Before and After

Six Month Update

So here I am sitting at work thinking, "Hm, I haven't posted anything to my blog in a while. The next thing I should probably do is a six month update, whenever that rolls around..." and then I realized, November 14th would've been the six month mark! I honestly can't believe it's been six months already. It seems like the whole thing went by so quickly. August of 2014 was when I first started exploring jaw surgery, September and October I had some consultations, and then May 2015 I had my surgery, and here we are November 2015, all the way on the other side of it all, and back to normal life.

At this point, I don't really think about my jaw or my face much at all. The feeling in my chin and the right half of my lower lip has not returned yet, so I still find myself wiping my lip/chin every once in a while just to make sure I don't have any drool that I can't feel! I also have yet to bite into an apple, but I don't really eat apples anyway. I'm back to eating everything normally, and have been for a few months now. I'm pretty sure I started eating hard/crunchy things before I was "supposed to" but I don't really know. Every once in a while I get a tingly sensation in my chin, which I assume is the nerves trying to reconnect. I also have a little pain/sensitivity in my right second tooth from the middle sometimes when I bite into things, and if I push on it. I don't know if that is even related, but I will ask my surgeon about it when I see him in December. It's not anything that bothers me constantly, just something I notice every once in a while.

As far as opening my jaw, I'm at about 3.5 fingers right now, compared to less than one finger when I first took my rubber bands and splint out.

My 3.5 year old nephew bashed his head into my jaw the other day and nothing happened, so that's good! Haha.

I had a sinus infection this week and it was much easier to get through than it had been before surgery. My nose would get clogged up so easily, but this time around, I always had at least one clear nostril, and a partially clear one, rather than a completely stuffed one and a partially stuffed one, lol. In the car on the way home from work one day when my nose was stuffy, I held my mouth shut and tried to breathe just through my stuffy nose, to remind myself what I went through the first week after surgery. I kept it up for a good two minutes but couldn't shake the panicky feeling, and then I took a nice deep breath through my mouth and remembered the feeling of breathing through my new airway for the first time after surgery. Truly amazing!

On another note, I got married! I haven't even posted any pictures on Facebook yet, so if you decided to read this, you get a special sneak preview! Here are a few photos that show a couple different angles of my face. It's nice to be able to say that I truly felt like a beautiful bride. I was smiling my face off all day and never once felt uncomfortable or had to put my hand over my mouth. I love being normal! :D

This might be my last blog post for a while, so I just want to say thank you so much to everyone who has been with me along this journey. Based on my thousands and thousands of views, I know that there were a lot of people who were following along every step of the way and making sure that I was okay. Words can't express how much that means to me. What I went through is something that most people never even have to think about in their lifetime, let alone experience it, or watch someone they know experience it. So I hope that you learned a lot about how much of a struggle it can be to have a facial structure that just didn't come out quite right. It can cause a lot of health problems, as well as insecurity. Jaw placement that is a few millimeters off can cause pain, disfunction, and difficulty breathing, something that we take for granted everyday. During the process of healing after jaw surgery, I was having trouble breathing, I couldn't eat, and I couldn't talk, three things that I definitely take for granted everyday. On the other hand, throughout this process, I've had to face a lot of judgement that I didn't expect to face. There is such a paradox in the fact that society places such a high value on beauty, and yet condemns people who want to permanently change something about their body. It's been really hard for me to make peace with my decision to have surgery, because while I was doing it to improve my quality of life and avoid inevitable health issue in my later years, I will not deny that I was very unhappy with my face and felt insecure every day. I didn't like to smile. And I firmly believe that no one should ever have to feel afraid to smile. And yet, I was afraid of the judgement that would come with the decision to correct my jaws. After the fact, however, I can honestly say that the quality of my life has improved greatly following this experience, and I no longer waste time thinking about my insecurities or crying because I just spent an hour doing my hair and makeup and still think I look weird. And no matter what anyone else thinks, I'm happy with the decision I made, and with the person I've become. There's no doubt that I've changed as a result of this procedure; I've become someone who feels confident about my appearance, and therefore, about myself as a whole. Before my surgery, I defined myself by my appearance. I used to worry that people couldn't see past the way that I looked. Now, I believe that my appearance no longer distracts from who I am, and all that I have to offer. And I'm truly excited to face the world and the future as a confident, intelligent young woman, no longer insecure and uncomfortable.

Thank you again to all of my friends, family, and acquaintances who've been on this journey with me, and to anyone who has stumbled across this blog in your own research about jaw surgery, I really hope that you found whatever you were looking for! And please, feel free to contact me on Facebook if you have any questions :) Facebook.com/stacy.sprindis