8 Week (and 1 day) Update

Hi everyone! I know it's been awhile since I've updated my blog, so I thought that the 8 week mark would be a good check point. I've made a video showing my progress up through six weeks, but I've been having some trouble getting it to upload in good quality. I think it might have something to do with my bad internet connection at school.

As of right now, I've been eating pretty much everything I want, except crunchy foods and things that are hard to chew like steaks and other tough meats. Eating is still a type of "exercise" for my jaw and facial muscles, and they just aren't quite strong enough to deal with those foods yet. In addition, I still have to cut up some foods because my mouth doesn't open as wide as I would like it too which makes it difficult to bite into some things.

While I feel like pretty much all of my swelling has gone down, when I compare weekly pictures to each other, I'm amazed at how different I look each time. For example, these are my pictures from 6, 7, and 8 weeks.

6 Weeks

 7 Weeks

8 Weeks

In addition, here are before and after pictures for today (for a larger version, click on the picture):

I honestly couldn't be happier with the way things turned out. However, sometimes when I see myself in the mirror and smile, it's hard to think that it's actually me and my smile. It's a difficult concept to explain,  but I think it's worth mentioning. So many changes have taken place in regards to my bite, smile, and overall face that I'm still trying to comprehend them all. 

Hopefully I will get the video I made up in a couple weeks when I go home and have a better internet connection. I will also try to do an update every two-ish weeks just to show you how things are coming along. :)