Thank you everybody who left comments on my blog. I had my wires cut yesterday and am now on 2-3 weeks of rubber banding. I can open my mouth a whole 7mm today! Yay! When I open my mouth, it actually feels like I’m opening it all the way … but only 7mm. Just enough to shove a butter knife with refried beans in, with the help of a teaspoon, which I used to push the beans in while pulling the knife out. Then wipe off the excess. Incredibly graceful 🙂 And time consuming.
I have a little more energy than I’ve had the last 2 weeks or so … which I guess is good, since I’m going back to work tomorrow. The swelling has gone down quite a bit … it was scary and a bit unnerving for awhile, especially when it was around my clavicle and around my adam’s apple (there was no swelling in between). That lasted for 2-3 days and then it started going down. Now, it isn’t all that bad.
My submandibular muscle under my chin feels like a rock and the swelling extends up the left side of the jaw (and stops where the maxilla begins), around the occlusal plane. My left cheek is hypersensitive, which makes shaving interesting – it feels like the razor is actually tearing the hairs out one by one. Even with a brand new razor.
My surgeon says that the inside wound is healing up well, the color is good and I need to stay on soft foods for awhile till the underside of the wound finishes healing. He actually said that attempting to eat solid foods could cause it to tear open and that would be the “kiss of death” to my graft.
The external incision is pretty much healed up and the scab having fallen off, with the last stitch being removed yesterday (the rest of the wound was superglued together and that became “rubbery” and eventually fell off with the scab).
I was fairly consistent about keeping my mouth clean (all things considered). Brush then rinse with peridex. I used a Crest rotating spin-brush (about $6 USD) and Colgate toothpaste with triclosan. I’d start at the midline, brush upper and lower all the way over too the right and just the upper on the left (I didn’t want to interfere with the wound). Brushing would push toothpaste through my teeth and then I’d take my tongue and rub it around on the inside of my teeth. Despite this, when unwired yesterday, I still have pieces of “unrecognized biomass” in my mouth. Yuck.
I have daily pictures and notes, which I’ll transcribe back-post later on.
I also have intra-operative surgical photos, if anybody’s interested over on Flickr. I attempted to post here, but Photobucket decided to randomly censor them … uggh. Warning, they contain everything you’d expect in a surgery … blood, muscle tissue, bone, etc. These are available here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/atxameloguy/sets/72157617479878682
Ameloblastoma: My Experience 