Jaw Surgery

About a month after we got married Logan and I went to Florida, not for anything fun though, we traveled there to see a world-renowned jaw doctor. I have had problems with my jaw for over five years, seen other doctors, but no relief, so this was the next step. We were hoping that it would be any easy fix and that he would give us good news. I had a number of tests ran, and the doctor at the end told us that my discs (the same type of discs you have in your back) in between my two jaw joints were no longer in between my jaw joints. They had fallen down and were herniated. He informed us that our only option was really to have surgery. So we went home and thought about it for a while, then we decided to take a leap of faith and to schedule the surgery. About a month later my mom and I went back to Florida. We had to be there for 16 days, I had to go before the surgery to get some more tests done and get surgical braces…(thought I was done with the braces thing). Finally the day arrived that I was having surgery, I was nervous, but I was sick of waiting and wondering and Logan was coming that day! The surgery was about 6 hours, they cut open in front of my ears and took out my discs, then they removed fat from my stomach and put in a “fat graft” to protect my bones. They were rubbing on each other and getting smaller. When I woke up I was in a lot of pain, but the pain was different then I was used to, which I think was a good sign. My mouth was wired shut for about four days. I had to eat through a syringe with a long tube on it. I could only have protein shakes and liquids. About 5 days later, we were at a restaurant trying to get me some food. The waiter brought me a sample of some soup, just a chicken soup with no chunks of course and a pina colada. I tried both of them, within minutes my lip got reallllllly swollen and I was having a hard time breathing. They called the ambulance, we would have just drove to the ER but we didn’t know where it was.  To be honest, I don’t really remember much more than that, I know they gave me a bunch of medicine and I got feeling better, and they sent me home with an epi pen, not knowing what caused this reaction. It was pretty scary, feeling like I couldn’t breathe and my mouth was shut closed, which made is more scary. Recovery was rough, lots of pain for a few weeks and a no-chew diet for 3 months. I recovered pretty quickly, although recovery is 9 months long. the pictures are of my discs that they removed.