A question for those who have had upper jaw surgery (Lefort 1)

I am at 13 weeks today. These are the "problems" I'm still having and I want to know if these are similar to anyone else who has had upper jaw advancement. Theses are things I haven't heard discussed much, so I hope I'm not alone.

- The roof of my mouth is still sensitive. If I put pressure on it (with my tounge or something) It feels almost like there is a soft spot it kind of feels "ticklish" and it makes the inside of my nostril feel itchy.

- The muscles in my mid face are still twitchy. When I try to wrinkle my nose it spasms and feels uncomfortable.

- I don't think my incision has fully healed yet. it feels fine on the sides, but the area in the front of my mouth looks a little.. strange. I'm not sure if it's normal, or there just wasn't the best job done on my stitches, but here's a picture to describe what I mean. Only in the front, it looks like there are little pockets or something. It also feels irritated when the doctors slide their finger around it (like it gets in and slices across the "pockets")


-Also as far as everthing goes, the right side of my face is SOO much better than the left. Everything is less swollen, but even stranger, I can eat better on that side, whereas on the left, it still feels strange to eat on that side at all.

That's all!! (for now, haha) Pleaase share any insight on how your healing was at 13 weeks. Thanks guys!

Mo-Mo Weekend 2

It's another Mo-Mo weekend! It is great to see my mom again since surgery! She came to town Friday afternoon and we went to dinner at La Madeline. I figured it would be a good place to go, since I can eat soup and pasta like a pro now. And I actually managed to eat the tomato & cheese croissant pretty easily! My momma' and sister where patient as I made my way through the meal. And it was just so great to enjoy dinner, have great conversation, and a lot of laughs. :)

On Saturday we were "out and about" the whole day! We went to a tile company so my sister could get some samples for her Interior Design project. I wanted to go to the opening of the new Jo-Ann Fabrics store. We got a cute metal pumpkin sign to hang on my front door, and some other Halloween decor (they were insanely well priced) and I stocked up on hotglue sticks (which, it sounds funny that I would be so excited over that, but I got 40 HUGE sticks for only $2, which would probably cost me $14 normal priced.) Yeah, I use a lot of hot glue in my projects, so I was stoked. My mom thinks I must be the easiest person to please.

We went to the mall so I could pick up a pair of pants I had purchased earlier, and then we went to Gringo's for dinner. I saw James, a waiter that me and my sister are really familiar with and he didn't even think it was me at first. He said he couldn't be sure when he saw me, but came over because he recognized my sister. He said Stina and I used to look exactly alike and now we look totally different from each other.
This is similar to another experience I had at my orthodontist. Even though I don't think my sister an I look exactly alike, everyone always thinks we're twins. When we went to schedule another appointment one day, one of the ladies there said "Oh, you want to schedule ppointments at the same time- are y'all really good friends or something?"
"We're sisters."
"Oh really?"
(then the other lady comes up from behind us who has only seen me before surgery)
"Oh they're twins!"
"No, haha, we're just sisters"

it just makes me kind of anxious of how different I really look. I see me when I look in the mirror, but the moment I smile or if I see myself from far away I don't really see me.
I worry about what is actual change and what is just swelling or lack of movement in my mid face.

Bah! I'm ranting again.

Anyway, the weekend was great regardless, and I miss my mom already! She's so enjoyable to have around. :)

11 Weeks

I can't believe it's been 11 weeks since surgery!

So far- Eating soft foods easily.
Still weird to yawn. It is very tight and uncomfortable.
When I wrinkle my nose it spasms and is uncomfortable.
Area in the cheeks and around the nose and the nose is still swollen.
Skin is still rebellious and oily since surgery.
I still have a slight over-bite. I kind of figured it would have moved back a little by now like they said it would. hmm.

A couple days ago, I had a Chinderella moment. It looked like the mid-line in my upper jaw was going slightly to the left. When I put a ruler down the center of my nose and upper lip, it looked as it it had shifted 1-2mm to the left. After I went to the Orthodontist this tuesday, I asked him and he gave me a single diagonal band, and the problem has completely dissapeared, so that's good.
I get my (hopefully last) wire in two weeks. I'm excited being done with braces. Hopefully they will be off by Christmas!

I finally saw Dr. Largent (the resident who performed my surgery) today! It was the first time he had seen me since surgery. I was really surprised to see him, so it was nice. Unfortunately, Leibold wasn't there, nor were the digital projections that I was hoping to see. I was under the impression that was the only real reason I was going in, but it's ok because seeing Dr. Largent was worth it. He said he was very happy with my result, and the my surgery went as good as it gets.
I asked him about this "soft spot" on the left side roof of my mouth that I feel sometimes while drinking out of a straw or when I swallow certain foods when it presses against the roof of my mouth. It comes and goes so I really hadn't thought to ask about it until now. He looked at me a little puzzled. He response was mostly "huh. that's weird." and that was the end of it! So, I guess it's nothing too serious. Have any of you ortho-bloggers experienced this phantom soft spot?

I think it's funny when the doctors ask if I'm happy with my result.. like.. how do I respond to that? I usually respond with a positive and reassuring "Yeah! I love it!" but I'm kinda thinking ".. after my weird nose goes back to normal, my face is no longer puffy, and I regain motion in my mid-face... THEN we'll see if I'm happy."

Here's today's recovery pic:


And be sure to wish Holly a safe and smooth procedure, because she's getting her second jaw surgery tomorrow! Good luck Holly! Second times a charm!