Jordan's Surgery

In October Jordan had jaw surgery.  He had an under bite that so was bad it couldn't be fixed with braces so his only option was surgery.  The doctor cut through the bones in his face pulled his top jaw forward and widened it.  The surgery only lasted about 2 hours and the doctor said everything went well.  It was a horrible surgery!  He was so  swollen when he came out that I didn't even recognize him at first.  It was kind of traumatizing to see him that swollen and miserable.  He had a lot of numbness and pain at first.  The doctor told him not to chew anything for at least 6 weeks. He had elastics holding his jaw shut.  The first week was really hard he didn't have a ton of control of his mouth because it was so numb.  He was in pain couldn't eat and just generally didn't feel good. He's slowly getting better but still isn't feeling great.
It's been a little over 5 weeks since surgery and he's still pretty swollen and still has some pain.  He still can't really open his mouth all the way.  The doctor just gave him the okay to stop wearing the elastics all the time.  Another week and he should be able to chew a little but getting back on regular food will probably be a slow process.  He's been eating blended soup and really thin smoothies and shakes.  And just this week he's progressed to mashed potatoes, pudding, and yogurt.  He's so tired of soup that he hates it now.  The poor guy is having a really hard recovery.  It's been a lot harder than we both thought. We both thought after 6 weeks he'd be eating normal again and feeling great but that is not what is happening at all.  It's a hard surgery.  He'll hopefully be glad that he did it in the end.  The doctor and his orthodontist both said that everything looks good so hopefully once the swelling goes down he'll be glad that he did it.

Before

After

   1 week

3 weeks

5 weeks