I'm done with braces!

That's it guys, I'm done with my braces after 4 long years. 

I vividly remember 4 years ago begging my mum to let me put on my braces because I was so self conscious about my ugly teeth and my protruding jawline. In fact when I first had that idea, I thought braces would be able to correct my teeth and never did I expect that there was such a surgery to correct my underbite. 

Anyone still remember me when I looked like this? This was taken in 2010 a few months before I put on my braces. It's really hard to find pictures of me showing my teeth because back then I was really ashamed of it and most of my pictures were something like this. 

So here are the few pictures of me after putting on braces and you can slowly see that my teeth became so much straighter. 

Fast forward 3 years to 2013 where I had the most life-changing surgery of my life. The one surgery that I've been waiting for my entire life so nobody will call me jiao bin anymore. 

That's me with my super swollen face 2 days after surgery. Sidenote: For those people who think this surgery is extremely painful, it's not. It's just extremely irritating because you can't open your mouth for 2 weeks and you have to feed yourself milk with a syringe. If you think positively, it's like a free slimming program, proven fast and effective by me.

So after surgery, pretty much a changed person and totally not shy to show off my teeth even with a cock hairstyle like this.

That pretty much sums up my 4 years in braces. I'm so excited to begin a new phase of my life with a new look!

Day 23

Hey guys, it's like day 23 after my surgery. I'm feeling much better now and most of the swelling has already gone down. I took out all my stitches and plastic molds two days ago but I'll still have to wear bands to keep my bite in place.

It's really irritating because I'm officially able to eat now but I can't really open my mouth. 

That's about how big I can open my mouth now. I remember being able to open my mouth really wide before surgery but I guess that's all gone right now. My girlfriend says I'm being too impatient and I think I am but I just can't wait to open my mouth and stretch. It's really weird cause I still have some difficulty talking or maybe I'm just now used to it yet.

It feels really weird to bite into food now and I'm going to have to learn how to chew all over again. I make such a big mess over every meal now leaving food traces all over my mouth and chin and I can't feel them cause they're numb. One good thing is I bring my tiny toothbrush everywhere I go now so I can just brush off the leftover food particles.

That's all folks, I'm really hoping I can stretch my jaw muscles before I go back to camp next week. It sucks to yawn without being able to open your mouth fully.

Disappointment

I was utterly disappointed this morning because when I went to see the doctor, he said I couldn't remove my bands completely yet. That totally meant I had to open my mouth really small and somehow just pour the food in like the previous week.

Even though he said I could start eating mashed potatoes and tauhuay and porridge, in fact I already did all these last week so I was really disappointed that I can't open my mouth. He said I'm not ready for any chewing yet and my wounds although recovering fast are not exactly closed yet.

I could still see stitches in my gums even though they're supposed to dissolve by themselves but it kinda grosses me out because I want to pull them out. On the other hand, I'm quite glad I got my MC extended for another week. It was originally supposed to be 4 weeks but I guess the other doctor got mixed up and gave me only 3 weeks. I really don't want to go back to work without being able to eat and chew properly. That would be such a bother.

Guess what? Just a few minutes ago, I accidentally broke one my bands and I'm actually happy about it. The doctor said even if the bands broke this week, there's no need to go back to see him and put new bands. I am so tempted to "break" all the bands and open my mouth fully but I think that's going to hinder my recovery process. I'm starting to eat porridge and mashed potatoes as you can see in the photos above and the mashed potato was the best thing I've tasted since surgery.

Not only that, I'm going to start finding all the soft food I can at home and start eating. I've been a starving ghost for too long.

Day 12

Hello guys, it's day 12 post surgery and here's and update on my recovery process. As you can see from the photo above, my swelling has gone down significantly but it seems like my right side is more swollen than my left. It's kinda weird to have an imbalanced face but I'm sure nature will work to bring my face back to normal soon.

I'm going to get more bands removed tomorrow so that means I'll be off the liquid diet! I can't wait to start eating real solid food. It sucks to drink soup everyday especially porridge water that my grandma cooks. It's basically tasteless and gross cause it feels like you're drinking plain water with oil. However my grandma goes on and on about the expensive fishes she used to cook the porridge with. Let's just hope I'll be able to eat the porridge instead of just drinking the water from tomorrow onwards.

So in case you guys didn't see my swollen face right after surgery, here it is! I remember the oxygen tube being my best friend cause it helped me to breathe so much better and it was a pity to let it go. 

My girlfriend says I look like a secondary 4 boy now, do I? I think I look younger and puffier than before. Not exactly sure if it's a good thing but the final result will be in 6 months time. I think my swelling will only go down slowly from now on cause most of the swelling is gone. 

Liquid Food

Hello guys, it's finally post op day 7! It also means I've been surviving on liquid food for a week already. It really sucks to be on a liquid food diet. For the first 5 days I had to inject the highly nutritious milk into the back of my mouth and then swallow. It's quite weird to be tube feeding myself everyday but I quickly got used to it.

So that's my trusty can of milk and my first ever food since surgery. It's really sweet and it tastes a lot like protein shakes. On my first day I felt super full only after drinking a few syringefuls. But as the days go pass, one can was never enough. So I started drinking two cans a day. However I only bought 24 cans and it was supposedly to last me for 2 weeks. This milk shit is expensive!

So other than drinking milk and soups, I go around sniffing people's food. Especially Petrine's double down today! Some people would say that she's torturing me but I wouldn't think so. Smelling the food actually helps me to imagine I'm eating it. In fact, imagination helped a lot during the first few days of surgery cause I thought of drinking gong cha, eating ice cream and everything else.

In case you're going to adopt a liquid diet like me, here's a list of liquid foods for you to try.

• Milk (or Soy Milk)
• Fruit Juices
• Honey water
• Soups
• Teas (or Milk Teas if you like)

Liquid diet can actually help you lose a lot of weight and that is exactly what it did to me. I lose 4kg in about a week but I don't know if that loss is permanent. I'll never volunteer to go on a liquid diet just to lose weight though. 

Bands removed

I finally got my bandages and stuff removed today and the pictures above are what happened yesterday when Petrine visited me. All thanks to her, my day went pass pretty fast and as you can see I have basically the same expression in all the pictures cause my entire face is numb and I can't really make any facial expression.

That's me today! I know I look like a fatass butcher now and trust me, this is the best picture I took. At least I look like I'm smiling, do I? I'm so glad I took some of my bands off today and I can finally open my mouth slightly. Even though I still can't eat any solid food, at least I can breathe through my mouth when I need to.

Now I just can't wait for another week to remove my bands totally and start eating normal food. I'll still have to stick to the liquid diet that I was already sick of on the first day. Luckily for me, my grandma made some soup that wasn't too bad. Felt like heaven to have something savoury when you've had sweet milk everyday for the past 6 days.

That's all guys! and now for some camwhore.

Road to recovery

Hello guys, I just got discharged from the hospital today and yes, I know my face is swollen like a pig. Or rather a hippopotamus like what Petrine said. The surgery went pretty fine until the end of the surgery when I was woken up by the nurses. It was the worst experience of my life. Almost like a near-death experience.

I had my mouth wired shut so there was no way I could breathe through my mouth and I had to breathe through my nose. The bad thing was there were lots of blood clots in my nose that made it impossible for me to breathe adequately. I got such a shock that I could't breathe properly that I jumped out of the bed and the nurses had to pin me down. It was quite embarrassing cause I was almost naked but all I could think of at that point in time was to breathe. I didn't want to die.

Luckily for me, they inserted an oxygen tube into my nose pretty quickly and that calmed me down quite a lot. In fact it was the most comforting thing ever even though it was quite uncomfortable. They also had suction tubes to suck out phlegm and saliva from my nose and mouth which made it a lot easier to breathe. I mean for someone who has always been breathing heavily through the mouth, it was quite a nuisance to take small intakes of oxygen through your nose and that kept me awake the entire night because I was afraid I would die not breathing.

Luckily I didn't. It was really welcoming to see Petrine and my mum and to be able to mime to them that I survived. Surprisingly there wasn't really much of a pain in my jaws or anything just that it's super uncomfortable. I'm unable to open my mouth so the only way I drink is to insert a syringe into my mouth and slowly swallow. It sucks pretty bad but then again I don't have much of an appetite either. The taste of the rubber bands in my mouth just turns me off. I've got like 24 cans of highly nutritious strawberry milk to last me for the next two weeks cause I won't be able to take any solid food.

I'm still waiting eagerly for Monday when I can finally remove my bands and not get my mouth wired shut. It sucks pretty bad to not be able to open your mouth. I think the swelling and numbness isn't much of an issue for me but I'd definitely want to breathe through my mouth again.

Special thanks to Jacob, Gary and Ben who came down to pay me a visit today and all the other well wishers! I'm pretty fine and I'm finally on my road to recovery!

Not to forget my mum and Petrine. <3

Anticipation

Hello guys, it's been a while. I'm having my jaw surgery in less than 12 hours time and I'm really nervous. I don't remember being so nervous when I was going for my knee or my wisdom teeth surgeries. I guess as people grow older, their fear of dying heightens pretty much. Although I know I won't die in the operating theatre tomorrow, I'm still scared of all the implications.

After all, you won't get to see this face above anymore. It's like a life changing moment for me. I've yearned to do this surgery since I was young because I was always laughed at for my underbite. Even my own grandma couldn't understand why I can't close my mouth. Of course after years of scolding and training and nagging by my very own grandmother, I managed to close my mouth but that wasn't my natural look at all.

It didn't occur to me that I could have done this surgery earlier. In fact I didn't even know about this surgery until I went for a braces consultation. It was about 3 years ago that I committed myself to this surgery tomorrow. Once I put on braces, it would make my underbite more prominent in preparation for the re-alignment surgery. So 3 years later, here I am, the night before the surgery wondering if I made the right decision. I guess I'm just overthinking. Of course I made the right decision.

In fact I just can't wait to get this over and done with. I've a pretty badass recovery rate so I think I'll be up and talking in less than 2 weeks. Normally it would take around 1 month for everything to go down, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the swelling will subside quickly. I don't really want to walk out of my house having a swollen face.

I've read quite a few other blogs about similar surgeries and I'm also quite scared that I can't feel my face after surgery. It happens all the time and the sensitivity takes quite a while to go back. I'll probably freak out when I can't feel my face. I don't think I'm able to sleep tonight but I've got to try. The worst thing is I can't eat anything after 12am tonight and I'm pretty much done with my last meal before surgery.

On a side note, I dropped my INO in a pail of water in the toilet and that's the worst thing that can happen to me before surgery cause I'll be really bored without a smartphone to play with while I'm warded. Goddamn.

Goodnight guys, I wish myself all the best for my surgery tomorrow.

Jaws

Hey sup world. It's been a pretty long break from blogging from me. I'm still trying to settle down in my new unit in NS. Everything's going pretty while for me and I received one of the biggest news just a few weeks back. I'm ready for jaw surgery!

I've been wanting to do jaw surgery ever since like forever. I remember the times when my self esteem was really low because I look different from other people. I used to get laughed at for my face and I would just feel like it's the end of the world. Sometimes it's not my fault for having a "jiao bin" but I just do cause I can't really close my mouth and I do stare at myself in the mirror sometimes and wonder why am I so ugly.

I know I always say I fucking handsome la, but deep down inside I know I'll always have this imperfection. Everything's going to be fine cause I'm finally going for jaw surgery! Of course other than aesthetics, it would also help my speech and bite problems as well. Really looking forward to it.

This is how my conditions is right now and after my surgery, I'll have a normal jaw! As with all surgeries, there are bound to be risks. I'm not going to die but the major problem I'm going to have is an altered sensation on my chin. In other words, it's going to be numb cause the surgeon would have to sever several nerves around my jaw to complete the surgery. Then again, there is a chance of full recovery but most people reported a loss of 50% to 70% of the feeling on their chin.

I read some articles online, some of them said they cannot feel the leftover food on their chin and people always stare at them. So in the future please tell me if I have leftover food on my chin, wouldn't want awkward stares.

Anyway, it's tentatively on 8th May this year and I'm probably going to have a really swollen and bloated face for a month or so. I'll definitely slim down cause my jaws would be tied together for a week after surgery and I'll be on liquid diet. Seems like a good plan to look good on both my face and stomach.

Will be posting more pictures of the pre and post surgery!