1 Activation done, 50 to go

Well, today marked my first activation of the expander. I am to do one activation per day for the next two weeks until I see my orthodontist again. We may go to 2 activations per day if everything goes well. My upper jaw is still a little "loose", but it's good enough to get started on the activations. My fiance was showed how to activate it from the orthodontist. I have no idea how I would do this on my own. The size of the hole for the key is about the same diameter as a pin head. Luckily, I had no real feeling once the activation was done. There was some tightness in my nose experienced about 15 minutes after, but nothing since.

Again, each activation (which is a half-turn of the screw) is 0.25mm. My jaw has to go at least 12mm in total. There is already a space between my teeth due to the activations done during the surgery, but it's just going to get bigger and bigger now. I can't believe this is actually happening!

The swelling has receded, although my upper gum is still quite swollen. I've also discovered that my upper jaw is completely numb. I thought it was swollen which is why it's feeling how it's feeling, but when my fiance cleaned something off of my tooth with her finger, I could not tell when she was touching it. After a little experimentation, I came to the conclusion that I have no feeling in my upper jaw at all. I'm seeing the surgeon again next Thursday, so I'll ask him if these numb feelings are normal. I remember hearing numbness as a side effect, but I was thinking that the numbness would be more in my face and not so much in my jaw. Will let you know.

So I think I'm going to take a picture every few activations. It will be interesting once we get towards 25-30 activations since I'll need a new expander. I think I mentioned this before, but because my jaw is so narrow, the longest screw that could fit in the expander is 10mm. My jaw has to go 12mm, and so I'll need a second expander with a longer screw. This means that they'll have to take my first expander out, do all the molds over, put the expander back in and continue activating while the second one is being made, then get the second one put in once it is available. Ugh.

Oh - most important part - the nose-bleeding has stopped!!! The bleeding was being caused by my sinuses filling up with blood, which is why the colour was a darker red.

Eating is still non-existent. I had two forks of mashed potatoes and a lick of soft-serve ice cream today. This was the most food I've had in a week! I had soup yesterday, and this will probably be my diet for another week. I'm drinking Boost in the morning, which looks and smells more disgusting than it is. I really like milk a lot, so it's been pretty easy to put down.

Tomorrow will mark 7 days since the surgery. My antibiotic treatment will be over, and I still have a bunch of 600mg Advils to help with the pain!! It's been a long week, but there are many more ahead of me!

Until next time, good afternoon, good evening, and good night.