Oh my goodness!  I'm so terrible.  Three days ago was my one month mark and I didn't do a blog post!
Please, please find it in your hearts to forgive me.
Normally I would compensate for such a horrid thing by writing an extra long post, but it's gotten kinda late and I have to get up early tomorrow so it might not be that lengthy.
Now, lets get down to business.

Last week my parents and I went down to Florida on a little vacation of sorts.  My dad had classes to be at most of the day so my mom and I ventured out on our own.  One day we went shopping and bike riding, neither of which I had done since my surgery.  Honestly, I shopped a lot before my surgery but as I've mentioned before, I live an extremely sedentary life (it disgusts even me) so I definitely wasn't prepared for bicycling.  First, you know that thing they say about balance and how once you learn to ride a bike it never leaves you?  It's a lie.  Okay, so I'm exaggerating a bit, but I wasn't entirely sure I was going to stay upright for most of the first ten minutes.  On top of that, I was breaking the law by not wearing a helmet, a decision I wasn't sure was so smart once I rode off into the sunset.  Yeah right.  There was no sunset on the beach or cool ocean breezes.  It was sweltering, mid-day, and irritatingly not down-hill.  In fact, I was glad I didn't wear a helmet, because that thing would have been too, too hot.  And we were at a resort, a.k.a. they had a bike trail, so it's not like I was at risk of getting hit by a car or anything.
All right, so I've digressed a bit, but the whole point of that story was just to comment on the muscle mass I've lost lying around the house wearing out the whole "recovery" business.
I've only been to the beach once before so we obviously aren't beach people, but one night around nine o'clock my parents and I went out to the beach and waded in the water.  The sand was unbelievably soft and the water was so warm and *hint, hint Mom and Dad* I REALLY LOVED IT.

Since then, nothing of importance has happened.
Yesterday my mom and I went to the mall. I've decided shopping is a good workout with all that walking and trying on clothes, so I guess as part of my "recovery" everyone should help out and take me to the mall.  Yeah, I think that would be good for me.
Sometime between waking up yesterday morning and trying on jeans in dELiA's, some of the stitches in my mouth came out.  I imagine it happened while I was eating lunch, and I sure am glad of that.  The whole idea of stitches coming loose in my mouth has freaked me out since I had some in there the last time I had surgery.  This would be a good opportunity to say thank you to my surgeon for using white stitches because they're pretty visible now that they're hanging loose around my teeth.  Anyhow, after my last surgery I had to have my gums stitched up and when they came loose I took the liberty of pulling them out myself.  I thought this would be fine because everyone talks about how it doesn't really hurt when the doctor pulls out stitches.  Either everyone single one of these people was a liar or mouth stitches are simply different, because when I pulled it out through the roof of my mouth--yes, the roof! It was sticking through that flat spot you can feel behind your front teeth--it hurt.  Not like a lasting hurt, but it burned.  It reminded me of the time I got a couple of strands of hair through the piercing in my ear and had to pull it out.  It burned while I was pulling on it, but it didn't last in either situation.
Speaking of piercings, I'm back to making jewelry again (I just made some nifty earrings!--ultima moda) so I'd say things are going pretty swell.

Today I went to see my oral surgeon and, honestly, the whole appointment was so short I could sum it up in one sentence, but I don't want to do that so I've rambled on about such in order to add another sentence so this one won't be a run on.  Hmm, I think it might be a run on anyway.  Regardless, we walked into the building and got on an elevator with two other people and it made me think of our trip to Japan last summer.  When we were getting ready to leave we went to the train station with all our luggage and the four of us had to cram into this little elevator.  And no, it wasn't like our extravagantly spacious American elevators. It was really tiny and I worried about the weight capacity.  In fact, I'm not even sure that we could all fit on it; I'm feeling like we had to take two trips, but I don't really remember.  Back to America, eleven months later, we went into the waiting room and, for the first time in this particular office, I felt extremely confident.  The first two times I was there I was still malocclusion Susan, and every time since then I've been pretty swollen.  But not anymore.  This time Susan was sporting a huge smile, dimples (yes, I have them again!!!), and a pug nose.  I felt great!  So, since it's taken me this long to get to the actual consultation with Dr. MC (I like to believe he's a DJ on the weekends not only because his initials are MC and his first and last name rhyme, but also because he's pretty soft spoken and old enough to be my grandfather--not your typical DJ) you can imagine it was short and not very interesting.  He came in, told me to smile, seemed genuinely upset that my lips still don't meet when relaxed, accidentally stabbed my (sensitive) stitches with a tongue depressor, and told me to come see him when my braces come off.  Hopefully that's only six months away!  If he calls me superstar now, I can't imagine what I'll be when my braces are gone.  And since he didn't mention being careful when I eat, I'm taking this as my cue to chomp on some steak.  I'm only kidding, I would never eat steak (blech!).  But, I think I'm going to try to tackle gum soon.  I can't take it anymore.  I need minty fresh breath!

And now I'm at home writing to you.  Just before this I was looking at some pictures my friend put up on Facebook that were taken before my surgery.  Pre beautiful jaw line, I probably wouldn't have thought the pictures were necessarily flattering or anything, but now I can't help but think about how down right terrible they are compared to me now.  I'm not getting a big head or anything, but I look AMAZING.  And quite seriously, I'm not even talking about my underbite.  Yes, I look rather like that ugly fish from Finding Nemo, but it's my nose.  I was always painfully aware of how disgustingly perfect my parents', brother's, and sister's noses are and how lumpy mine was, but I just assumed I got some of the cruddy genetics because all the children can't be beautiful.  To be honest, I probably would have considered rhinoplasty at some point in the future because I really didn't like it, but I watched a video of how they do it, so I just resigned to be forever awful.  Until this surgery, that is.  Apparently I had this beautiful little nose just waiting to be revealed!  Dr. MC referred to my pre-surgery nose as "hooked" but "atrocious beak" is more like it.
Really, I'm not trying to be down on myself and I didn't even think I was ugly before (despite the mockery I've dealt with my entire adolescence) but now that I've seen myself with my cute nose and even jawline, I'm feeling like I may never look at a picture and think "oh...." again!  Plastic surgery for everyone, I insist!

I'M KIDDING! Despite my obvious affection for myself, I'm still not an advocate for plastic surgery.  At times I even feel guilty for not appreciating what God gave me, but in the end this was a medical thing too.  Sometimes I like to think that now that I've got a good jawline He's taken away my perfect skin, because I'm breaking out all around my nose.  I've always had great skin--never had a zit, even--but my skin is irritated something fierce.  Mom likes to take the less paranoid approach and suggested that maybe some of the stuff they wrapped around me after surgery and blah-dee-blah-blah irritated it, so I looked it up online and it seems that breakout around a month after surgeries like rhinoplasty are pretty common.  In other words, I'm not too worried about it since it seems like it'll go away soon and the cheap hotel soap I was using last week probably only made things worse.

Tomorrow I leave once again, this time to go see my grandparents (more shopping!) so there won't be any more posts the rest of this week.  Since my tiny Japanese grandmother, who's actually not that tiny when it comes to Oriental people, needs help from someone tall, I'm told that peach picking is in my future.  Not something I'm familiar with, so I'll be sure to tell you how it goes and maybe take a few pictures.

Well, look at that.  I did make it pretty long... and it's almost 1 a.m.  So I will bid you adieu
In case you haven't noticed, I'm completely in love with foreign languages, so I'll be a little bit of nerd and revise that last sentence.  Adieu is more of a permanent goodbye--a farewell, if you will--and even though it often seems that I'm never going to write another blog post, I promise this (God willing) isn't my last, so I'll say au revoir instead.
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Breakout's everywhere!
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Currently Reading: Their Eyes Were Watching God, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens, Happyface.
Current Weight: 113.7
Current Task: AP History summerwork including, but not limited to, chapter outlines, vocabulary, reviewing three historical movies, and outlining the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. Fun.
 
Hola, readers.  How are you?  I'm fantastic!

Last Thursday I went to see my surgeon again.  This time there wasn't much of a wait and once he saw me all he did was poke around in my mouth for a minute and call me "Superstar."  I'd say he's proud of his work.
That night my friend and I went to the movies.  Not only did nobody look at me weird, but I ate popcorn!
It was great!

Today I had an appointment with my orthodontist.  Everyone wanted to know how things went and they all said I looked great.  I think so too!  They didn't want to upset my mouth just yet so they didn't actually do anything.  To be honest, I think he just wanted to see how it looked.  Dr. T says I've got 3mm of overjet now, which is an overbite.  He says it's not ideal, but it's better than where I was before the surgery.  My surgeon thinks I'll probably grow some more and my mandible will grow with it, so hopefully that means it grows a little, but less than 3mm, lest I have to undergo another jaw surgery.  I'm pretty sure the only person in the office who didn't care, or didn't know, was the stud-muffin intern who hasn't been there that long.  He's hilarious; he comes out to call people to the back and, like, props himself up in the door way with his arms all above his head, and he's always telling the assistants stuff like how he drove through the drive-thru and forgot to order.  Anyway, I'm supposed to go back next month before school starts so I'll let you know how that goes.

Other than that, the only thing I need to say is that I'm going out of town this week and then again next week so there won't be any posts unless I do one Saturday. The thursday after next I have another appointment with my surgeon and believe you me I will try to do a post then too.

Toodles!

Currently Reading: Their Eyes Were Watching God, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens, The Lovely Bones
Current Weight: 114.3 lbs --es las galletas.
Current Task: Packing! (Clothes, not guns.)
 
There are lots of people you can trust in life.
Obviously, I am not one of them.  So, don't count on any more of my promises I make about doing a blog post on a regular basis because, quite frankly, I'm a slacker.

The past three days have yielded nothing new.
I went to church Sunday and for some reason my lip stayed swollen the whole day.  We went out to eat after church to the same place we went last Sunday.  Burritos are about the only thing I can manage to eat besides soup, so I'm getting my fill of those.

Yesterday, was my parents' anniversary so they went out to eat and to a movie.  Those crazy people, staying married 31 years or whatever.
Since we weren't invited and couldn't care less about fireworks, my brother and I also went out to see a movie.  We went to see Super 8, and while I enjoyed it, I wouldn't say it was up to J.J. Abrams' usual standards.  After the movie we went to Taco Bell (more burritos!), Books-A-Million, and Target.
Somehow I managed to spend another $40 on books.  None of them were even hardback; paperbacks are getting too expensive.  On the plus side, one of my friends gave me a $20 gift card to BAM so it wasn't that hard wasting my money.  One thing about this, though, is that I've got at least 10 books on my shelf waiting to be read.  As a result, I've started book hopping.  It's this thing I do where I start reading, like, seven books at once.  I can keep up with all the story lines, but I feel like I lose something when I don't focus on just one book.  Oh, well.  Too many books, too little time.

Today my best friend came over and we watched TV together.  During this time I ate a pop tart--my first since the surgery!  I'm happy to be back to eating unhealthy foods again.  The closest thing I've gotten to sweets in the past two and half weeks are the pudding cups I eat daily.  Those things are my life now.  For dinner I had lasagna and garlic bread (no crusts yet, though) and now I'm here writing for you.  And contemplating more pudding.  You guys are important and all, but I'm mostly trying to wrap this up now so I can eat my pudding.

In order to end on a positive note, I'll say that the infinite amount of time on my hands has led to my picking up the piano again (not in the literal sense).  I'd say I'm better than ever right now!
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Currently Reading: I Am Number Four, Their Eyes Were Watching God, What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens, The Lovely Bones, The Girl Who Was on Fire--I'm so into these Hunger Games books that I went out and bought a book of other author's commentaries on them.  It's given me a new perspective on the books.  If you've read them then I'd recommend The Girl Who Was on Fire.
Current Weight: 112.5 lbs
Current Task: Reading, reading, reading!
 
Hello, hello!
Sorry about leaving you guys for a whole four days! I hadn't planned on it, really, but I got a little sick.
In the past four days I would say I've improved some, though.
There's nothing much that anybody other than me would probably notice, but I myself am seeing some improvement.  For instance, that huge upper lip is now a nice, moderately sized upper lip.  I've abandoned trying to sleep with my head elevated so it's a little puffy when I wake up every morning, but as the day goes on it gets smaller.  I still can't feel anything between the bottom of my eyes and my top lip, but if I poke certain spots on my face I'll feel a nerve twinge somewhere.  The most reliable spot is around the middle of my lip and it spasms if I poke the left side of my nose; however, my favorite spot is the roof of my mouth and it freaks out if I poke the right side of my nose.  The deal with the thing in my mouth is that when I poke my nose it feels like someone's stabbing me with knife in there, but it's a good kind of stab.  The only thing I can really relate it to is if the roof of my mouth was cake and the knife was just softly stabbing through it.  I know, it's weird.  And it would probably bother me under normal circumstances, but right now any feeling is good with me.

The stitches in my mouth have all decided to come loose within the past few days.  While it'll be nice to have them out of there soon, I can not say it's equally as nice to have them flapping around in the meantime.

My top lip still doesn't move, even when I talk and eat, so my speech is still a little slurred and there's ALWAYS food I'm trying to get out of my top braces.  That immobile upper lip just traps it there and teases me with the thought of ever eating the same again.

Two of my friend came over on Thursday for a movie day.  Between the comedies and my friends just being funny, I laughed a lot.  And it didn't hurt!  I don't know if I've finally popped one too many stiches, or they're stretched out, or if I've subconciously found a new, less painful way to laugh, but I like it.

Yesterday my mom and I went to my uncle's retirement party, so I was blessed with a day out of the house.  The only thing I did today was ride with my parents over to the garage where my car was recently painted and got to look at it.  Let me just say that it's purple, sparkly, and beautiful. I love it!

My only problem right now (since the pain is pretty much gone) is my mouth breathing.  I'm still breathing through my mouth 24/7.  It just seems like such a waste now that that's not the only orifice I can breathe out of! I have never been able to breathe through my nose and now I feel like, for the first time in my life, I could be kidnapped, have my mouth taped up, and not die of suffocation before the kidnappers could do anything to me.  You probably laugh, but that's an innate fear I've had to deal with for the past decade.  So I looked up "train yourself to sleep with your mouth closed" on Google today, but the only thing I got was advertisements for CPAP machines.  Since last night's attempt to wrap my face in my post surgery bandages so tight that I couldn't open my mouth resulted in my being awake until three in the morning, at which point I removed the bandages, I'm not exactly sure what my next move is.  Maybe I'll just morph into a William Shatner like being that never sleeps.  Because, at this rate, that seems more plausible than my morning breath ever going away.

Anyway, the swelling's going down, I feel good, blah blah blah.  We all know you don't care anymore, you just want the pictures.
Well, I'm sorry to say, I'm inept and I still haven't been able to fix my webcam.

Currently Reading: I Am Number Four  --Done with The Hunger Games trilogy, to my dismay.  I would like to acknowledge Mockingjay as both the saddest and most frustrating book I've read in a long, long time.  Don't read it if you value your sanity.
Current Weight: 112.1 lbs
Current Tast: Ridding myself of these hateful stitches.

Lastly, I just want to beg of you to please, please, please, please, please, please, please never ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever take your ability to chew for granted.  I actually had to leave the dinner table tonight because watching my parents take human sized bites of food and easily grind them with their teeth dismayed me that much.  The feeling is something I would relate to being dumped if I had any experience with such.  My jaw has dumped me and moved on to prettier things.
Heartbreak.

Kanye West had it right (for probably the only time in his life) when he wrote the following lyrics after having his jaw broken:

I drink a boost for breakfast, and ensure for desert
Somebody ordered pancakes I just sip the sizzurp
That right there could drive a sane man bizzerk