Author: Johnny To
Publish Date: 2025-06-12
Last Modified: 2025-06-12

It’s been 2 months since I lasted posted. 2 major events occured in my life.

Double Jaw Surgery

On April 28, I went under to have my class 3 underbite corrected. The diagonis before the surgery was the following.

  • Maxillary hypoplasia
  • Mandibular hyperplasia
  • Facial and jaw asymmetry

During the surgery, the surgeon also identified the following issues and corrected them immediately.

  • Right maxillary sinus polyp
  • Deviated nasal septum

The first month of recovery was not as bad as I read online from other people’s experiences. Let me summarize the events up until this point as I am into the 2nd month of recovery now.

  • Day 1 - 2 (Hospital Stay):

    Mostly had issues with the bloody nose and congestion due to the dried blood in said nose. I had no sore throat, intense bruising, or significant pain. On a pain scale of 1 - 10, I had a 2-3 throughout the hospital stay. My pain was tolerable and I could go without ibrubophen during the night too as it was given every 6 hours.

  • First Month (Home):

    Getting discharged was significant as I was able to rest peacefully without a nurse or some other person waking me up for a vital check. During this first month, I rested with my head elevated and dealt with the dreaded full liquid diet.

    The first week was confusing as I was trying new recipes and figuring out what could be blended for me to take in with a syringe.

    After the second week, I had some frustration with the syringes as they become worn and unusable. The same foods I have been ingesting daily were starting to wear me down. What saved me during the next few weeks was buying canned food like Progresso to help with the flavor fatigue. Let me tell you, anything with cheese is a good choice.

    During this time, I only had 2 sets of rubberbands to secure my upper and lower jaw in place. No specific instructions other than wear them daily and take them off before eating or doing jaw exercises. At some point, I only wore them at night after brushing my teeth.

    Also, if anyone reads this is thinking of getting jaw surgery. I recommend getting a waterpik to help with cleaning the teeth as the jaw does not have full range of motion to insert a toothbrush.

  • Second Month:

    On May 30th during my follow-up appointment, my diet was advanced to a soft food no chew diet. Phasing out the full liquid diet foods and went straight to soft solids or something solid I could gulp down with soup. Having solid rice after a full month was one of the best moments of recovery. I have never missed rice that badly before.

    I also don’t have to wear any rubberbands anymore and can finally fit 2 fingers in my mouth. The goal is to fit 3 fingers in the mouth as that is normal range of motion. Jaw exercises every day will help me accomplish this. Other than that, I had no complications during the surgery or recovery thus far.

Became a Father

Imagine going into the hospital with 2 people and leaving with 3. Crazy to think about.

At the time of writing this, it has been 2 weeks and 4 days of being a Father. The ride has been bumpy at the beginning but I have finally settled into a flow state of being a parent.

I won’t go too deep into this topic but will say Mother and Daughter are both healthy and doing very well.

Best,
Johnny