1 Month Post Op

It's hard to believe that it was one month ago today that Rachel had her surgery! It was a busy morning of appointments. 

First up was with Dr. Martin. It was a quick visit and the most important thing to come out of that visit was that Rachel's diet has been upgraded! She can now chew small bites of chicken, ground beef, PBJ sandwiches, etc., in addition to all the soft stuff she's been doing. She was ecstatic to say the least!

Dr. Martin said everything inside looks great, swelling on the inside is all gone, stitches still intact, bite and the alignment of teeth looks great. We actually don't go back to see him for 4 weeks! Thankfully this is all working out as she moves back to Phoenix for the new school year a week later. 

Up next was an appointment with Dr. Garcia, the orthodontist. The office manager and Dr. Garcia were very excited to see Rachel and learn that she was one month post op. The last time we saw them was the week before surgery and at that time, surgery still wasn't approved. 

Dr. Garcia was very happy with Rachel's bite and how wonderful she looked. She is now the one making the calls on band adjustments and getting Rachel's new jaw alignment settled. We don't return to see Dr. Garcia for 4 weeks as well. It could get kinda tricky with Rachel going back to school and she might need to come home a weekend here and there in order to be seen on a Monday (she has no classes on Mondays), hoping it all works out. 

Dr. Garcia has been seeing Rachel as a regular patient for over 10 years. 

Two great appointments, diet upgraded, no need to return for 4 weeks to either place, calls for a celebratory lunch!! And of course Rachel chose Chick-Fil-A! She enjoyed a chicken sandwich and took her time and ate small bites, had no trouble, no pain. Happy to be able to chew food again after a month of not chewing! 

One month out and I asked Rachel if this experience had been better or worse than she had expected. She said the afternoon/evening following surgery was worse than she had expected, between the nausea and throwing up. But after that, it was better than she had expected as she was on soft foods following surgery instead of a full liquid diet. 

Either way, Rachel has done amazing through all this. She's been a real trooper and has done great at following what was expected of her.