Rubber Duck like - Day 22 (May 30)

Just a quick update. By this mark, most of your energy should be returning to you, and you can do most things by now. The one thing I am going to put off is working out for another month so I can live the live as an underactive sedentary person and let the bone heal. Apparently in Toronto it is bike month, from may 30 to june 30, so I feel like I should make the commitment to make some bike rides around the neighbourhood.

My lips feel like rubber! Most of my nerves have come back in my cheeks, but my nose/cheek area and chin area are seemed to have gotten tougher and feel like rubber. I'm going to assume it's a good thing. I can still pucker my lips and everything, but it's my other facial muscles doing the work. Crazy.

For those looking for soup ideas, here are the ingredients to my soup mush that has been a staple in my diet.

Chicken(or ham, any meat, just make sure all of the bones are removed)
Carrots and Peas(easiest when frozen)
Potatos
Onions
Garlic
Salt and Pepper

Simply boil the potato, meat in hot water and when it starts bubbling, let it simmer for an hour. Then add a large amount of carrots and peas, half an onion, some garlic, the salt and pepper and let it simmer for another hour. Everything should be soft enough to blend. Blend it until you get the desired consistency of a green mush and you're ready to go! It's a soup replete with fiber and taste, and it goes down easy. It tastes better than it looks.

Daily picture.

3 weeks post op! - day 21 (May 29)

 I've now hit the 3 week mark! I'd have to say that when I was on day 1 this seemed like a time far, far away, but I'm here. The worst was definitely my first 5-6 days, but now that I can really sleep for 8-10 hours without waking up for antibiotics, and breathe like I should again, I feel like the days aren't dragging on. What a relief.

Talking about breathing, it just so happens that when you have an upper jaw surgery and your palate is moved around, it affects your nose. When your top jaw is brought forward your nose will likely stick up a bit, and when it is expanded it will widen your nose, which is what the surgeon told me. My nostrils feel like they are bigger, and because of that, more air. I'm slowly converting from a mouth breather to a nose breather, such a cool process, and it feels more natural.

My stitches are also starting to come out. I had one outside of my teeth on the bottom and top lip inside my mouth. The top one fell out, and my surgeon cut the bottom one so that the little string part isn't hanging out. Nice.

I'm back to brushing my teeth again twice a day. I can stick my index finger into my mouth, but that's not enough to get my toothbrush all the way in. I can brush the outsides of my teeth and the middle?(part that makes contact with food) but not the inside of my teeth. I can use regular listerine now so it's a pretty thorough brushing. My breath smells minty fresh now on the reg.

If I haven't said it before. This is the best weight loss program ever invented. Thankfully I have hit a plateau and am not losing anymore weight. I've lost 17 pounds since day 8. Ever since then I've managed to stay at this low weight. Haven't went up, haven't went down, and I'm drinking 2 ice cream smoothies a day and a chicken soup with enough peas and carrots to feed an army.  Atkins has nothing on me. Do I crave food? Yes, but liquids in the interim keep me full. I've decided to not attribute negatives to my favourite foods, because when I get out of here, I want to really enjoy my first bite of a Burger King/McDonalds/5 guys/Harveys/Wendys I haven't decided yet Burger. If I train my mind to hate these things, I might not like them(such a flawed logic but I've thought about this a lot). I'd rather just stay positive and love my banana nutella smoothies and keep my mind on these foods.Needless to say, I am light as a feather, I can see my 6 pack, and am pretty well toned. I've also managed to swallow my multivitamins today! Butter me, I'm on a roll.(And wouldn't mind eating one)

Pizza Torture - Day 20 (May 28)

Now that my splint off, I have a pretty good idea of what my new smile is going to look like with my teeth finally lined up and my top teeth touching the bottom ones. I'm just sort of amazed, I haven't really taken it all in yet.  I'm also paranoid that my teeth are not lined up, even though my teeth probably are. For those reasons combined, I will catch myself looking in the mirror and doing a close up my teeth often. Quite frequently actually, as if I'm that vain, haha.

I'm also trying to come to grips on why I'm not really eating food like I used to, since heck, nothing is really stopping me since there's no hardware in my mouth preventing me anymore. I used to blame the splint, but now, it's just my teeth vs. the food, and I still can't really attack soft foods yet. I've realized it's because my jaw joints are still weak, I have to chew up and down(the bones aren't settled), and my top lip muscles are still really quite swollen and moving them is still quite the challenge. They are so numbed, I can only imagine botox to be something similar. I tried a mini french cruller donut yesterday and it was basically me smiling and moving my teeth up and down, and I made a mess. Try chewing only up and down, not side to side, it's impossible!

Now, today my grandpa wanted pizza and so my brother called it in. It just so happened my brother had to leave right then, and everyone else in my family was out of the house. I realized the hole I dug here. I had to pick up the pizza. So I drove to Metro's to pick it up. When I got to the front for pick up, I must have said my name 4 times before the lady put the name to the pizza waiting there. I got it, I'm still hard to understand. She then asked me if I had air miles, but I couldn't understand her for 3 tries(she had an accent, my ears are fine) so I guess we're even. The worst part was the smell. I am a pizza fiend. I drove back home basking in scent of freshly baked meat pizza knowing fully well I can't destroy it with my teeth. You know when you pick up food and the drive home makes you crazy? Well continue that feeling to now where I bring it home and can't eat it. The feeling lasts forever.

Arrivederci Splint! - Day 19 (May 27)

Saw the surgeon this morning and he was kind enough to take out my splint. The inside of my mouth feels huge now. My speech has also improved and my tongue is free to roam my mouth as it pleases. The plan is to start making some pasta with ground up meat sauce.

Here's a picture of me smiling now. My front bracket on my brace broke off, that's because my top jaw was widened and it put a lot of pressure on that brace so it has been broken for some time. My smile still makes me look like a monkey - my surgeon said I'm still quite puffy in the chin and under the eye area, so it's good to hear I have a ways to go.

Here's a view of my splint from the bottom. You can see the little indents of where my bottom teeth would fit flush into.

Here's a view of my splint from the top. The holes are for the wires to run through and around the brackets of braces.  There are also some seeds from strawberries in there if you have a good eye. And some peanut butter. It was hard to clean.

I'm now down to just my braces and elastics. Unbelievable, 19 days post op and I'm here.

Time to cut the couch potato - Day 17 (May 25)

At this point of recovery, I've sat in the reclining chair and watched enough tv that I've caught up on all the shows I watch. Although it's good to be caught up, it also means you've killed a lot of free time. My new plan of recourse is to do some sort of exercise. With a jaw that's still growing into place, it's important to avoid contact sports and any sort of resistance exercises that make you strain your jaw. I'm going to do some biking/running for at least 20-30 minutes daily from now on. I've also put in my contacts, something I haven't done for 18 days. What this also means is that I need to up my caloric intake, because it's already low as I drink 2 smoothies and a high energy soup everyday. I'm taking in over 2L of fluids a day, but my calories are maybe just over 1000kcal if I had to estimate. Far from enough.

Can't wait to see the surgeon this friday, when I get my splint off, hopefully I will be able to down some kraft dinner. We will see. Here's to hoping! Lighting is bad in all of my photos, but I usually just take the first shot regardless.

 

The epiphany - Day 16 (May 24)

I never had thought about it, but putting a banana bread into a smoothie makes the texture just absolutely perfect. Tiny tiny chunks give it just above a liquid feeling and it's almost like eating real food - or what I remember. I've also come to a revelation. As a guy who used to go to Burger King and knock down a 2500kcal meal in one sitting, I'm going to go overboard the instant I can renew my membership there. So much that I actually may fear clogged arteries at the age of 20. Haha... Ha?

I like keeping these blogs brief. Life is great right now, besides insane puffiness in my nose, upper lip and under the eye areas, there is really no difficulty with this recovery. The pain has been virtually non-existent this whole time and I plan on keeping it that way. The goal for me is to be able to go back out and referee soccer next week. I'll be doing lines so I don't have to talk. Oh yeah, and I still sound like mumbling to my family. They always acknowledge me when I talk to them, but I'm sure they are faking it. 

Anyhow I did my 2 week mark photos today. Yes, it's 2 days off but close enough.

Slowly Moving away from the dreaded Syringe - Day 15 (May 23)

Today is the day that I plan on not using my 60ml syringe to feed myself. I have recently developed the skill of putting a cup to my mouth, tipping it back, and trying to gulp what I can, and let me say, I have taken drinking from a cup my whole life for granted. Now for one, I do not use a straw because they saw sucking from a straw can affect incisions in the mouth. I don't know when that rule ends but I am still following it.

Drinking is challenging for several reasons:

- My lips have very little feeling, especially my bottom lip.
- My lips are in a much new orientation that feels so different, being my top lip is now the first thing to touch the cup! If you see in my before op photos my bottom lip used to stick out, and therefore I could just stick my jaw out and drink, now it's weird when your top lip is out first. I finally understand a milk mustache! It happens everytime, even with soup. Riveting.
- I never know where I am pouring, I have poured milk straight onto my chin once and didn't feel it - until it hit my shirt!

All in all, it's a slow process once again, but I'm happy to be getting close to normal. This is what my meal table used to look like for the first 2 weeks:

Over the bathroom sink I would syringe from my apple juice, some boost, some water, and then from a cup to rinse out my syringe. Yuck. That was my daily feast. I am happy to now just drink over the sink with a magic bullet smoothie cup and hope it goes down smoothly. It's challenging but so much more normal looking.

I just want my calories back!

2 week Anniversary! - Day 14 (May 22)

I've finally hit the 2 mark and I would like to thank everyone who has taken a read of this blog! Really thanks a lot, if it was just looking at the pictures, reading an entry, or reading the entire thing I appreciate it! The cool thing about blogspot is that it lets you see which countries have been reading the blog. Although most of my views are Canadian, I'm getting plenty of views from the US, UK, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany and France just to name a few! Thanks to all of you!

I'm now 2 weeks in and everything is getting better. Sleep is now extending past 8 hours+, there was no huge rapture yesterday, smoothies aren't tasting so bad, and I went out for a half an hour bike ride yesterday around the neighbourhood.

For the 2 week mark I managed to go through the camera and find my pre operation pictures as well as the 1 week post op photos.I hope you all can tell the difference between the befores and afters. My swelling has gone down much since week 1 thankfully.


Before:

 After 1 week:

Amazing weather, public appearance? And AWESOME X RAY! - Day 13 (May 21)

Today is a rocking day at 24 degrees celsius. So far this summer has been pretty gloomy and I am contemplating going outside to mow the lawn or catch some rays. Should I take my skinny emaciated self outside? Still deciding. I've also hit a routine in terms of meals of Smoothie breakfast, yoghurt lunch, and smoothie dinner. I am not the greatest chef and this is the limits of my skills. I can't wait to start some 'soft foods' when I get my splint off next Friday. Actually my surgeon Dr. Tocchio is a bad ass. For one he is exceptional at putting my nose chin, and jaw together. Secondly, yesterday when he told me that I can get my splint off next week I told him how I have read in other blogs that a lot of other people seem to get them in off in their 4th or 5th week. He just replied, 'but I'm not their surgeon.' Mad respect my man. He also said I am recovering really quickly and my jaw is quite lined up with my constant elastic use. It is true that you must be really diligent with these elastics, to keep the midline of your teeth in check. I also am guessing that it keeps your muscles lined up for when your mouth starts healing up. He also reminded me to constantly pucker your lips to work my muscles which is excellent advice. I read on doublejawsurgery.com that stretching your mouth muscles like you are whistling(essentially the same action) helps break up scar tissue and strengthens your jaw muscles. Neat.

Now, brace for yourself for this.

This is my X-Ray of my new jaw. As you can see I've got 2 screws in the chin,3 screws in my right jaw, 4 screws in my left jaw and an undiscernable amount in my top. What amazes me is how my teeth are finally lined up, including my back teeth! I don't have my pre operation x ray on me, but when I do I will make a post on my before and after. 

And my daily headshot. I'm going to keep a nice collection for at least 90 days. That's the goal.

Season Finales - Day 12 (May 20)

So as I sit in my reclining chair daily and watch endless episodes of tv shows a lot of them are coming to a close. "The Office" had its finale last night, and the other day "Castle" had its finale as well. I very much enjoy being a couch potato! Why is the universe trying to stop this?

I went to see my surgeon this morning, and probably had a 2 minute appointment. He gave me some great news. He said that I can get my splint off next Friday! For those of you who don't know what a splint is:

My splint is actually a lot thicker than the one in the picture - Once I get it out I will take a picture of it.
 
A splint is worn much like a retainer on the top teeth in the mouth. It has molds on the top and bottom of the plastic so that your bite for your top and bottom teeth are flush. For example, when my bottom teeth move up to touch my top teeth, it will meet the splint, which has little indentations for my bottom teeth to bite into.  It's pretty thick and it definitely takes up a lot of space in the mouth.

This will open up a lot of space in my mouth, and finally give me the chance to try my new bite out for once and see what it's like to have one set of teeth on top of another!

I also tried to eat scrambled eggs last night. What a mess, I was basically opening my jaw the tiny bit it could, and pushing with a fork the eggs through. All I could do was swallow, and it wasn't all that great. I ate very little so I think I'm sticking to liquids until next week where I will give it another go.

The plan is to drink upwards of 2.5L+ a day and continuous lip exercising so I'm ready to go for next week!

 My left side is much more swollen than my right. My mom asked me yesterday if this is pretty much how I will look forever. Oh lord.

Liquid Frenzy - Day 11 (May 19)

Today is a day full of landmarks and goals.

I finished my antibiotics, which made my stomach feel awful.
Tonight I plan on sleeping in my bed again, for a whole 8-10 hours.
Today I plan on drinking 3l of fluids. 2L of water, 1L of juices and others.

Starting this morning, I downed a larger size version of my smoothie(600ml full to the brim magic bullet smoothie) it composed of:

5 strawberries
1 banana sliced
tablespoon of honey
2 scoops of ice cream
3/4 cup of milk
1/4 cup of strawberry banana naked smoothie

It could probably require more calories but for now it's what I'm working with. Following that, I got courageous and syringed myself a whole 500ml bottle of water. I just took out 1.1 L for breakfast. Wicked. The goal is to reduce my swelling without getting water intoxication.



I'm now only using my 60mL syringe. All of my other ones are tiny 5/10ml syringes for medicine which I don't require anymore.

Here is a picture of my trying to open my mouth. The gap is probably about a cm now. I'm contemplating making some kraft dinner to basically put through the gap and swallow, but don't think I'm up to it. Until next time!

Introducing the Drool towel - Day 10 (May 18)

It's not jaw dropping, but the ability to open your mouth barely the diameter of a pinky makes life easier! Breathing has now opened through another dimension, and when I drink and open my mouth I can fit a lot of liquid down a lot easier. 11 days ago this would not have thrilled me, but these tiny things do now. Hurray?

Have you ever noticed how tantalizing those late night burger commercials are? Holy cow those ads have people in my position wrapped around their fingertips. Used to before I had the jaw surgery, and still does. I salivated back then, and I salivate a lot extra now. Did I tell you that I drool? I drool like a dog with rabies on a hot summer day. For that reason to save tissues I have now wrapped a towel around my neck. It is glorious. Probably the best recent invention for some time. Not attractive, but very practical. Heck, it's practically a snuggie.

I'm still sleeping in my reclining chair, although my surgeon said I can go back to a bed in a day or 2. The reason people sleep upwards is to decrease facial swelling by keeping your face above your heart.

Facial swelling is also going down still. My left side for some reason is much bigger than my right side in puffiness.

I've sort of hit a weight loss plateau at about 16 pounds. I've decided to have a fattening smoothie every morning. Guaranteed banana and scoop of ice cream in every one. Sounds good to me.

Opened Up! - Day 9 (May 17)

I went to see my oral surgeon this morning for my first official post op appointment, and it was pretty exciting.
In addition to my routine nose cleaning, my surgeon grabbed his wire cutters and dived into my mouth. For the first time in a week I had opened my mouth, was able to move my mouth up and down.

He's changed things to an elastic on each side of my teeth, and that's it. As you may be able to see in this picture. 

The most important thing here is that I can open my mouth. I was told not to open it too often, just to eat and to clean(I'm now brushing my teeth softly). The advice was not to exercise the jaw but to instead exercise the lips by puckering and by smiling.

I asked if I can eat soft foods and Tocchio just said:"Whatever you can fit in your mouth." I may not take the gamble with foods yet, but today I plan on consuming a thick thick milkshake.

He also said my swelling is doing pretty well for being just past the week mark. Now time for that shake.

Getting Better - Day 7 (May 15)

So I've made it to the 1 week mark! I'd have to say things are not as bad anymore and I'm beginning to reach the clear - well I think. I'm going to have my brother get some better profile pictures of me later on today.

I slept way better for one. I had about an 8 hour sleep and woke up once in between that slumber. I think the longest I've slept is about 5 hours and I think I hit that record last night.

I've now lost 15 pounds over this past week. Yikes. I need some food pronto
Had a Boost and some fruit juice on the side this morning for breakfast, and it was quite bearable.

My top lip is also becoming really tingly. A lot of feeling is returning and I occasionally have the urge to scratch it, and when I'm about to I realize:"Hey, I'm numb there." My swelling at my neck has also started to go down. As you can see, my neck is yellow under the big bruise. It goes down to about the top of my chest muscle 'cleavage' and stops around there. I think it's healing quite well. :)

Playstation network is also back up! I should be gaming all day! 

In the Swing of Things - Day 6(May 14)

I can honestly say I have gotten the hang of living at home and drooling everywhere.

Today I think the swelling is starting to go down, my face is now more rectangular instead of pear shaped.

Pain? Nothing really if you just sit down and watch tv. If you massage the jaw line your skin feels really stretched out but it's not that  painful.  I can honestly say pain is like a 0-2 at this point of out 10. My main concern is keeping my nose cleared out for breathing, so in summary pain is a non issue - if not you will have a painkiller, but even that I am not using.

Syringes and drinks are everywhere in my bathroom, I can tell you that. My 'breakfast' was half a bottle of boost plus, maybe 250ml of apple juice and maybe 120 ml of water.   Getting to drink is still pretty tough, but I am able to drink from a syringe better and better everyday without spilling it all over my shirt. It is still quite the spectacle.

Am I craving food? Not really. I do my best though to avoid watching Burger King commercials at night because those typically drive me insane for food regardless.

In terms of weight, I have lost about 12 pounds since monday, which I'm guessing is due to mostly muscle mass. My face makes me look like a football player and my body is starting to look like an emaciated cross country runner.

Bruising on my neck is starting to show, and  I can see some yellow colouring right below my neck. This is a good sign of healing.

Here's a pic of me in my reclining chair. I will take some profile photos tomorrow when I hit the 1 week post op mark.

Time to get a Boost - Day 5 (May 13)

This morning I got to see my surgeon for a few minutes, and boy was it productive. I managed to take an x-ray when I got there, and I was pretty much hyperventilating. Then the magic happened. Using some Q-Tips jammed up my nose, and a nurse to vacuum, Doc must have unlodged the biggest boogars I have ever seen. It was clearly the reason my breathing was hampered and I couldn't have been more proud of their sheer size. I swear one had a diameter of 2 cm.

Some things Doc told me:

Swelling has probably already hit its peak yesterday(day 4) and should begin to subside
Remember to breathe from the lungs

Anyways, following that we picked up some Boost Plus on the way home and I managed to put it down via syringe. It tasted much better than the typical juice and water - although it was much thicker, and I noticed the consistency change instantly.

Anyways I go back to the Doc in 5 days, I hope I can withstand nose blockages for that long!

Meds, and home!

So now I have returned home and my whole family can watch me drool in amazement.

While it is nice to be home, it made me have to be on top of things as now I have to change my ice pack, and take my meds according to schedule. Dr. Tocchio hooked me up with:

1. Novo Lexin - Antibiotic which I take every 6 hours
2. Codeine - pain killer which I can take every 3-4 hours with pain
3. Nystatin - some cream for my lips

In the end, it's not that bad, but trying to drink at least 2 L a day is an uphill battle with 60 mL syringes. You can find me awake at 2 am in the morning in this stupor sticking a syringe in my mouth trying to swallow and it is comical.

Here's a pic of day 4. I'm freshly showered and I removed my bandage on my chin yesterday.

Definitely not a flattering picture. My swelling is still pretty large, however I am getting a lot of feeling back in my chin and lower lips, which seems so sudden. I'm not sure if it's the gift of faster recovery or a better way to feel more pain.

Sleeping at home last night - not great. I did have the recliner, however I only slept for about 5 and a half hours. My body could easily sleep double that on any other summer day, but it seems the breathing does keep me up. I am still sticking popsicle sticks in my mouth to sleep.

Either way, it is nice to be home watching the NBA playoffs, I can barely pay attention but it is a lot less stressful than living in a hospital room and living in a bed!

TIme to leave! - Day 3(May 11)

On my Day 2 I was progressively getting worse because I was accumulating liquid in my sinuses and I was becoming more and more reliant on mouth breathing. It got pretty bad, but eventually my oral surgeon came by after he was done and cleaned me up with a bit of hydrogen peroxide in the nose(for blood clots) and then used my suction tube and attached a thin small tube to suck out my sinus cavities. It helped a lot, and I slept that night. Dr. Tocchio saved me from hitting the wall, because at my breathing rate I was not going to sleep that night.

My sleep on the 2nd night was actually decent! I slept for 3 hour intervals. My surgeon also put half popsicle sticks in my mouth to keep it open. It helped with the breathing at the cost of a dry tongue. It was worth it.

Here's a picture of me on the 3rd day. I'm going to be discharged soon

The swelling has gone down, it may be hard to see but I barely feel any pain, just from my skin being stretched out if I try and touch it,

Anyhow I'm going to stick to clear fluids to help things flow through my system. Will keep updating.

Chimpanzee Chewing Tobacco - Day 2(May 10)

So I had surgery yesterday, and am now officially Kanye wired shut. I am freaking chimpanzee large and it feels weird being not able to move the jaws.

Here's a picture of what I look like:

It's difficult when for the past 24 hours all I have ingested is water and apple juice.

Personally, I have perennial year long allergies and I find it difficult breathing through my nose. Last night was difficult since my mouth has swollen up and you became more reliant on nasal breathing. Falling asleep took a while and I was up for at least 5 times to change my facial ice pack as you can see in the picture.

So far, I've been on codeine, tylenol, and acetaminophen to my knowledge. I'm also taking some red liquid for my allergies but nothing for my nose has made a difference.

The surgery was a success to what I know. I had everything described in my first post, and in addition genioplasty(chin) because I had a bit of a long jaw. I was also happy to hear that my minor deviated septum would be fixed as it originally used to curve a bit downward to the right. Looking at my nose however in my peripherals, I can say that it has gotten super pointy with my top jaw which has moved forward. Looking in the mirrror it has definitely stuck out, and I assume that may go away with the swelling over time.

Pain is not too bad. Out of 10 I probably have drifted from a 3-6 over time but nothing that really hurt. Breathing through my nose is the biggest issue, and trying to clear out phlegm is an almost impossible task. I still haven't figured out how it is done.

Anyways, I will try my best to update this site and my experience. It's certainly very interesting!

Captain Hook's Revenge!. + Last Supper. Day -4 (May 5)

Today I had my last appointment pre-surgery with the orthodontist, and it was pretty eventful. I had final pictures done of my mouth, and then the hooks were administered! How many? 10. They had to fetch some from the storage since they didn't have enough on hand.

I don't know if you can see them but they are in between each bracket and sit on the wire of my braces. 5 on the top, 5 on the bottom. This picture also shows how off my midline is if you look at the 2 middle hooks. It feels like having braces all over again, you get that funny sensation of licking something on your teeth that isn't usually there. These hooks catch food. Then again, they're freaking hooks. These are meant to keep me wired shut in tandem with the screws during the soft food era post jaw surgery. Speaking of that...

In this post I'll be covering:

1. Prep for surgery
2. Surgery Prep and Timing
3. Diet post surgery
4. Last Meal

1. On Pre-Op day(which was april 19) One of the biggest things that the nurse stressed was to avoid consuming foods/pills that could interfere with the medications. Since the surgery is on may 9, a week before I wasn't allowed to take Vitamins, Supplements, Green tea, herbal tea, Aspirin/Advil(anti-inflammatory). Apparently I also couldn't take protein shakes, and creatine as well. I did talk to the Anesthesiologist and I negotiated a deal to have protein up to 3 days before surgery so I could still attempt to put on some muscle mass(which would just be wasted, but I would think would slow the process down.) Anyhow the plan is to just eat whatever I want, whenever I want to put on weight.


2. On May 9th Surgery happens for me at 12:30 pm. My surgeon said that I am the 3rd case for him that day! He's apparently going to be real warmed up by that time, or exhausted. Anyways they want me in 1 and half hours early for surgery. Surgery is 2 and a half hours. After surgery, vitals are monitored in a recovery room for 2 hours, and following that I get moved to my hospital bed where I spend 2 nights. I'm bringing my laptop and plan on killing time as if it was exam period. 

3.Diet. I don't miss food now but I feel like I am really taking it for granted. The evolution of food from being wired is as follows:

• Clear Liquid Diet
• High Protein/High Calorie Liquid Diet
• High Protein High Calorie Blended Diet
• Soft Diet
• Regular Diet

Now I was given a small little booklet outlining how I should eat, what some suggested drinks are, and tips for consumption. Quite frankly, these pictures of different age/race/sex people smiling about how great their life is does nothing to ease my worry about eating!  It says it is common for most people to lose 2-3 pounds a week. If you lose 5 or more to contact your doctor.  Okay, let's hope I'm not the outlier.

For now I'll give an example of the 'Clear Liquid Diet' Since that is what I will encounter first. This is what I drink during the hospital stay and consists of foods like fruit juices, beef broth, jell-0, tea, and coffee. It's like drinking straight up water and sugar all day. That may make a child happy but I'm gonna suffer. BAh.

4. On a bright note, my last meal has been determined!

None other than Obama's burger joint of choice...

I plan on making it Five Guys Burger and Fries! If you haven't heard of it because you live in Canada it is because this chain originated from the states and has opened up 1 location in Canada. Men's Health Magazine deems it unhealthy, making this my perfect last supper! My goal is to make it a 2000kcal+ meal. I will twitter a picture of this massive meal fo sho.

This is likely my last post before surgery. Wish me luck

What's cracking? Day -9 (April 30)

My name's Gordon, and I'm going to be undergoing double jaw surgery on May 9 to fix my class 3 occlusion (underbite). So what does that mean to all of you with perfect jaws? The bottom jaw grows out farther than the top jaw, so what's to be said about the myriad of problems is: "That ain't right."

There's a good picture of what looks like a 10 year old with it.  Apparently it's mostly genetic(Yet I only know distant Aunt who is questionably related to me with it)

Why would I go through such a thing?

• Fix my bite primarily, so I can chew properly.
• My teeth have now shifted to the side as I grind sideways to chew. My teeth have been shaving down from vampire like incisors to dull boring ones.
• Talk without a lisp.
• Talk without spitting.
• Breathe through my nose instead of my mouth.(will be interesting with my year-long allergies how that will work)
• Jaw hanging down constantly as if you're a panting dog. 
• Jaw profile changes for the better, and symmetry issues are resolved. (symmetry is more attractive right?)

Personally, chewing is the biggest one for me, and I tend to grind my teeth a lot which can get annoying. When most of your teeth do not touch, it makes anything mouth involved complicated(try sticking your jaw out and doing anything properly.)

I am blogging my small adventure here for friends and family to follow, as well as give those prospective jaw surgery people a candid take on the whole process, hopefully providing all of the necessary details.

Here's a quick picture of me smiling right now.

Gathering information...

My Surgeon is Dr. Tocchio. He came highly recommended and is a really good guy at explaining the processes. I couldn't have picked a better surgeon. The operation was done at North York General Hospital in Toronto, Canada.

I had my Pre-Op a few days back on April 19 at the hospital and a following visit with the surgeon

The actual surgery would go down like this:

• show up to the hospital 3 hours early
• have surgery for 2 and a half hours
• stay and be monitored in the 'recovery room' for 2 hours
• Overnight for 2 nights, all inclusive, full service

They took simple baseline measurements like height, weight, blood pressure, and a sample of blood.  I was first briefed by a nurse about the stay and what sort of accommodations I should be expecting at the hospital and how to prepare and was basically told everything I couldn't do forehand, and all of the great foods I couldn't eat afterwards.

Following that somewhat depressing encounter I had the chance to talk to the anesthesiologist who told me that his drug of choice would be codeine in elixir form so I put them back like a shot. Also, a tube would be running through my nose during my surgery for air which would be put in and taken out during the time that I am knocked out(thank god) and following that tube, I get another following that during my 2 night hospital stay, but the point is to equalize pressure in my stomach. I didn't understand that process but didn't interrupt Dr. Brown as he was on a roll. Something about sticking a tube down another tube is not that cool.

Following this appointment, I had an hour to kill at Ikea in which I had 2 hotdogs, pop, frozen yoghurt cone, and grabbed a 6 pack of cinammon rolls to go and was off to see mr. bossman, Dr. Tocchio, the Oral Surgeon.

Firstly, my doctor is a great guy. It always helps your own confidence when the guy doing your surgery talks about the procedure like it's no obstacle. During this official pre op session I took a few quick x rays, a mould of my mouth, and had a sensible chat bout what was going down in the jackdaw.

In summary, it turns out that my jaw was going to get the works. To ease this informative process I decided to add pictures(I apologize if they are too graphic, but I was real excited)

1. Bottom jaw - was getting cut medial, lateral, sagittal at the back of my mouth on the inside. These 3 cuts allow for the jaw to slide back and forth. It was undoubtedly going to slide back to fix the underbite.

2. Top Jaw - it was getting popped out. Apparently the top jaw can literally come out of the skull since I suppose it is floating and 'pops out' like a cutout from just under your nose. Freaking sweet. I wish that I would be awake during my surgery to see my jaw. Anyhow, it would be moved forward. This type of movement to the top jaw is called a Lefort 1.

 I apologize this was the only picture I could find illustrating the cutout. Not the prettiest sight.

3. Top jaw expanded - when the top jaw is popped out, it will be cut down the middle as my top jaw is too narrow. It is then expanded to be as big/bigger than my bottom jaw.

4. Top jaw moved up - I have a bit of a 'gummy smile' so when I smile, the top of my gums are showing. Basically he's removing some gum/bone above my top teeth and less gum should show the next time I smile.

5. Bottom jaw symmetry - to line things up, he's going to slide one side farther back on my bottom jaw to line up with my top jaw.

6. Bone graft - when you move your front jaw forward, apparently there's a bit of a dip in the appearance of the indent of your nose/top jaw. The excess bone on the bottom jaw that is going to be shaved off when it slides backwards is going up top! Incredible. This man is a magician.

*Edits*

7. Septoplasty - since the surgery involves the top jaw, the surgeon was able to straighten my deviated septum. It has improved my breathing a lot and opened up my nostrils.

8. Genioplasty - the chin would be cut and moved back to make the face less long and therefore appear shorter. It would also be straightened.

I think I tried to crack a funny like, "Oh, that's a mouthful" when he finished but I had to laugh at my own joke. The way I see it is that the worse it is now, the better it will be when I see the final product - so I hope it's pretty terrible.

I'll give more details as things move along and I get closer to surgery.