Push myself.
Try something new. Learn more.
Start SOMEWHERE!
I haven't been in the blogosphere lately and I have SO missed it. I miss this online journal and the diffuser of my thoughts. :) While I've been MIA, though, these phrases above have been consuming my mind and I'm super excited to say I'm following through on these ideas. There will be more details to come soon (SO excited!)!
Until then, though, I've been asked to post some more follow up and/or comparison pictures of my face. It's been almost 4 months since my surgery (and not quite two and a half years since I began this whole process) and it no longer swims around my daily thoughts. I feel almost completely back to normal, still stretching those muscles and ligaments 3 times a day (most of the time, because I forget sometimes!) and hopefully next week I'll be given permission to start eating completely normally again. Whoop! That is cause for excitement and celebration in my opinion! I'm excited to have this all completely behind me and and next week marks one more step toward having this all in the past!
So, without further ado, I'll start from the very beginning. :) (I'm kind of excited to see this for myself as I've never lined all the pictures up side by side before!)
 |
| The day I began all the treatment with my splint (can you see the clear plastic "thing" over my teeth?) |
 |
| Shortly after getting my braces put on |
 |
| Several months into braces - I, personally, can see how they moved my teeth out a little making my "toothy" smile seem huge! |
 |
| These two were taken only a few months before surgery. |
 |
| These two were taken a day (or maybe two?) before surgery |
 |
| 1 week post surgery |
 |
| These two were taken shortly after we got back home, so probably about a month post surgery. |
 |
| A month and a half post surgery. |
 |
| A silly photo I took with my phone - 3 months post surgery. |
 | |
|
It's surprising to ME when I look at the very first picture and compare it to the last one. I can honestly say I feel good about the changes that have been made. I'd be lying if I said I was never self conscious of that big gummy smile before, so I'm happy with my new smile. I feel like it's changed the way I look quite drastically sometimes, yet I know that I still look like me, if that makes sense.
Unfortunately, though, since surgery, I have also been losing my hair, once again. It's mostly gone on the top of my head. So for me, wearing hats has become routine lately (if you're wondering why you've seen me in nothing BUT hats these days!). Thankfully, though, it's been easier for me to not dwell on it this time. I have other things that are filling me up and giving me life and allowing me the freedom to not stress a lot about it. I still am consciously making the choice to look for the ways this is a blessing. I still certainly hope this passes quickly (and sometimes I really wish I could understand why my body reacts the way it does to certain things), but for now, I'm ok. :)
Hopefully in the next post will come sooner rather than later!
Ahhh, so good to be blogging again. :)
2 comments:
Hmmm, you should put that last picture of you next to a recent picture of Ema and see what you get!! I'm trying to picture that in my mind and there is amazing likeness.
First time today to your site-- here via Kelle---- this post really struck me, because we are in the midst of a big TMJ decision. My son is 14 and has juvenile idiopathic polyarticular juvenile arthritis and severe TMJ. We have done splints for TMJ to no avail. Now thinking of going the surgery route. I was so glad to read your account of how it wasn't THAT bad--- you look very pretty post-surgery. Pretty before surgery too though, for that matter!
Post a Comment