Jaw Journal

  • Jaw Journal

    about these posts

    For those of you wondering what the “jaw journal” stuff is about: I had lower jaw surgery in 2011 after more than ten years of chronic pain due to a dislocated jaw and malformed bite. I chronicled my jaw surgery and recovery experience on my blog. Years later, I still receive fairly regular messages from people who are facing their own jaw surgeries, and so I decided to keep these blog posts live. Hopefully these posts will continue to help others facing a similar ordeal!

  • Jaw Journal

    For Heather: Surgery and your voice

    Recently, Heather asked: Hi Lindsay, I hope you still check this website. I am a vocal teacher and was a vocal performance major. It’s safe to say music is my life. I teach over 80 students a week, and sing constantly : ) I am having double jaw surgery this July and I am extremely nervous about moving my jaws and still being able to sing. I am hoping that the surgery will take the tension that I feel 24/7 and help me to open my jaws with ease… and also help open up my airways. I am curious what your experience with your voice was after the surgery? Did…

  • Jaw Journal

    One Year Later: Before and After Photos

    I can’t believe it has been a YEAR since my jaw surgery! My life is so, so different than what it was a year ago. People often ask me if it was worth having surgery, and my answer is unflinchingly YES. I would do it again in a heartbeat! It was absolutely worth it, and I have no regrets. A year ago, I was under the knife. My doctor broke my lower jaw in two places, realigned it, and pinned it in place with two dog bone-shaped titanium brackets. I swelled up like a somewhat square balloon, and spent a week with my mouth locked shut (by way of rubber…

  • Jaw Journal

    One for the Money…

    Today was the day I faced my fears. Today I finally saw the statement for the hospital costs for my surgery. Now, I got the bill from my surgeon’s office a few months ago, and didn’t share it with you all because I was waiting for the other, more frightening shoe to fall. I knew from the beginning that the hospital bill would be the Big One, because hospitals, as we all know, really like to bleed patients dry. (Dear friends and family who are nurses…I love you! I’d feel much better about hospitals being so expensive if I knew that  money was going more toward YOUR paychecks than things…

  • Jaw Journal

    8 weeks, and all is well…err, mostly.

    Well, it has officially been over 8 weeks since my surgery. I apologize that I left many of you hanging, without a new post for 5 of those 8 weeks. 😐 There have been no disasters, and I am not buried in a pit of depression or pain or despair. I’ve very simply been…well, busy living life with a new jaw. I went back to work during week three, and managed to make it through my days relatively well. I would work in the mornings, go home for a nap, and then work from home in the evenings. That lasted about a week, and then I was back full-time (for…