Let me just add in some more exclamation points to that: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am SO SO EXCITED!
This morning I went to see my surgeon and complained about one of my TADs being loose and hurting. My surgeon said they didn't need them anymore so, under local anesthesia, they removed them!! I feel so much more normal now and my smile looks so much more natural because it doesn't catch on them when I move my lips. Life is about to be so much more normal. I can't wait.
Oh and I CAN CHEW!!! After my appointment, I went to visit my friend Meghan (who took care of me post-op) at work nearby. She works in a food store and I was browsing around and saw an avocado and hummus sandwich. I figured this was a good starter since everything is soft and I could have bread for the first time in forever! I quickly bought and opened the sandwich to find that there were tomatoes, lettuce, and carrots inside. It kind of scared me, but I decided to give it a try. And guess what?! It was awesome! I bit right through a tomato and a piece of lettuce at the same time! I can't remember the last time I bit straight through a tomato without having to hold onto the other end so it wouldn't all come out!!!! It's so exciting and truly shows the benefits of my new bite. The sandwich only took me forever to finish, but it was soooo good. I was still numb from them removing the TADs too so I did a lot of lip biting, but it was all worth it!
I feel like I look so much more normal without the TADs pushing my lips forward. There were also two at the base of my nose so it made it an awkward shape as well.
I haven't updated in a while so I'll do a general status update:
- About two weeks ago, I yawned a lot in one day and this allowed me to open 3 fingers wide. I can now easily open 3 fingers wide and can separate my fingers slightly.
- I drool a LOT more than normal. It's a lot more when I sleep and embarrassingly enough, when I laugh. It's gotten better this week, but when I look down, I sometimes drool if I'm laughing, smiling, or talking. It's annoying.
- My feeling has come back a lot. Earlier this week, I started to be able to feel the TADs in my top jaw and it was uncomfortable.
- I still try to sleep as upright as possible, but still wake up more swollen than I am throughout the day.
- I have had one great struggle recently because a very close family member to me passed away. It was very hard for me to cope initially because I couldn't even eat comfort food. It was very frustrating that I couldn't have something simple like that which would make me feel just a little bit better.
- I have a cold right now and I've been sneezing my butt off and everything feels fine. I've also lightly blown my nose multiple times and nothing seems to have popped.
Overall, I'm feeling good and am getting back to my invisalign on Monday (in 4 days).
