Day 16

I went in to see Dr S. (ortho) because one of my brackets broke off my right incisor tooth, and this is the bracket that Dr. M typically has me use for my elastics. I was worried that not having it connected may cause movement. I am assuming Dr M told Dr S about the swollen lip, because he didn't look surprised at all when he saw me. I was really worried about going in to the ortho because I was afraid they wouldn't realize my mouth and lip was still pretty sore and I didn't want it to hurt when they looked in my mouth. Dr S was really careful about looking into my mouth and said he didn't want to do too much because I was probably still sore, phew! He looked at my bite and said 'wow!' -- I love hearing that! All of the OA's neglected their patients and were surrounding me and looking too. We were all joking around about when I put on my sunglasses, I look like a lip injected plastic surgery patient trying to hide :) Dr S and all of the OA girls kept saying how great I looked. I can't wait to FEEL like I look great! I am not quite there yet :-P Once again I was told 'it will go down!' about my lip. I don't think anyone, even most of the bloggers, realize how frustrating it is to have an incredibly swollen lip for 2+ weeks. I do think it may have gown down a tiny bit more though.

Chewing continues to get better everyday. I asked Dr S today if I should be eating all of the things I have been eating, and he said as long as I am not eating anything that requires a lot of chewing (like steak) then I should be able to eat whatever :)

I am sooo ready to get back to work, but it will probably be at least another week, hopefully no longer than that. I work part time as a receptionist at a car dealership, and therefore I am the first person people see when they walk in the building. Having a swollen upper lip is probably not going to fly. I also have to be able to answer the phone, and when my lip doesn't move, the letters B, M and P do not form. I can't answer phones talking like I have a speech impediment! I am starting to feel guilty as to how many people I am inconveniencing by taking so much time off of work. I have had to get all of my shifts covered, so the quicker I can get back to work, the quicker everyone else can go back to their normal routines.

Mini rant (feel free to skip it) --My dad's cousin came over today to fix our AC, and I was the only one home to let him in, so we got to chatting a little. In the middle of us talking, he interrupted me and went "nuh nuh nuh, why are you talking like that?'-- in a sort of imitating a handicapped person type way. SERIOUSLY DUDE? I haven't seen this man in 6-8 years, and our families are not close, so he has NO idea what is going on, or if something could have really been wrong with me. I explained to him that I had jaw surgery and he was like 'oh, that must be rough.' I just can't believe how rude people can be! I am sure he didn't mean it in a hurtful way, but come on, I would never mock somebody I barely knew like that.

Day 16 pictures:

You can see on each side of my nose that my cheeks are still swollen (there are little creases from the swelling). I am hoping there is still swelling around my jawline. At this point, I feel like it looks a bit too big, and would love if it was just still swollen. I know the swelling takes 2 months to fully go down, so I am not spending any time worrying about it now.