think I got everything covered, but if you have any questions about anything about this process, just leave a comment!

Now I just have to heal up properly this next week, I have another orthodontist appointment in a week. I just hope it won't hurt as much this time around.