Tara's Orthognathic Adventure

Implant Progress

2008-06-13T17:26:00.006-04:00

Monday I had the healing post put on my implant. It was a very quick and simple appointment. He had scheduled it for 40 minutes. It took me only 45 minutes to drive to the dentist, have it done, and get back to work! And it's a good 8 - 10 minute drive each way!

I NEVER have to wait so I was seated as soon as I got there. He had a new nurse with him and his normal nurse, so it was a packed room! He put the q-tip with the local anesthetic so that he could numb me up. He told the new nurse that he always give a shot of stuff "A" first to dull the pain, then he gives the shots of stuff "B" to actually numb you (can't remember the medical terms!). He said the "B" stuff stings, so he likes to give the other stuff first. He gives me the shot of "A" and asks if it hurts at all. I told him that I was still numb over there from the jaw surgery.

Well, that made it MUCH simpler! He goes "Really?!?! Well, let me know if this hurts and I'll give you more novocain." You should have seen the new nurses face! It was priceless! He told her that I would be fine. He never needs to use a lot on me and that I was "tough"! So he exposed the post, cleaned it out, took some pictures, puts the healing cap on, took some more pictures and sends me on my way! He has been taking LOTS of pictures through the whole process. He gives lectures on how to do implants and he said I was a "unique" case to study. I should ask him to give me a deal on it since he is using my pictures!!!

I go back in two weeks for impressions, then three weeks after that I get the final implant!!! The healing post is larger then I thought it would be, but I guess it's getting me used to having a tooth there again!

Here's some pics of the newest metal in my mouth!

Pictures of new appliance

2008-05-15T20:51:00.007-04:00

You can see that the new appliance makes my lips look funny! Almost worst then with the braces.

Smiling with the new appliance.

Close up of the teeth with the "things" on. You can see that it is clear plasitc, but it's pretty thick! Also, if you look closely, you can see where the metal and springs are embedded.

Kind of looks like a Hawley retainer. I tried to point out where the springs are. When I put it on, it expands to fit my teeth now. But this is what they will look like when we are done.

New Appliance

2008-05-15T16:32:00.001-04:00

I got my new appliance yesterday to close up those small gaps in the back. I’ll take a picture of it when I get home, because it’s kind of hard to describe. I thought that I was going to get an Invisalign tray and that would be it. But no, has anything gone the way it was planned/supposed to? Not yet, so why start now!

I get to the ortho and they give me a seat. I see my molds with this thing on it, and it is NOT like my retainers. Granted, it’s still “clear” plastic and removable, but you can still see it. The assistant goes “Hmmm, I’ve never seen one of these before!” GREAT, this is going to be fun. So she puts them in my mouth. Oh yeah, when I was there last we had decided to just fix the top and then deal with the bottom later. Well, there is both a top and a lower appliance. So the ortho comes over and I’m like “Please explain these, because this isn’t what we had discussed.” He never said that they would be Invisalign, but that is basically what he described. So he tells me that he sent my models to the lab to make the new tray. But that it would take several trays to close the gaps. So the lab and my ortho came up with this contraption. He then procedes to tell me that it’s a new appliance, they just came out with it the beginning of the year. He has never used it. Basically, I am his guinea pig! WONDERFUL! I just love being a test subject. He said that it has great reviews from other dentists, and that if it works on me, he will start using it on other patients. I go back in a month to see how it is working. If it is working, then we will keep going this route. If not, then we will try something else.

So let me try to explain this thing to you (the pictures later will REALLY help. I’m not good at describing things). It is a clear thickish plastic that run along the back of the teeth, and then the front. It doesn’t cover the whole tooth. Kind of weird. The way they make it is they take two sets of models. They leave one set alone, as your teeth are now. They then take the other set and actually cut off the teeth that they want to move, and put them where they want them. So they have a set of how your teeth are now, and how they will be when they are done. They then make the appliance to fit your new teeth. The way it differs from the Invisalign trays is that you only have this one appliance. Where they need to move the teeth, they put springs in the appliance. So basically, when I take the appliance off, it is now my teeth WILL be, but when I go to put it on, the springs stretch it to fit my teeth now. It is suppose to be a more steady movement of the teeth instead of a forced positioning with the trays.

When they were “playing” with my models, they decided that the teeth on the left side, that we were going to take care of another way, both had to be moved the same distance. So basically, they can fix both the upper and the lower without messing up my bite!!! And I got to see the models to prove it to me! That means no crowns for me!!!

That’s basically how my appointment went yesterday. The teeth weren’t sore at first, but around 6 last night they started to get sore. This morning they were pretty sore. Once I put the appliance back in, it doesn’t really hurt that bad. But when I try to eat I feel the pressure, and when you first put it on. But after all that we have been through, we should be use to the pain, so it’s no big deal.

I will take some pics tonight to better explain them!

The verdict

2008-04-29T18:11:00.002-04:00

Going to the dentist AGAIN yesterday just left me with more decisions and things to think about. After talking to the ortho, my dentist decided to look at the lower teeth again. They decided that the size of the fillings in the lower left are large and that I will eventually need to have crowns put on them. The fillings in those teeth were just replaced less then 7 years ago (that's how long I have had this dentist, and he replaced them, just can't remember when). So they aren't that old. So my dentist said that I could either have it fixed orthodontically or with one or two crowns. I asked him what was best for my teeth in the long run... putting time, money, pain, everything like that aside. He never really did answer that. But he said that I will eventually need to crown those two teeth. He can just crown one of them and make up for the two spaces. I have NO idea if insurance will pay for these crowns since the teeth are fine right now. So they have sent in a pre-authorization. At over $800 a tooth, I want to know how much I will have to pay before I give the go-ahead.

Here are my choices as I see them:

Fix the lower spaces with InvisAlign and run the risk of messing up my bite (don't want to do that)
Put crowns on one/two teeth (depending on what insurance will pay). I REALLY hate the thought of grinding down teeth that are still healthy to put the crown on. And in 10 - 20 years from now I will need to have these crowns replaced. How much more of my tooth will be left for them to grind down then? But, this will save my teeth from possibly breaking, which would lead to me getting a crown... or worst yet cracking which would lead to having the tooth pulled and the whole stud process again (once is enough!) (But if I didn't have this space I wouldn't even be thinking about what "could" happen. I would just be going on my marry, and if something happened, dealing with it then)
Do nothing for now and wait until I get a cavity from the space. I could also get gum infections because of food getting wedged in there and my CONSTANTLY having to floss or something to get it out.

For right now, I have 4 - 6 weeks to wait for the pre-auth to come back. In that time we will move the top teeth and I will be back to my dentist to get more done with the implant. It really just is too much to think about sometimes. Here I thought that once the braces came off and I got the implant I would be done. But I really think that until I put my foot down and say "NO MORE" they will come up with something else that needs to be done. I have to decide how much time, pain, and money I am willing to spend and after that just say "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!".

That's the new news for now. I go on Tuesday to get my top InvisAlign. Yeah, "braces" for a THIRD time. My sister is going to be SOOO jealous. (she has ONE crooked tooth and wanted braces as a kid. The ortho said it was just cosmetic so my parent's did get them for her. She was jealous when I got mine as a kid, even more jealous when I got them as an adult... and now for a third time. She is going to FLIP. Hey, she's an adult now, she could pay for them herself. But after paying for her son's braces, I think she has changed her mind). I'll let you know how Tuesday goes.

Dentist appoinment today

2008-04-28T07:11:00.002-04:00

I have yet ANOTHER dentist appointment today. I got a call on Thursday from my regular dentist saying that he wanted to see me on Monday. So I have to go there today at 3. The scheduler that called me said "Do you want to know why he wants to see you?". And my answer was "Honestly... no." I'll find out today at three. I'm going to assume it has to do with these spaces and with him talking to the ortho. So I'll keep you updated on what the new plan is going to be. It's just too much to keep straight anymore (no pun intended!!!).

My Decision... for now

2008-04-24T07:25:00.002-04:00

So I have done a LOT of thinking about what to do with these spaces that the braces left. I have talked to my regular dentist and my ortho to try to come up with the best plans to maintain my current bite as well as maintain the health of my teeth for the future. And right now, we are going to go with moving the top teeth and see how that works out. From talking with both of them, the chances of messing up my current bite is VERY minimal. The risk with doing caps on my teeth is greater then the risk of possibly messing up my bite. And the main reason for this is that the gap on the top that needs to be fixed lines up with where the implant still has to be finished. So basically, they will make the implant to mesh with my “new” bite, and not my bite now. (who would have thought it would be a GOOD thing to have a missing tooth?!?!) As far as fixing the spaces on the top, it won’t mess up my bite at all.

So for now we are going to go with fixing the upper spaces, and see how that works out. Then we will deal with the lower spaces. My ortho and regular dentist were going to talk some more and discuss the pros and cons of each way. Because when I talk to the ortho he leans towards caps, and when I talk to my regular dentist, he leans towards ortho. So I asked them to talk to each other and see what they can come up with. I can see the points in both of their cases, which makes it SOOO hard to make a decision on the lower teeth.

I don’t go back to the ortho for two more weeks, so we’ll see if I change my mind again before then (knowing me, I’ll change my mind again before I even hit “Post”!) Thank you all for your concerns, and please keep sending the advice!

Will it ever end? Please help!

2008-04-22T13:24:00.001-04:00

When I was at my regular dentist two weeks ago to get my teeth cleaned, he mentioned the large “contacts” between my back teeth. He had noticed these spaces when I was there getting my implant put in. They concerned him because food gets stuck in there, and he doesn’t want to see me get cavities in there or the gums get irritated because I have to constantly pick food out. He said that the only way that he could fix them would be to have crowns, or veneers put on. And of course that would cost me several thousand dollars. He was so pleased with my results from my orthodontia that he wanted me to go talk to the ortho.

So today I went to the ortho to talk to him about these spaces. Sorry if these seems jumbled, but I’m a little frazzled right now. He first mentioned possibly making the fillings in those teeth cover the gaps. I told him that my regular dentist at first thought that would be an option, but once he looked at them more, he didn’t think that option would work because of the size. So basically, what he came up with was to give me new retainers, like InvisAlign to move those back teeth. Sounds all good and like an easy choice. But of course NOTHING is when it comes to our teeth. My teeth all mesh so nicely now and by moving them, even just a little bit, we run the risk of losing that meshing. I expressed my concern about not wanting to lose all that we have worked for already. He said that if they start to feel “off”, I can stop wearing those retainers and they should move back to where they are now. The operative word being SHOULD. What if they don’t? He suggested that we start with the top and see how that goes, and if it works out well, then move on to the bottom. But he still thinks that getting crowns on the bottom would be the way to go.

I just don’t know what to do. If I do decide to go with the retainers to close the gaps, I run the risk of my teeth not meshing well anymore. The ortho said that if I stopped wearing the retainers they would go back, but is he sure? Then there is a small gap between my number 1 and 2 (between the front tooth and the first one to the left on my uppers) from where the button was. So he said that we could fix that with the retainers as well. But if we do, doesn’t that mean that ALL of my teeth to that side will move? Will this screw up my bite? I have just spent so much money, time, and pain on these teeth that I want them to be perfect. They are so close right now and I am SO afraid that if I do this last step that I will screw it all up. I just don’t know what to do. I am going to call my regular dentist and see what he thinks. I may also call my surgeon and see what he thinks too. This is a new ortho to me because my original one retired and sold his practice. It’s not that I don’t think this ortho is capable, but I just haven’t had enough experience with him to completely trust him. Does that make sense? I am just SO confused and don’t know what to do.

6 Months Post-Op

2008-04-08T18:30:00.006-04:00

WOW, I can't believe it's been 6 months to the day that I had my jaw surgery. It truly is amazing how fast the time has gone. I remember reading other blogs about how fast the time flies. I just never thought that my turn would actually happen. But it did, and I don't regret one minute of it!

I posted some pics from today. I took them myself, after a LONG day at work, so excuse the warn out, greasy skin look. After how you all have seen me, I didn't think you would mind!

I go for my first cleaning post-op and post-braces on Thursday! I'm actually looking forward to it. It will be a much nicer cleaning then with braces on. I go back in June to get the next part of my post done, then two weeks later for impressions, then three weeks after that to get the actual "tooth". Then I am DONE!!! WOW, this whole journey is about to come to an end. I still can't believe all that I have been through.

Well, I say it is coming to an end, but who knows. I always hear how people get "addicted" to plastic surgery. I always thought that was odd, but I can completely understand now how that happens. I was actually thinking of getting the TINY gap between my two front teeth at the top filled in. There is one other one from where the button was and the wire wrapped around that I want to get filled in (you can't see it at the angle the pics were taken). But then I read Brandy's blog about how expensive Luminaries are. Well, that won't be happening for me. But I am thinking of getting them whitened. We'll have to see what the dentist says on Thursday.

Anyway, nothing else really new or exciting teeth wise.

Implant Surgery is Done!

2008-03-02T11:45:00.020-05:00

The implant surgery is over!!! It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. For some reason I was REALLY dreading having this implant put in. I don't know why, I mean after all that has happened in my mouth, this was easy!

So for those of you that have an implant in your future, or are just curious, here's how it went for me. I have a great dentist who actually called me to let me know that they were running about 20 minutes behind. I wish all doctors did that! Much better then sitting in the waiting room for an extra 20 minutes. So I get there and they take me into the room. While he is numbing me up, he explains that when he gets in there, he may need to do a little more work then we had discussed previously. When he pulled this tooth, he did a bone graft so that I would have enough bone to place the implant. Well, my body did not like that idea, so it slowly got rid of all of the graft that he did originally (yeah, that was nice. Paid like a grand for that graft and it didn't even work).

While he is waiting for the novocain to set in, he takes off the wire that the ortho placed in that area to keep the teeth from shifting. If I need it back in, the dentist will replace it on Thursday when I have my follow up appointment. So, now that the wire is off and I'm all numb, he starts cutting. It was weird to hear the sound of your gums getting cut and pulled away from the bone. After a few minutes of cutting he tells me that I will need to have another bone graft placed in there and a membrane so that my body won't reject it again. This is to build up the outside part of the bone. If he didn't do this, then the implant won't fit nicely and food will get caught under it and could cause an infection. So this means more cutting, more stitches and having to keep my jaw opened longer (which was NOT fun when you still don't have full range back). Throughout the whole procedure he kept taking pictures so that he can show other patients that may need the same thing done what will happen.

Now comes time for the drilling of the hole to place the implant. He get the drill with the small drill bit on it. Since I still can't open too wide, he couldn't fit it in there, so he had to go to a smaller bit... still wouldn't fit. He had to use one of the smallest bits that he had because I just couldn't open any further. So he makes his first drill into the bone. Then he places a small stud in the hole. And off it is to get an x-ray with that in to make sure he has it in the right spot.

So I get the x-ray and he places it where he can see while he drills the hole larger. A few more larger bits and he is done drilling. It really didn't take long at all. Then he places the implant in and starts to ratchet it in place. It felt weird to have someone ratcheting something in to your bone. It didn't hurt, but just felt weird.

So the implant part of the whole procedure was VERY easy. It was the next part that took forever. Along with the incision that had to be made for the implant, he had to make two additional incisions. These went from where the implant incision was down the front of the jaw to the cheek. He then had to pull the gum away from the bone. Once again, it made a weird "ripping" sound. Kind of weird. Next he took the drill and "roughed" up the bone so that the implant would take better. He mixed some of my bone and blood with the bovine bone and placed that where he roughed up my bone. Next he had to measure and cut a membrane to build up the bone a little more. Then it was time to sew it all up. Originally, there was only supposed to be like 2 or 3 stitches. Yeah, that ended up not being the case. I think I have somewhere around 10 - 14. I lost count as he was putting them in. That was the part that took the longest.

After he had me all stitched up, it was off for another x-ray, just to make sure it was all in the correct place. The whole procedure took about 1.5 hours. He said if it was just the implant, it would have been only 1 hour, but the graft make it longer. I was told to take it easy for the rest of the day, ice it some, and avoid rinsing until Sunday or Monday because of the graft. I sort of listened to his instructions! I did go home after it and rest for a little while. Then it was out to party for the night!!! Luckily I didn't need any of the vicodin that he gave me, so I was still able to have a few drinks! We were out until about 2:30 in the morning. Yeah, that's me taking it easy! The original plan was to go to this country bar and ride the mechanical bull. Because of the weather, there weren't enough people out, so they didn't have the bull running :( I guess that's probably a good thing because that would NOT have been taking it easy!

Here are some pictures. I am actually a little swollen in that area. So I've been trying to take it easy the rest of the weekend and keep some ice on it. It really doesn't hurt except for where my lip rubs up against the incisions for the graft. And my jaw is pretty sore from forcing it open as wide as I could.

If you look at the chin and jaw line area, you can see the left side of the picture is a little swollen.

The stitches that come all the way down to the cheek

The other side of the stitches that come all the way down to the cheek.

Because I had to have the bone graft done, I wasn't able to have the "healing cap" placed on the implant (if you look at Brandy's that the "healing cap"). So the implant got all sewed up in there. This means that I will have to go back in a few months and he will have to cut the gum back open and place the healing cap on it then. It may take a few months longer before I can get the fake tooth put on, but this will make it last longer now that the bone is built back up.

Implant on Friday

2008-02-26T17:59:00.003-05:00

It looks like I will be having implant "surgery" on Friday. I put surgery in quotes because I don't really consider it surgery, but that's what they call it. It's not like they are putting me under and doing other stuff like they did with Brandy and Mary. They are just numbing me locally and screwing that sucker into place! I make it sound like SOOO much fun!

I have mixed feelings about getting this done. I know that it's something that I have to have. And part of me just wants all of this over and done with. But the other part of me just wants a break. I was fine with it until I was reading my docs "post op" sheet. It says to stay away from hard foods for 2 MONTHS. So basically, if I were to follow that sheet completely, I would be on a soft food diet again for 2 more months. I don't think so!!! I did that whole soft food for 2 months already, and I really don't think I have another 18 pounds to lose. Once I looked more into it, it's just that they don't want you putting too much pressure on the jaw while the bone is healing, so I'll just go each on the bagels and crunchy stuff.

I had to go to my surgeon today to see if I was ready for Friday and for what we were hoping was my last check up (my surgeon isn't doing my implant, my regular dentist is because he's qualified and he takes my insurance whereas my surgeon doesn't. Not that I even really know how much will be covered. Lets hope most of it because these implants are NOT cheap!). He did say I was ready for Friday, but that he would like to see me again in August. This is because he was surprised at how much numbness I still have. He would have thought that at my age, the fact that I don't smoke and am relatively healthy, and since he didn't even come close to the nerves I would have full feeling back by now. But when he did his "poke" tests, I don't have much more then I did at 2 months post op. He still has complete confidence that I will get it back, but that it make take up to 1.5 year. To tell you the truth, if I don't get it back, it's really not that big of a deal. You kind of get used to the numbness, tingly, and biting chucks of your cheeks off! (trying to look at the positives!) But it was nice to see every one's face when they saw my "naked" teeth! They were all SO impressed with my bite and how my smile looks! I am VERY happy with my results, but it is always nice to hear it from people who deal with teeth all the time. It's a nice reassurance!

So, you can all tell me how crazy I am, but I actually have plans on going out and partying on Friday night for all of our friends who have February birthdays! I know, I'm nuts doing that right after getting an implant done. But the way I look at it is I won't need to drink anything to get a little loopy if I take the pain meds! Actually, my dentist thinks I will be fine with this. He said it will be less traumatic then when he pulled that tooth. He pulled it on a Friday and then on Saturday my husband and I had a house warming party. I never took anything for it, and I never took the pain meds he gave me when he pulled my wisdom teeth. I went back to work the next day too. So lets just hope that this follows in line with how those went.

I'll try to post on Friday to let you know how it goes!

Retainers

2008-01-30T18:28:00.000-05:00

So I've had my Essix retainers for 2 weeks now. They haven't been too bad, after the first day that is. I was told that I had to wear the bottom one only at night (12 hours a day, do any of you get anywhere near 12 hours a sleep a day? I sure know I don't) and the top one all the time for 10 days, then just at night. Not too bad. I still wear the top one most of the time, but I went 8 hours once, and that HURT.

The first day was absolutely AWFUL. I go to the ortho and they have me put them in. The top one was a little hard to get in, but I eventually got it. The bottom one was made to only go over my teeth up to where the wire is (where the implant will go). Well, they had to use SO much glue to get it to stay, that they had to trim the retainer. So it only goes up to my K-9 tooth on that side.

I leave the ortho and go back to work. They weren't too bad, didn't really hurt, I could still talk pretty well with them in. I thought I was all fine... that is until I had to take them out. I go to the restroom to wash my hands and try to take these suckers out. The bottom was was a little tricky, but not too bad. I wish I could say the same for the top one. I am use to the older retainers that have the metal and there's a little "hook" that you can grab on to. Not so easy with these ones. I had asked the assistant at the ortho how to get them out. She said to use your nails to "pry" them off. Well, she must have never looked at my nail, or lack there of. I have to have some of the thinnest, softest, most brittle nails there are. I have psoriasis, and it effects my nails, so they are pretty bad. So there I am in the bathroom trying to get this top retainer out. I got some weird looks from some people who came in and saw me with my hands in my mouth.

Anyway, I spent about 10 minutes in there trying to get this thing out of my mouth. I even drew blood twice! Once on my gum and once when my nail pulled away from my skin (that's how soft they are, and it HURT!!!). I finally gave up and went back to my desk to calm down. I ended up having to take a paper clip, and after cleaning it, use it to pry this thing out of my mouth. Yeah, over 15 minutes and two places that I was bleeding, I FINALLY got it out.

I had to use the paper clip at dinner that night. I have since gotten the hang of it, but it is still tough to get out. I can only get one side lose and then I have to "wiggle" it out.

Other then that, they have been great. They don't hurt at all, and I can talk just fine with them in. Brandy asked if the bottom one made my teeth sore, like it did for her. But so far I have been fine. I will need a new bottom one when I get the implant put it.

I think the weirdest part so far is not being allowed to use toothpaste to brush them with. They seem to be pretty high maintenance, as far as retainers go. You can only drink water with them in because the stain easily, you can't use toothpaste because it will scratch them, and you can't use hot water because they will lose there shape. So I got some denture cleaner and soak them in that every morning, then just use my tooth brush without any toothpaste.

I don't go back to the ortho for another 8 weeks! On February 12 I go to my regular dentist for a checkup and to talk about my implant. Then on the 19th I go back to the surgeon so he can see how they look without the braces.

THEY ARE OFF!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-01-14T17:18:00.000-05:00

Ok, can you tell I'm excited??? Pictures first, since that's what I always look for, then the story!

In my car right after leaving the ortho!

Front view of the "NAKED" teeth!!!

Profile. It's hard NOT to smile today!

Close up of the bite

If you look closely, you can see a wire cemented to my teeth so that the gap doesn't fill in before I have a change to get the post and implant put in.

Ok, now for the story! I had a few concerns going into today. I was TRYING not to let myself get too excited about getting the braces off, but I knew that if they stayed on I would have been SOOO disappointed. But they weren't coming off until they were as close to perfect as they can get.

So I get to the ortho and managed to not tell anyone that they were coming off today except my husband. Boy, that was HARD. The hardest was probably my friend Rachel. If you watch Grey's Anatomy, well, Rachel's my "person". One of our friend's husband described Rachel and me as Meridith and Christina, and her as Izzy. Not our personalities, but you can't separate Rach and I! If you remember the post about my best friend and her absolutely adorable get well gift (one gift a day for 14 days)... well, that's my Rach!!!

Ok, so anyway... My ortho has a new ortho that just joined his practice. I bet as soon as the weather gets nice, he will be gone! I can't say I blame him. So I tell him that I want to ask him a few questions before we get to taking these braces off. I asked him about the "black triangle" between the two front teeth. He looked at it and explained that it's just the way my teeth are shaped. The only way to fix it would be to shave off the two front teeth where they meet to make them flat and then move them together. He would do it if I wanted him to. But it's not that bad, and I REALLY don't want to have my teeth shaved unless it's really necessary. I had to point it out to my husband, and he's known me for over 6 years and never noticed it, so I decided to leave it. My back teeth ARE meeting properly. I'm just not use to them actually touching, so I wanted to make sure. And as far as my right eye tooth coming out a little more, it's perfectly lined up with the rest. It's just in my head. And when he showed it to me, they are lined up. It might just be that my midlines aren't PERFECT, pretty close, just not dead on.

So now that fun starts! Time to get these suckers off. I really don't remember ANY pain or discomfort from the first time my braces were taken off. I think that the lower teeth were just amplified since I'm still getting feeling back and where I do have feeling it's SUPER sensitive. The part that hurt the worst were the bands... but that's to be expected. The one that REALLY hurt was the one I was afraid of. When I had braces the first time, they were on for over 4 years and under one of the bands was a HUGE cavity. Food got between the tooth and the band and there was NO way to know it was in there until it came off. So that tooth has a rather large filling and is REALLY sensitive. But the other bands didn't hurt nearly as bad.

So off to the sink to rinse. I was scared to look. I was SOOOO afraid of my teeth being stained and having these big white spots in the middle of each tooth where the bracket was. I'm a big coffee and tea drinker. I do try to use a straw when possible, but who knows if that actually helps. Well, to my surprise, there weren't BIG white spots! YEAH. Now came the FUN part (can you hear my sarcasm?). The scraping off of the cermet. I have very porous teeth, which is good for keeping the brackets on... not so good for getting the glue off. After about 10 minutes of scraping, and scraping, and scraping (which on the lower teeth felt like they were going to pop right out of my head), they decided to have the new ortho take the "drill" like tool to get it off. Man, that was SOOO much faster. Within 10 more minutes, it was ALL gone. The only part that wasn't good was the SMELL. YUCK. And I had dust all over my face. But then it was done.

So off to the sink yet once again to rinse. Next the new ortho says that he's going to FILE my teeth. The look on my face must have been priceless because he instantly said "Don't worry, it won't hurt." I tell him that I'm not worried about it hurting, I just don't want him to file my teeth and then my teeth be more likely to get cavities. He assured me that what he was doing was just what nature never did for me. You know how when teeth cut though they are jagged? Well, since I didn't use mine properly, some of those "jaggs" were still there. So he was just going to take them off, especially since the two upper eye teeth are slightly shorter, they will never get warn down on there own. So after that I decided to let him "file" my teeth. I still don't like that word, but he did offer to do my nails when he was done!!! (ok, so it was the assistant that said it, but it made me laugh, so that's all good!)

Off to the sink to rinse again! Now's time for the impressions for my retainers that I get on Wednesday. Since I'm only 3 months post op, I still can't open that wide. I can get about 2 fingers width, but that's REALLY stretching it. So she finds the smallest molds that will fit my teeth. The top one is first. Not too bad, other then not being able to breath. I'm a mouth breather because I have a deviated septum, so I HATE impressions. But the top one was pretty uneventful. Not so for the bottom. She had a hard time getting the mold in there without any "goop" in it. Yeah, that was a stretch to get that in once the "goop" was in place. So she holds it in place, and she kept pushing on the front of my lower lip to make sure the "goop" was all in place. Now that area is still SENSITIVE, so that hurt like HE-L. But if I thought that hurt, it was NOTHING compared to trying to get it OUT of my mouth. I literal had to use my hands to try to open my jaw further to get that thing out. I really don't know how the impression came out, but I'm sure it was awful since she had to do it at the weirdest angle since I just COULDN'T open any more. But it was done, so I was happy. So off to rinse and brush YET again!

Now that all of the glue is off and my teeth are all smooth, what do they do next? That's right, put MORE glue and MORE metal in my mouth. Man, just when I think it's all out, they put some more in. One of my lower right molars was pulled before the braces went on because of a root canal that was still bothering me. This new wire will insure that the teeth don't try to move closer to each other. This wire will stay in there when I get the stud and until the implant goes in. I already have some bone loss there, so they want to make sure that the space stays. For some reason the wire just didn't want to stick to my tooth. Probably from too much brushing in the last 60 minutes. The glue would stick, just not the wire. But they FINALLY got it to stay. Then... you guessed it... off to rinse again!

So that was my day at the ortho! I get to go back on Wednesday for my Essex retainers. The lower one will have to be cut because of the missing tooth, and they will give me a new one once I have the implant in place. The ortho did give me a little goodie "cup". I say cup because it's a travel coffee mug with lots of GOODIES in it! There is some candy, a Blow Pop and some laughy taffy! All stuff that I couldn't eat when the braces were on. Ok, I should say all stuff that I wasn't SUPPOSE to eat when the braces were on. But gum, man I haven't had that in over 10 years. I may have to give it a try. But not today. My jaw is KILLING me. It is actually giving me a headache from all of the stretching today.

I'll post again on Wednesday to let you know how the retainers go. (ok, maybe Thursday since Wednesday is volleyball night. No, I am not playing :( I have to wait until I am 6 months post-op, so I just go cheer them on and have bar food and beer before the game. Yeah, we drink BEFORE our games. It makes it more fun. We are told a lot that we are a fun team to play against. But that may just be because we usually loss) They told me today that I only have to wear them 24/7 for 10 days, then just at night. But I think that I will probably wear them longer then 10 days because I will be sacred that they will move back.

Until then...

Debracing Tomorrow!!!!

2008-01-13T10:17:00.000-05:00

OMG, I can't believe that my braces are actually coming off tomorrow!!! I actually forget that in 24 hours from now I will be in the ortho's chair getting these things yanked off. I think that is because I don't actually believe it. There are a few things that I want to ask him before he takes them off, and if he can fix them, then they won't be coming off tomorrow :( So I am trying not to let myself get TOO excited just yet.

The first thing is that I have a small, as Amy described it, "black triangle" between the tops of my two front teeth. It has always been there, so there may be nothing that can be done about that, so I will just have to live with it (or get veneers or something, but I don't think it's THAT noticeable). Also, I want to make sure that my back teeth are touching properly. Before the braces, my back teeth didn't touch AT ALL, so I have no idea how they are suppose to touch. If they are touching as they should, then that's cool with me. The third, and final thing, is I want to make sure that they moved the "eye" teeth out far enough. When I bite down, my right side top and bottom eye teeth touch, but my left side don't. So I'm not sure if my upper right eye tooth should be moved out just a little further. As badly as I want these braces off, I have learned to live with them, and most of the time forget they are even there. I just want to make sure that EVERYTHING is PERFECT before they come off. I have not worn braces for a total of over 6 years, and gone though surgery for my teeth to be anything less then perfect. I'm sure you ALL know what I mean.

The OS said that he wouldn't start thinking about putting my stud in for my fake tooth until the braces came off (the position that it's in, he just wouldn't be able to get it in there, plus it's close to where the lower jaw was cut, so he wants to make sure it's completely healed). However, my ortho wants it put in ASAP since I have already had a lot of bone loss there. So I almost feel that he is rushing the braces just to get the implant in. But will a few more months REALLY make that big of a difference when I had the tooth pulled more then 2 years ago?

The worrying about teeth will NEVER end. So anyway, those are my thoughts about getting my braces off tomorrow. So I'm trying not to get too excited because I may convince the ortho to leave them on a little longer. Either way, I will be updating you all tomorrow with what happened!

NAKED

2007-12-18T18:36:00.000-05:00

I bet that got your attention!!! Well, last week was a good one for me as far as braces go. I went to the ortho on Tuesday and I knew it would be good because I made my last payment for my braces. So they are now paid off!!! YEAH! My ortho is getting ready to retire (at least that's what I'm assuming) and he now has a new dentist in the office with him. So it was nice to get to meet him. I'm not sure when my current ortho will be done, but when I tell you the next part, it won't make a huge difference to me. I AM GETTING MY BRACES OFF!!!! Can you believe it? I'm only 2 months post op, and these braces are coming off already! I will be just past 3 months post-op when it happens. It originally was suppose to be January 9th, but when I got back to work I remembered that I would be in Seattle Washington that week giving a presentation at Boeing, so it will be the following Monday, the 14th! I so never thought that this would happen this soon. I am excited, but yet a little scared that the teeth aren't perfect. The ortho originally thought 6 - 9 months post-op was when the braces would come off... not 3! And going off of his original guess of 6 - 9 months of having them on before the surgery, which turned in to 19 months, I was not holding my breath for them coming off before I turned 30 (I'm only 28 now, so I really was not expecting this!). I'll talk to him again before he actually takes them off, so lets hope that all goes well. I am just still in shock that they are coming off.

So you're all probably wondering why I waited a week to tell you all. Well, I was going to try to keep it a secret, but I just couldn't do it. I still haven't told anyone other then my husband. I wanted to see how long before he noticed, but I SOOOO can not keep things from him. So, other then you all, he is the only one that knows! I want to see every ones face! I'm such a dork. So shhhh, don't tell anyone (ok, that really only goes to my non-ortho friends that read this!).

On the dizzy front... I went to yet another new neurologist last Monday. He was MUCH nicer. He too thinks that it is Basilar Migraines. He said that it may be board line Chari, but if it was, there isn't anything they can do about it. So he was going to get all of my records from all of my other doctors (primary, 3 other neurologists, cardiologist, and ENT) to see what tests they ran. He didn't want to put me though all of the tests if I had already had them and they were fine. I have to keep a record of my headaches and dizzy spells for the next 6 weeks and go back to see him. He is taking a VERY conservative approach because all of the meds that they would give you can't take when you are pregnant, and since we're trying, that would be no good.

That's about all that's new here. If I don't get a chance to write before the holidays (we do lots of traveling, first to my in-laws then to my parents), have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

Surgeon and Neurologist

2007-11-28T18:14:00.000-05:00

Well, this week has been full of appointments for me. Tuesday I had my 3rd post-op appointment with my surgeon. It was just a check up and to see if he would give me the "green light" to start chewing. HE DID!!!!! It's been just over 7 weeks without chewing. WOW, the time really did fly by. He told me that I am now on an "unrestricted" diet! But that I do have to slowly introduce things back in. Like, don't jump right to pizza crust or steak. Start off slowly and work the jaw muscles back up to it. But in a few weeks I should be back to eating what I was before. That's good, but it's also scary. I have lost 15 pounds, and I REALLY want to keep them off. So now that I am able to eat anything, I will have to be extra careful. I have switched to smaller plates. I'm the type that I will eat what is on my plate. So with a smaller plate it looks full with less food.

I also asked him about when I can get my implant for my fake tooth. He wants me to wait at least 6 months, and until the braces come off. So hopefully that will be at the same time. I'm still not sure if I will have my surgeon do the implant or my regular dentist. My ortho got me confused last time I was there. He said something about having less people in there, so I thought he meant having the surgeon do it. But then he made it sound like if the surgeon did it, my regular dentist would still be the one to make the implant. So I'm confused. But I have time to decide on that. And it's just an office procedure with local numbing, so it's not that big of a deal. I also had to ask when I could play volleyball again. He said he wants me to wait until I'm 4 - 6 months post-op. So that's only another 2 - 4 months. He said that the first surgery went so well; he would like to leave it that way! But I'm hoping that I will be pregnant by then, so I won't be able to go back anyway!!! We'll see though.

So I went to Wendy's tonight with my husband for dinner. I got a Jr. Cheeseburger. It was quiet disappointing. It wasn't nearly as enjoyable as I thought it would be. I still can only open less than an inch, so I had to squish it first. Then because I can't fit much in the back teeth I had to take the tiniest bites. I was actually missing my soup and mushy foods. This will definitely take some time to get use to. I was also noticing that I kept biting my cheeks. Has any one else had this problem?

Today I went to the new neurologist about my headaches and dizziness. WOW, he has to be the worst doctor I have EVER been to. First his "assistant" comes in. I HATE that. They ask all of these questions, and then the doc comes in and asks the SAME questions. Why are they wasting our time? But anyway... she asks me all of these questions and is mainly concentrating on my headaches. I have a constant headache. I honestly can't remember the last time I didn't have a headache. They are just ALWAYS there, granted, some days are worst then others, but it's always there. I can deal with those. It's sad to say, but I've dealt with them for so long, that I sometimes forget it's even there.

My main concern is the dizziness. Oh, which by the way was accompanied this weekend with total loss of short-term memory. I kept asking the same questions over and over and over and over. I finally just quite talking because I was afraid that I would just be repeating myself, and honestly, it scared me. Back to the doc (who I think got his degree out of a Cracker Jack Box)… The assistant keeps asking me the same question, just worded differently. I finally say to her "You just asked me that and my answer was ....." She gave me a dirty look. Well, then stop asking me the same question. It felt like she was trying to trick me. So I am trying to tell her about all of the different doctors and there diagnosis over the past 6 years. She doesn't really seem to care and keeps interrupting me and asking me different questions.

So she leaves and fills the doctor in. He comes in and asks me the SAME questions she just asked me multiple times. Ummm, hello, I'm going to keep giving you the same answer. He too seems to be more concerned with the headaches then with the dizziness. I tell him how I use to be on Depakote, but that I had to go off since we want to start trying to get pregnant. He tells me that I have migraines. NO SHIT, I told you that!!! He tells me that he would give me medicine for it, but that all of them are known to cause birth defects. I tell him that I don't want medicine, I want a diagnosis. And I don't feel that this is a correct and accurate diagnosis. By this time, I am starting to get a little emotional. I cry at the drop of a hat, and today was just not a good day. He asks me what I want him to do. I tell him that I have been dealing with this for over 6 years and it is starting to have a huge effect on my life. I just want to know what is wrong with me, is that too much to ask for? He has me walk over to the wall where there is a poster, and he shows me the signs of Basilar Migraines. I fit some of the signs. But the only way to diagnosis this is pretty much by eliminating other things. He again asks me "What do you want me to do?" I say, "I want you to care. Every other doctor I have been to just wants to shove medicine down my throat. As soon as I tell you I am not going to take any meds, you seem to want to brush me off." "Well what do you expect me to do?" is his response. I asked him "Don't you want to run any tests to make sure it's not something more serious, rather then just giving me a blanket diagnosis?" So he goes "Well, I can order you an MRI. You tell me what tests you want and what you want to be tested for, and I can order them." ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?!?! Ummm, last time I checked my degree was in Computer/Electrical Engineering, NOT medicine. Isn't that HIS job to figure out what tests to run and what to test for? Both him and his assistant asked if my thyroid was ever tested, and they were both surprised when I said no. But do you think that he wanted to test that? No. So I grab my coat and my purse and tell him that I am leaving. That I will find a different doctor that is actually willing to figure out what is wrong with me. So I go to check out (why I have to pay the co-pay for nothing is beyond me) and he wrote on my chart that he wanted to see me again in 3 months and he had an order for an MRI. SERIOUSLY? I told the receptionist that I didn't need another appointment; there was NO way I was coming back. I didn't care that there were other patients there that could hear me. They deserved to know that he sucked.

So I left his office crying and got to the car to call my mother. She was in shock. She has had some neurological problems since a fall several years ago, and she really likes her neurologist. I am tempted to drive over 2 hours to see hers. At least he is willing to figure out what is wrong with you, and not just brush you off. At one point he even said that my worrying about it is just making it worst. Basically that it was just in my head (um yeah, that's why it's called a headache!). And he told me to make sure that I get enough sleep and don't skip meals. Well, if he were to have read my record he would see that I am hypoglycemic, so there is NO way that I skip meals. I'll get shaky before I get a headache from not eating.

So, that was my lovely day! I now get to try to find yet another neurologist in my area. Everyone that I know has only gone to Neurosurgeons, and not neurologists. So I'm going blindly here. That pretty much ruined my day and put me in a down mood. I was so looking forward to finally figuring what was wrong with me... and I get this guy.

But on a happier note, if anyone is still reading this since I have written a book... Brandy gets her braces off tomorrow!!!!! Are all of us brace-faces jealous? I know I am. But she deserves it. She has been though a lot. I can't wait until I join her!

First Post-Op Ortho Adjustment

2007-11-21T09:09:00.001-05:00

I had my first post-op ortho adjustment on the 13th. It was interesting, to say the least. They are all still so amazed at how well I did. They actually thought that I would still be out of work. I was back for 3 weeks at that time! They were saying that the patients that they send to Dr. Lewis (my OS) always seem to heal much faster. He is just SOOOO gentle. Bob and I actually noticed that before the surgery. He is was just so gentle when he would look in my mouth. I would DEFINITELY recommend him to anyone! So if any one reads this and live in New York state, check him out. His website it under my “Useful Links”.

So I FINALLY got my arch wires changed! Which means that the surgical hooks are now GONE!!!! I had those puppies on for over 4 and a half months! It’s amazing how much better the teeth look without them... can’t wait to see how they will look without the braces! I still have the underlacing on. Which only sucks because I was looking forward to flossing without having to thread when they had the arch wires off. Oh well, I got a good brushing in. Which was the first time that I used an adult tooth brush since surgery. Still a little difficult to do that.

So after they took the arch wires off, they put a “button” on the back of my left #2 tooth. If you don’t know what a button is (I didn’t until then), it is like a little button that they put on the back of the tooth. Then they use this “rubber wire” that wraps around to the front to get it to turn out a little. I was actually noticing a few days before that it seemed to be turned in a little. Well, not anymore! I felt bad for the assistant. It took her 4 tries to get the rubber wire to stay wrapped around the button. The first three tries she was trying to be nice to me and trying to just tie the rubber wire in the front around the bracket. Well, as soon as I touched it with my tongue, it would come untied. So she had to do it the “mean” way. She has to force the rubber wire between my contacts (between my teeth). Yup, that hurt! But I think it had moved to where it needed to be by the time that I left the office! It hurt for a little bit, but it’s not like I can chew or use my teeth anyway, so at least I didn’t have to worry about that.

They also gave me some rubber bands to wear just at night. It hooks to all 4 of my “eye” teeth to try to “settle” the bite some. It’s not too bad since I only have to wear them at night. But when I wake up, I notice that my bottom lip and chin are all pins and needles. I wonder if it has to do with the rubber bands.

Oh, has this happened to any of you? I am a clencher at night. I don’t grind, just clench my teeth (yeah, it would wake me up after surgery because it hurt so bad. The surgeon said that a lot of people after the surgery don’t do it anymore, but not me!). Since my bottom lip and chin are numb, I will wake up and realize that I am actually BITING my lower lip. Twice now I have woken up and bit right though it and had a big chuck of my lip just hanging there. I guess it’s a good thing that I can’t feel, because it would probably be pretty sore for a few days after that.

I go back to the OS next Tuesday. Hopefully he will give me the “green light” to start chewing again! I have been trying to chew a little bit, but it just feels SO weird. And since I can’t open that wide, it’s not like I can get much in there anyway.

My volleyball team and spouses all went out for dinner last night. It was my first experience eating in public (other then at work). I was actually pretty proud of myself! I even used a REAL fork!!! I did bring my baby spoon in case I needed it, but I figured I would get some weird looks. I had some really good Mac and Cheese! Granted, in the time that everyone else finished there meals, I ate about 1/10 of mine, but that’s all I can handle right now. If I sort of guided the fork with my tongue, I was ok. I did try using a fork about a week ago at home. NOT a good experience. I ended up stabbing myself in my lip. Of course it didn’t hurt since it was numb, but it did draw some blood! Oops!

I will post some new pics later. Oh yes, I finally got my new camera. And my new car yesterday!!! A Nissan Murano! I LOVE IT!!! Had to trade in my sporty car for a more family friendly one. It was sad, but this means that we are getting closer to having kids!!!!!! I can’t wait.

I hope that everyone has a GREAT Thanksgiving! We are headed to my parent’s and my sister’s for the holiday. So it will be good! I love spending time with my family, that’s why this is one of my favorite times of year. And I want to let you all know that I am SO thankful for all of the support you have showed me. Having every one of you has made this journey SO much easier! THANK YOU!!!

Changes!

2007-11-11T09:10:00.001-05:00

Who would have thought a person's looks could go through all of this in only one month? The human body really is an amazing thing in how it heals itself.

Pre-Surgery

5 days post-op

1 month post-op

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1 month post-op. My lips ALMOST touch without me having to force them! The surgeon said after the numbness wears off and the braces come off, they will FINALLY touch!!!

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Pre-Surgery

5 days post-op

1 month post-op

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Pre-Surgery

5 days post-op

1 month post-op

Not much new on the jaw front, but SOOOO DIZZY

2007-11-11T08:44:00.000-05:00

I am now officially over 1 month post-op! It's weird; it feels like my surgery was AGES ago, but yet at the same time it feels like it was just yesterday. But anyway...

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I have been SOOOO sick! I have LOTS of stuff wrong with me, and it's been taking it's toll this week. I have been so dizzy and nauseas it's not even funny. I am pretty use to this and usually I just go about my day and ignore it. If I were to stay home from work every time I was dizzy, I would NEVER leave the house. Well, it got the best of me this week. I had to have my husband drive me home from work on Wednesday because there was NO way that driving was safe for me. Which of course meant that I had to skip class, and of course we are having a test on Monday. I even ended up staying home from work on Thursday and Friday. TWO DAYS!!! That's A LOT for me. I decided to call my doctor on Friday and go in and see her. I use to take a daily medicine for my dizzy spells, which one neurologist said was a type of migraine. If I missed just one dose of this med, within 2 days I was SO dizzy. Well, I have been off of it for over 3 weeks now. I have to go off of it in order to get pregnant; it's known to cause birth defects. So I decided to go off of it when I was home recovering so that way if I got sick, I was already home. The first 3 weeks were GREAT. A few slight dizzy spells, but nothing to even mention. Until this week.

So my doctor wants me to go back to another neurologist and have more tests done. At one point they said that I had Chiari Malformation. Basically, the way I like to describe it, is that my brain is too big for my skull and it pushes on my spinal cord. Then another neurologist said that he didn't think that's what it was, that it was a heart problem. So I went to a Cardiologist who of course diagnosed me with Posterual Orthostatic Tachacardia Syndrom (POTS). The fix for that... beta blockers, which of course lower your blood presure, so he told me to eat more salt (he said it was the first time he ever told someone to do that, usually cardiologists tell you to eat LESS salt). Well, that wasn't working so well, so they sent me to an Ear Nose and Throat doctor. Of course he had to diagnose me with something too. He said it was Menieres Disease. What's the fix for that... a LOW SODIUM DIET!!! Are you kidding me? One doctor tells me to eat MORE salt, another one tells me to eat LESS salt. Needless to say I had my fill of doctors, so I just stopped the beta blocker and try to keep an eye on sodium.

So now they want to do more tests to see if maybe Chiari really is the problem. Of course how do they fix that... Brain Surgery! And I was all freaked out about Jaw Surgery.

It also could be withdrawal symptoms from another med that I had to get off, Celexa. If any of you out there take that, when you go off make sure you do it SLOWLY! I did it in about 3 weeks, but after looking it up, it can sometimes take 6 - 12 MONTHS to get off of it without withdrawal symptoms. I can stay on that and get pregnant, but I would prefer not to be on any meds if I don't have to be.

Anyway, here are some pics from Friday. My sister turned 30 on Friday and her husband threw a surprise party. So of course I HAD to go even though I thought I was going to die (there was NO way I was going to miss my sister's 30th surprise party!). Oh, and of course they live 2 hours away!!! That was fun. Excuse the look on my face. I was holding my sleeping 4 year old niece. Right after these pics were taken, I had to give her quickly to my father and run outside. If I was the throwing up type, that's what I would have been doing. My mouth got all water and stuff like before you vomit, but it never came out. I probably would have felt better. Oh well.

I wasn't kidding when I said I didn't feel well!

So on the jaw front... It's actually doing pretty good. Nothing really new to report. Still doing my exercises. Still on a "no chew" diet, still using a baby spoon. I probably could use a regular one now, but it just feels so weird in my mouth now that I am used to the baby spoon. I have to go to the ortho on Tuesday for my first adjustment. That should be fun! I know that they are putting buttons on my upper back teeth, so I can just imagine what weird rubber band configuration he will give me. I will update you all then!

Thanks for listening to me complain about my dizziness!

Oh, just thought of this. My sister and mother were with some of my sister's friends on Saturday that were at the party on Friday. We are all scrap booking freaks, so they were at a scrap booking get together. I wasn't feeling well, so there was NO way I was making it. But anyway, my sister's friends were saying how good I looked. They couldn't put there finger on it, but that I looked different! My sister explained to them that since the jaw surgery I have a rounder face. I always had such a LONG face. They were all surprised at how much of a difference the surgery made and how great I was looking for just having my jaw cut apart! It was good to hear that others notice the difference. It's hard to notice minor things like that on yourself since you see yourself everyday, and since compared to some of your surgeries, mine was pretty straight forward and didn't make as much of a difference.

First week back to work, visit with surgeon, and a complaint about people!!!

2007-11-01T18:14:00.000-04:00

Well, I am done with my first official week back to work. Yeah, I know it's only Thursday, but we just started a new 9/80 work week, so we get every other Friday off! Part of the reason I took that third week off, so that when I went back, it was just a short week! It was good to get back to work. I enjoyed my time off, and I did keep myself busy, but I needed more interaction with people.

It was nice to hear all of the compliments and shocks with the way I look. I guess a lot of people thought that I would still be all swollen and bruised. I'm not. I can still feel a little swelling, but it's not noticeable except to me. I was surprised at how little swelling I did have, but then again, I didn't have ANY swelling when I had my wisdom teeth pulled.

I think I only actually worked a little more then half time this week with everyone stopping by to see how I was doing. And of course running into people in the halls made a quick trip to the restroom take 30 minutes! But it was great to see how everyone cared and was thinking of me!

I had an appointment with my surgeon this afternoon. He took the stitches out, FINALLY! They were really only bothering me on the right side. I had a tooth missing on that side and the end of the stitches were poking though. And of course I couldn't leave them alone and had to keep playing with them. When he was cutting them out I could tell I was getting feeling back because just the tiniest touch KILLED! I didn't think it would hurt that bad, but it was quick. He also gave me some exercises to do. I have to look in a mirror when I do them, and I asked him if it was to make me laugh! It's just to make sure that I am even on both sides since I can't feel my lower lip or chin. Basically, twice a day, I have to say "O" and "E" and hold each one for 5 seconds for 5 reps. That one isn't bad. Then I have to open my jaw as far as I can before it feels tight, then force it opened a few more mm and hold that for 5 seconds, 5 reps. That one HURTS. But he said that I would be surprised how much more feeling and how much wider I will be able to open in just a week. So I guess it's worth it. I have to go back to see him in 3 weeks, right after Thanksgiving. He said that at that time, as long as everything is still going great, he will give me the "Green Light" to start chewing again (of course soft stuff at first, but hey, it's a start). I'm actually kind of glad it's after Thanksgiving that way I can at least avoid one of the big holidays that I put weight on! And I have my 10 year class reunion on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. And most people try to lose weight before a reunion, I have lost it, now I just need to keep it off. I actually am almost down to what I weighed when I gradated High School. Granted, I had more muscle then I do now, but that happens.

Ok, so my complaint about people... I'm curious if any of you have had this. I know that it's human nature to try to sympathize with people, but if I hear one more person compare this surgery to having there wisdom teeth pulled, I will SCREAM!!!!! This is WAY more involved then getting your wisdom teeth pulled. Yes, it's not like getting a liver transplant or anything, but it's more then getting your wisdom teeth pulled. Some people get put under for that, but that's in the office, for about a total of 30 - 60 minutes. They may have to cut the gum if it's impacted, but that is not even CLOSE to having your jaw sawed into many pieces and screwed back together! And being on a "no chew" diet for a few days is nothing like being on one for SIX WEEKS!!! And lastly, the numbness from novocain wears off quickly, where as this numbness could last FOREVER!!!

Ok, I feel better! Thanks for listening! Now off to research some cars! That's what my husband and I are doing on our "off Friday" tomorrow! Then going to get a new camera, so I'm sure I will take LOTS of pictures if I actually buy one (I research things FOREVER before buying them. I have an addictive personality. I was actually "sad" about a week after the surgery that it was done. I think my husband was ready to admit me to the psych ward. I now need to get pregnant so I have something new to obsess over!).

First day back to work :(

2007-10-29T19:55:00.000-04:00

So, today was my first day back to work after the big day. I was actually feeling quilty about take three whole weeks off. But now I am glad that I did. Today was a LONG day. The week that I had my surgery we started a new work schedule. We use to work the normal 5 days, 40 hours a week. Now we work a 9/80 schedule. The first week we work 9 hours Monday thru Thursday, 8 hours on Friday, the following week is 9 hours Monday thru Thursday, and Friday off. So we get a three day weekend every other weekend. Which is nice, but HAVING to b e at work for 9 hours sucks. Now, I usually work 8 - 12 hours a day anyway, but at least I only HAVE to work 8 hours. I left my house this morning around 5:30 am, worked 9 hours, went to class for 1.5 hours, and didn't get home until almost 7 pm. LONG day for my first day back. But it was nice to get back to work. I am a people person and I like to be around people.

I got lots of good compliments today. Maybe because I see myself everyday, but I don't notice that much of a difference. The worst part about going back to work was eating. I am still on a "mush" diet and only using a baby spoon. Got some funny looks at lunch as I was heating up my small amount of pasta that was all chopped up. Luckily my husband works at the same place so we eat lunch together and he could let me know when I had food on my chin!

I also had a LONG weekend. My husbands friend from High School got married this weekend and he was in the wedding. So we had to go to PA on Friday and didn't get home until Sunday afternoon. Lots of partying and talking, and of course drinking! Here are some pics from this weekend. By the time that he took the profile pics, I had a few drinks, so I was feeling pretty good then! There are more from this weekend in my "Post Surgery Pics" link to the right.

Bob and I at our friends wedding

First Ortho Visit Post-Op

2007-10-23T18:18:00.000-04:00

Today I had my first visit with my ortho since the big day! It went well. They were all amazed at how great I looked! They couldn't believe that I had major jaw surgery just 15 days ago. They all kept saying how different I looked. The ortho himself even said that if he were to see me on the street, he wouldn't have noticed me from the first time I came into his office (which was over 4 years ago!). I told him that I didn't see that big of a difference, so they took out my pics from before the braces. WOW, there really is a huge difference! Actually, one of the last times I was there one of the ladies asked me if I was using the same surgeon who did my SARPE. I told her that I didn't have that done. She was amazed at how far the ortho got my upper arch to move without doing SARPE! So between that, and then the lower jaw being moved back... it was a big difference. One of the ladies today asked if I decided to have my chin done because it looks so much more proportionate. I told her that the OS said I didn't need it since he switched from upper to lower.

So after all of the compliments, it was time to get to business. I really love my ortho, but he is not the most gentle person when you just had surgery. I think that because I'm not that swollen or bruised anymore, he thought that I wasn't in any sort of pain. WRONG. He kept telling me to open wider... um, I CAN'T!!! Then he was pulling my cheeks back to see the back teeth. OUCH is all I have to say.

After all that he decided that he would wait another 3 weeks before my first post-op adjustment. He needs to put some "buttons" on the back of up top teeth, so there was NO way that they were getting in there today. So they just took some pics and made me another appointment for 3 weeks.

He said that he thinks the braces will be off in 6 - 9 months. However, I am not holding my breath on that one. He originally told me 6 - 9 months is how long I would have them on before surgery. Well, here we are 19 months later! And when I had braces as a kid I was told 1.5 - 2 years. 4 years, 3 months, 17 days, and 5 hours later they FINALLY came off. I have VERY stubborn teeth (which I guess is a good thing, they are in the bones REAL well). But I don't really care how long they are on now. Don't get me wrong, I was them OFF. But I also want my teeth as perfect as they can be.

So, now it's just a waiting game to see how much longer these will be on. Oh well. The worst part is over now.

First post-op visit

2007-10-17T14:32:00.000-04:00

So I had my first post-op visit with my OS yesterday. It went great. They were all so shocked to see me. They couldn't believe that I just had jaw surgery a week ago! They were just so surprised at how well my swelling and bruising were. I have barely any. If you didn't know me and you saw me in the store or something, you wouldn't even know that I had jaw surgery 9 days ago! It's great. I can't complain. I guess all of that ice really did help (and it felt good too, so can't complain about that).

I got there and the tech took some x-rays. Then the nurse took the stitches out of my cheeks. The ones on the right side were a little tight, so it took some work to get them out, but it didn't hurt or anything. I just wish I could have watched! I don't know why, but I find that sort of stuff really cool! Then my doc came in and he was shocked at how well I looked too! He looked inside my mouth, said everything looked PERFECT, just as he had hoped. Then she showed me my x-rays. They were pretty cool to look at. You could see where he had to cut the bone to avoid the nerve and where the screws are. I look like Frankenstein! Too bad I couldn't wear my x-ray for Halloween!

My surgeon and his tech were saying that I should be there model patient. With how well I was healing and how prepared I was for the surgery. For my pre-op I went in with about 25 questions to ask him, and they were all written down and organized into topics. He could tell I had been doing my research. So I must thank you all for that! And he said that I just had the perfect attitude for this. He said that usually his adult patients do better because they are there on there own will, not there parent's forcing them.

But other than that, nothing really new has changed. I have been so busy studying for a stupid mid-term that's today (I just want to finish up with this masters already). So wish me luck!

Here are some pics from yesterday. With my hair down, you can't even really tell that I'm swollen (I know it, but others wouldn't even notice it if they didn't know me).

I actually have a smile again!

These were the stitches that they had a hard time getting out.

These stitches came out much easier. I can't wait for the swelling to go down to get rid of that little bit of a double chin. I know it's not bad, but it wasn't there before.

Way to excited about being able to spit!

2007-10-13T19:52:00.000-04:00

I was doing my mouth rinse just a few minutes ago and I could actually spit the stuff out rather then just opening my mouth and letting it run out. Just yesterday I couldn't spit, I had to let it run out. I really can't remember how it was earlier, but I was SO excited that I could actually get my lips together to spit! Such little things are making me happy right now.

My parent's came last night for the night and left this morning. My aunt had made my mother an apple pie so she brought it with her. She thought that I may have been able to chop it up and eat it. She was right! I took a small sliver and chopped it up with the Pampered Chef Ultimate Chopper. I am SO glad that she brought that pie. I took my first baby spoon full and put it in my mouth, and I literally moaned! It just tasted SOOO good to have some REAL food.

Once again, it's the little things that make my day!

Day of surgery recap

2007-10-11T22:20:00.000-04:00

So here's a recap of my big day!

My surgery was at 8:00 am, so we had to be there at 6:35 (why not 6:30?). We live about one hour away from the hospital, so we had to get up BRIGHT and early. My parents' had come down on Sunday night to be with me for my surgery. So my parents', my husband, and I leave our house by 5:30. I am tired and try to sleep on the way to the hospital (I get REALLY car sick, so I usually try to sleep to avoid feeling like crap). But of course I couldn't sleep. I couldn't sleep at ALL the night before. I don't think that any of us 4 got any sleep.

So we get to the hospital and they take me right in to pre-op and give me my "room". I put my lovely hospital gown on and wait for a few minutes for someone to come in.

My husband, Bob, and I waiting for the fun to begin!

The first nurse came in and gave me my wrist bands. I was lucky and got two because I am allergic to fish and seafood. I guess a lot of people that are allergic to fish and seafood also are allergic to iodine, so they don't use it on you if you are allergic to fish and seafood. This nurse also gave me a lovely "shot" of some medicine for nausea. Then she gave me a pill for nausea too, with a little drink of water. I made sure to drink it all since I was SO thirsty from not drinking. (Bob was so sweet. He wouldn't eat or drink anything until they took me away to surgery that morning since I couldn't eat! That didn't stop my parents from drinking coffee. But then I have had coffee in front of them when they couldn't, so I deserve it).

The next nurse to come in was to give me my IV. I was actually a little nervous about this since I have heard some horror stories about how much they hurt. I didn't feel a thing. First she cleaned my hand, then she gave me a little shot of lidocane to numb it. That was the tiniest prick ever. So my hand was numb when she put the IV in, so I didn't feel a thing.

As if I didn't already have enough anti-nausea medicine, this nurse gave me MORE in my IV. It was the weirdest thing. She said that this particular side effect only happens to females. Basically, it was this warm burning feeling between my legs. It only lasted a few minutes, and if I sat up it was better.

Next came the anesthesiologist. He came in and asked me when the last time I had anything to eat or drink was. I told him 9:30 last night. He then asked in a joking way "Did you take the meds they gave you?" I guess he was right, the one was liquid and the other one was a pill, so they gave me a little bit of water for it. But I got a chance to ask him about waking up during surgery and would there be any chance of me feeling anything. He told me that there is ALWAYS a chance, but that they take precautions to stop that from happening, and since I wouldn't be given any paralysing drugs, I would start to move before I could feel anything. He explained that there are risks whenever you go under, but that I took more of a risk getting in my car to drive there today. He gave me some nose spray to use and said that he would be back to wheel me off to surgery.

So he left and I waited for a while for my surgeon to come. He was making rounds so he was a few minutes late. He came in, asked how I was then left to go get the towels to put my hair up with. One of his nurses from his office always assists him with surgery. I was told is was going to be one lady, but it was the other one. I was glad. Not that I don't like the other one, it's just that I talked with this one the day of my pre-op so I know her better. But they put my hair up in this lovely do.

A few minutes after this, the anesthesiologist came back and took me away! I was actually pretty calm. When we first got to the hospital I was a little teary, but I kept it in. Then when we were waiting in the pre-op room, I actually thought to myself "Why am I doing this? Can I really go though with it? Am I strong enough to do this?" But when I was actually talking to the docs and stuff, I was MUCH calmer.

So I get wheeled to the OR. I was surprised at how small the room was. I was expecting a larger room, like they show on TV. It was actually pretty small. The nurses gave me a warm blanket and then had me move over to the operating table. That was the smallest table I think I have ever seen. I'm not that big of a person, but I barely fit on it. The anesthesiologist asks me what I am going to dream about. I say "Food, since I won't be eating anything good for a while". They get me all cozy on the table and I start to feel my arm tingly and warm. I say to the anesthesiologist "You must have given me something because I can feel it in my arm." He goes "Just wait until it gets to your brain." Next thing you know, the ceiling is all spinny and I say "I think it's getting to my brain now."

That is the LAST thing that I remember. I never had to count backwards or anything. It was great. I didn' t even know that they were putting me under. I think that I liked it that way. This way I didn't have to think about it.

The next thing I remember is waking up in recovery and barely being able to keep my eyes open. Next time I opened them there was a nurse there and she was saying that I was in recovery and that everything went great. Once I could finally keep my eyes open, she checked my blood pressure. I guess it was still high so I had been in recovery for over 2.5 hours. My OS stayed with me until I came out and took the bands off my teeth. He then went out to my family to tell them that everything went great. That he couldn't have scripted it better and that I have VERY little blood loss. I guess I even gave him a thumbs up when he left to talk to my family! I must have been feeling ok at that time!

The nurse with me in recovery said that she was going to let my husband come in to see me since I had been in there so long. But then she look my blood pressure again and I was good to leave. So she changed my gown because of the blood. But of course as she was changing it, I got blood on the new one, so she changed it again. I hadn't learned out to use the suction thing yet. Then she wheeled me to my room.

My room was actually in the pediatric ward! My OS puts all of his jaw surgery patients there because the nurses there are great and know what we need, and a plus is that you get your own room and bathroom! So I didn't complain. A few minutes after I get to my room, my husband shows up! It was SO great to see him. Then right behind him was my parents, sister, brother-in-law, and nephew! I had a whole crew there. It was great to have such a support system. I LOVE my family!

I was still a little groggy, so I talked to them a little bit then they went to go eat lunch while I took a nap. It seems that as soon as I would fall asleep, in comes a nurse! My family returned a little bit later to visit for a little while before they drove the 2+ hours home. They game me there gifts (if you read my other posts, they are jokesters!)

My husband stayed until around 6:30, then he went home to take care of our dog and get some rest. I figured there was no since in him staying at the hospital with me. At least he could get a good nights rest. With the nurses coming in very 3 hours, I knew I wasn't going to sleep.

Bob returned to the hospital around 8 the next morning and I was "eating" breakfast. Ensure, apple juice, and watered down cream of wheat which wouldn't fit in the syringe, so I couldn't eat it. The nurses came in and took my IV out and discharged me! They said that they have never seen someone recover so well from this surgery. I just hope that I can keep up with the good recovery!

Ok, so that's the LONG story of my day in surgery! Hope you enjoyed!

Post Surgery Pics

2007-10-10T19:09:00.001-04:00

Check out my pics on Picasa. The link is under "Useful Links" and is the first one. I will put most of them there, and then some "good" ones actually on here. Enjoy!

I couldn't ask for a better Best Friend

2007-10-10T18:00:00.000-04:00

So this post is about my awesome best friends! She really has one of the biggest hearts around. Today she gave me a "Get Well" gift. Well, she is just too cute. Here is a picture of it.

She has a gift for each day for 2 weeks, plus one for a day that I need a little more of a pick me up! They are even labeled for each day. Now the joy of getting "get well gifts" will last for the whole two weeks that I am home! That is just such a great idea!

Here is today's gift:

"ModernDog" magazine. I can't wait to see what tomorrow's gift is!

I don't know what I would do without friends like I have. They are all so great and have been such a support system for me!

I'm home

2007-10-09T14:50:00.000-04:00

Well, I made it through the surgery! I came home this morning. My OS said that everything went as planned, and that he couldn't have scripted it to go better! I am just trying to keep up with my pain meds and get some rest. It is nice to be home now.

Just a few quick pics of how I looked yesterday. I already have more swelling. And my OS said that tomorrow would be the worst with swelling and pain. So I'll try to load more pics tomorrow.

Oh, can you see what kind of family I come from? They gave me some "goodies" and in there included tootsie rolls, twizzlers, "jaw breakers" (my mother's favoriate), gummy bears, etc... Gotta love family! My nephew thought it was mean, but I actually thought it was pretty funny. We are a bunch of jokesters, so I would have been surprised if they didn't do something stupid like that!

Gotta LOVE Insurance Companies

2007-10-07T09:33:00.000-04:00

Could you "hear" the sarcasm there? What a week, what a week. As if getting ready for surgery wasn't enough, lets throw in some more stress from the insurance company. If you aren't ready for a LONG story, you might want to skip this post.

So I go for all of my pre-ops on Wednesday. Go to the hospital, then to the surgeon. I must say, I LOVE my surgeon!!! And that's about the only reason why I am still having surgery tomorrow. He tells me that him and my OD have decided that I would be better off having lower jaw surgery instead of upper jaw. I had a few concerns, but I trust there decisions, and it's a safer surgery with a quicker recovery, so I'm all for that. I was with my OS for over 2 hours! He was SO complete on telling me everything and answered ALL of my questions. He could tell that I have been doing some research. So thanks everyone!

So I am ready to leave and I am only waiting at the front desk to get the note from the nurse excusing me from work for 2 weeks. After a few minutes of standing there, the receptionist asks me if I am ready to make a payment today. WHAT??? A payment? What for? I have insurance and it's covering it. So I tell her that my insurance is covering this and that I am all set. She goes and checks my records to verify this. Well, if you happen to remember I had a lovely scare at the beginning of the year. My OS use to take my insurance, but at the beginning of the year they decided not to participate with my insurance anymore (and I now see why). But we had it all worked out that they would take what my insurance would still pay them and they would write off the difference. Of course the ladies at the front desk don't remember the whole "we'll just write off the difference". So I call my insurance to see how much they will pay for each of the codes so that I have SOME sort of idea as to how much this will cost me (it wasn't suppose to cost me ANYTHING, which is why I went to this surgeon, but he happens to be the best around, so that's good!)

So I think that I have everything figured out until about 10:00 am on Friday morning. I get a lovely call from Sherry from the OS office. She says "I may have some bad news for you." NOT something you want to hear 3 days before your surgery. She tells me that I don't have "out of network coverage" and that now my insurance is saying that they won't pay ANYTHING!!! Are you kidding me?

So I will try to cut this short, but I was on the phone NON-STOP from 10 until 2 discussing this with the insurance and the OS office. But we FINALLY got it all figured out. And that was ONLY after my Surgeon himself got on the phone with the insurance company. My mother works for a surgeon, and she said that he has NEVER gotten on the phone himself. So that must have pushed things along. The OS office closed at 2, and we had it figured out at 1:45. Lets add a little more stress, right?

7 days!

2007-10-01T12:42:00.000-04:00

Well, one week from now I should be in recovery! WOW, I can't believe that is's actually going to happen. I have been putting this off for over 10 years, so it will be nice to just get it over and done with.

I was freaking out a little last week, but I seem to be pretty calm right now (give me a few days and I'm sure I will be freaking out again!). I have lots of appointments this week. Wednesday is pre-op at the hospital then pre-op with the surgeon. They were nice to schedule them back to back since they are about a 1 hour drive from where I live. Then Thursday I have my chiro, pre-op with my primary care physician and then a teeth cleaning! It actually just worked out that my 6 month cleaning was scheduled for Thursday! I was going to try to get in before the surgery anyway, so it was great timing!

I have been eating everything and anything that I feel like this past week. Bob and I are going out for a nice steak diner on Friday! I actually wanted yogurt for lunch today, but I didn't get it because I don't want to get sick of it before next week!

I will have Bob take lots of "before" pics this week so that I can post them and keep track of the changes. I was actually just looking at some pics from our last motorcycle ride at work and there were a few profile shots of me. Man, I really hate that profile. But it won't be like that for much longer!

Well, I will let you know what happens at all of my appointments this week and I'll post lots of before pics!

28 Days

2007-09-10T06:55:00.000-04:00

WOW, in 28 days from right now, I will be in the hospital getting ready for my surgery. I have been waiting for this for SOOOOOO long, that it still just seems so surreal. I can't believe that this is actually going to happen. I am excited yet PETRIFIED at the same time. I have only been put under once, and I was only 5. I had to have dental work done, go figure. I wouldn't let the dentist near me, so they had to put me under. That time it was with "gas", so I have NO idea how I will handle the anesthesia.

To tell you the truth, that is my biggest fear right now. I get sick with ANY sort of medicine, so I know that it will NOT be pretty when I come to. But what REALLY scares me is that I have watched WAY too many shows on TLC and Discovery Channel. There are those people that only part of the anesthesia works on. So they are paralyzed, but they can feel EVERY THING! What if that happens to me? Could you imagine going through jaw surgery and being able to feel it? I know that the chances of that are SOOOO slim you can't even count them, but still. I will have to talk to the Anesthesiologist about that one.

Another thing that has me nervous is my heart. I have several heart problems. So they will need to put a catheter into one of my veins to monitor my heart that way, instead of the normal way. This way there is no delay in the response time and they can react quicker if they need to. Now I have never even had an IV, so having them put a big catheter (ok, it really isn't THAT big, but it seems like it is) into one of my main veins is very scary.

Did you all worry about little stupid stuff like this? I'm not worried about the pain after the surgery so much as the pain before (the heart thing) and the anesthesia. I just worry too much, but I guess it's just normal. I'm just glad that I have you all to get this out too. Since most of you have already had your surgery or will be having it soon, you totally understand where I am coming from.

Ok, I think that's it for now. I will update again when I have more appointments. Which I don't have to see my ortho until after the surgery. That just seems SO weird.

I HAVE A SURGERY DATE!!!!

2007-07-24T07:51:00.000-04:00

Well, I FINALLY have a surgery date. After many calls back and forth between the ortho and the OS, I finally got them to set a date. Unfortunately the surgeon wants to see a little more movement before the surgery, so it's not until October 8th. The original date that he set was September 24th, 2 days after my birthday. But I will be coming home from Nashville. Going on a girls weekend with 3 of my friends. At least I will be able to party while I'm there now! So the next available date was October 8th. As the coordinator at the surgeon's office said, this is a "tentative" date, with the hopes of moving it forward if my teeth move quickly. I'm just hoping that it doesn't get moved BACK, since I have SLOW moving teeth.

For those of you that are post surgery, how did you feel 18 days after surgery? My husband's best friend is getting married out of state from us on October 27th, so we will have to go to PA on the 26th for the rehearsal and stuff. I'm just hoping that the bruising is gone by then. Luckily the reception is at the same place that we are staying, so if I feel tired or too sore to last all night, I can just leave and hopefully Bob won't feel bad and he will just stay at the reception and have fun. Or else I will feel like I have to stay so that he doesn't miss anything.

But anyway, I am just happy to finally have a date. It's MUCH later than I was originally told. I was suppose to have this surgery LAST November, so it's only 11 months over. Oh well. My teeth better be PERFECT after all of this waiting.

Here are the surgical hooks

2007-07-24T07:44:00.001-04:00

Well, these aren't the best pictures, but I took them myself. I was looking in the bathroom mirror so that I could see what was on the view of the camera! I'm such a dork.

Here are the hooks in all there glory! All FIFTEEN of them! And I will have them on until the surgery in October. Next time I go to the ortho, I am going to ask him to take them off. I was thinking that since I am now use to them, that I would just leave them on, but it's just that much harder to brush and floss with them. They suck.

Here's a front picture of me. Not a great one, as I took this myself too! I really need to remember to ask my husband to take some close up shots of me. They never just happen because he knows that I HATE pictures of myself.

I am NEVER going to have this surgery

2007-06-29T11:03:00.000-04:00

Ok, at least it feels like I am NEVER going to have this surgery. Lets see, they originally told me 6 – 9 months after the braces went on, I would be having the surgery. Well, it’s already been 15 months, and now they are thinking that I won’t be able to have it until OCTOBER!!! Are you KIDDING me???? (remember my last post saying that I’m not a patient person, well, here it is showing it’s ugly head again). Where do I start...

I went to the ortho 5 weeks ago and he took models and said that he thought I was ready. He would send those models to my OS and one of them would get back to me, and we made my next appointment for 5 weeks. So I give the OS 3 weeks to get the models shipped to him and take a look. So I call the ortho 2 weeks ago and ask if they have heard from the OS. They told me that when the models got to the OS, some of the teeth got chipped in shipping, so they had to recast the models and resend them. So I give the OS a call to see if he has looked at them yet. Of course he was on vacation for 2 weeks, and he wouldn’t be back until the following week (last week). So I gave him until last Thursday to get around to looking at my models. They tell me that he still hasn’t had a chance. I ask them if they thought it was possible for him to look at them before the following Wednesday (June 27th) because that was when I was going back to the ortho, and that way the ortho would know if something had to be adjusted before the surgery. So... I go to the ortho on Wednesday, and they STILL haven’t heard from the surgeon. They call his office to see when he is going to look at the models. They told us that he would look at them and get back to the ortho that day. Well, he did!!!! Amazingly enough. But of course now my ortho is out of town for a week or so. So I called up my ortho yesterday to see if they had talked to the OS. They did and they were going to try to book me for October! WHY SO FAR OUT??? Last time I visited the OS, he said that they book 2 months out, NOT 4! So by the time that October comes around, I will have had these braces on for 19 months, a little longer then the 6 – 9 that they originally told me. I know, my teeth move slowly, but man... So I decided to call my OS to see if there was any way that they could get me in sooner. They said that she would talk to the OS and call me back. But that was yesterday and I still haven’t heard from them. I just hate this waiting and putting my life on hold. Yes, two months isn’t that big of a deal. But I was originally supposed to have this LAST November, so we’re really talking about a year here. And my husband and I REALLY want to start having kids, but we can’t do so until I have this stupid surgery. I am going to be 28 this year, and he is going to be 30 the beginning of next year. Our original plan was to be done having kids when I was 30, but at this rate we won’t even have our first by that time.

Oh, a question to all of you who have gone through surgery already. When did you get your surgical hooks put on? When I was at the ortho on Wednesday, he put them on already!!! I think that he just wanted to do SOMETHING, and since he didn’t know if any teeth had to be moved per the OS, he decided to do that. So at this rate, I will have them on for 4 months BEFORE the surgery!!!! As if food doesn’t get stuck in the braces enough, lets add some more metal. And how many hooks did you have? I just re-read Brandy's, and he only had 9 hooks. I have 8 on top, and 7 on the bottom. That's right, 15 of those lovely hooks are digging into my lips and cheeks right now!

One more question, how long were you in braces before the surgery? I just feel like I am never going to get to the point where I will be ready and I think that I am just going to have these on FOREVER. The first time I had braces as a kid, I was told 1.5 – 2 years. I ended up having them on for 4 years, 3 months, 13 days, and 5 hours (but who’s counting?). So I guess I should have expected this.

Ok, enough of my ranting for now. I will try to remember to take some lovely pics of my surgical hooks and post those up.

I am SO not a patient person

2007-06-01T10:24:00.000-04:00

Ok, so it's been a week now since I went to the ortho and he said that he thinks I am ready for surgery and he would talk to the surgeon. I know that it takes time for him to mail the models out and for the surgeon to review them. But I just can't stand it!!! I want to know if my teeth are ready and when this surgery will FINALLY happen. I keep checking Brandy's blog everyday to see how she is doing. And she seems to be recovering AMAZINGLY so far. And she seems to have the right attitude about it too. I just really hope that I heal that nicely and that I'm not a complete WUSS when it comes to the pain. I just want this over with already.

Oh, and last night while I was brushing and flossing I had to ask my husband if this one tooth looked crooked. He said no, but I think it does. My ortho is going to HATE me by the time that these braces come off. I will be inspecting each tooth so closely to make sure that they are all PERFECT. I am not going through all of this to have a tooth be slightly crooked when they come off. I can feel the anxiety already!

Thursday Adjustment

2007-05-26T21:53:00.000-04:00

Well, I had an adjustment this past Thursday. The ortho did another set of models to see how my upper k-9 teeth had moved in relation to my lowers. He said that he was pleased with how they were. He did some minor tweeking to my right upper k-9 to torque it out just a little bit more. He is sending the new models to the surgeon to see what he thinks. I am REALLY hopping that these teeth of mine are FINALLY ready for surgery. I have another appointment with my ortho in 5 weeks, but he said that I should hear from either him or the surgeon before then. So right now it's all just a waiting game. Gotta wait for the two Drs to cordinate and decide what to do with me. But in the mean time, I am keeping track of all of my blog buddies! I really don't know what I would do without you all out there. Thanks!

First Surgery Dream

2007-05-21T19:48:00.000-04:00

Well, Thursday night I had my first surgery dream. Well, sort of. I didn't actually have the surgery in the dream. I went to meet with my surgeon, and he looks at my latest models and says that my upper K-9's are now TOO far out. They can't move them back in and they can't do the surgery with my teeth that way. So the only thing for me to do is to live with the way my teeth are now, not meeting up AT ALL! I was crushed. I was SO glad to wake up and realize it was just a dream. I wonder if this was all happening because my origianl surgery date was today :( I should be in the hospital right now recovering from my surgery, but my teeth STILL aren't ready. I do go back to to ortho on Thursday for more models, so hopefully that will bring good news.

Speaking of good new and surgeries, Brandy's surgery is on Thursday! I can't believe it's here already for her! I am so excited. I can't wait to see how great she will look (as if she didn't already look GREAT!!!). You'll be in my prayers and thoughts for a speedy recovery!

Latest Adjustment

2007-04-11T14:07:00.001-04:00

So I went to my OD today to get adjusted to move my K-9s out a little bit more so that they won’t have to be shaved off a little bit for the surgery. I was there for about an hour, just for a little adjustment. Oh well. It got me out of work for a little bit, so I won’t complain! They put a new wire on top, I think a 21 something. All I know is that it’s THICK! The tube on my upper left either isn’t as large as the one on my right, or it collapsed somehow. But whenever they have to put a thick wire in, they all get a good workout, and my tooth gets to hurt for a little bit. Usually it takes the hygienist and the doctor to both push on it to get it in. At least this time they shaved a little off so that it didn’t hurt AS bad, but it still took some muscling it in to get it. The OD put a few little bends in the wire to torque the two teeth out a little bit, and then under laced 3 to 3 so that they don’t separate at all. I get to go back in 6 weeks and have MORE check models taken. Hopefully I will be ready for surgery soon. Other than that, there really isn’t anything new with my teeth/jaw right now. I may take some pictures, but I don’t really think that this adjustment will show much of a noticeable change to the eye, but it will show in the models.

Finally, some photos to share with you all!

2007-03-25T16:32:00.000-04:00

Well, here are some pictures, FINALY! They aren't the best, but then I took them myself after an ortho appointment. I can't wait to post the new improved smile. I was thinking that I didn't want to get the genio done, but after taking a closer look at these photos, I may spend the extra money and do it anyway. We'll see what my OS thinks when I see him next (which will be for my pre-op!).

Front view, remember, I took these myself. And it was after A LONG day at work (but then what days aren't long when you are working 50 - 60 hours a week?). Oh, notice the gummy smile. Can't wait for that to be gone!

A nice CLOSE up of teeth. If you look, you can see that there is a slight underbite. Before the braces I had a cross bite, one tooth under, one tooth over. Now it's all under. The only teeth that actually meet completely are my K-9's with the first molars.

Ah, the dreaded profile pic. I think this is the one that we all hate the most. I have ALWAYS hated my profile, and never really thought that there was anything that could be done about it. But that's why my OS is going to move my upper jaw forward instead of my lower jaw back. That will give me more depth and more pronouced cheeks. I can't wait!!!

Yup, this one's not any better.

Well, there are some pictures. I wil try to be better on putting updated pics here. I'll have to have Bob (my husband) take the pics next time. Maybe they will come out better then (but then I NEVER think pics of myself come out good, no matter who takes them). Thanks for looking! I will also try to be better at updated this blog. I know that I look forward to reading how everyone is doing, and when a day goes by and there are no updates from everyone, I get sad, but then I never update, so I really shouldn't. Keep up all the good work guys and girls, and we will all be through this before we know it!

No surgery yet :(

2007-03-23T23:31:00.000-04:00

It's late on Friday night, but I wanted to let your inquiring minds know that it was a no go at the surgeon's yesterday. He said it was really up to me, but if it were him, he would wait a few more months. My K-9 teeth on the upper need to move out just a little bit more to get a perfect fit. I figured I have put enought time, money, and effort into this that I want them to be PERFECT. I'll write more details tomorrow. But thanks for all of the well wishes everyone! It's great to have you all out there.

I'm off to see the surgeon!

2007-03-22T12:03:00.000-04:00

Well, I'm getting ready to leave work to go meet with my surgeon! If anyone was wondering, YES, I am scared. Heck, I'm petrified, and it's just a consultation. But we are suppose to set the date today, so hopefully tonight I will be able to let you know my when my day of doom will be!

Last Ortho visit until Pre-Surgical Models

2007-03-15T19:49:00.000-04:00

Well, yesterday I had my last ortho visit until my pre-surgical models will be done! I get to the office and when the Dr. comes in, he is all giddy and excited like a little school girl. He's like "So, when's the date, when is it, I'm SOOO excited!" Yeah, of course he is, he's not the one that's getting his jaw cut up. But I don't have my next appointment with the surgeon until next Thursday, the 22nd, so I won't know until then. All the OD did yesterday was take off my lower power chain and put on "under lacing" from 6 to 6 so that they don't move at all. It was nice to go there and not have sore teeth. Which is good since I am hosting a Pampered Chef party on Saturday, and we are having a fun Irish theme. But I will keep you all updated on my surgery date. Hopefully I will have that set next Thursday.

It seems like SO many of you all are going through surgery right now. Just today Cary had his. I keep checking his blog to see how he is doing. He said that Amy is going to be updating his, just like he updated her. Which, by the way, have you seen pictures of her lately? You look GOOD girl!!! I am SOOOO excited for you! It's funny, I talk about all of you fellow bloggers to my husband like we actually "know" each other. It's just such a HUGE part of my life right now. I truly don't know what I would do if you all didn't post your experiences. So if you are ever wondering if your post actually get read and it they help anyone out, THEY DO! Thank you!

Ok, it's almost time for Survivor. I have time to check Cary's blog once more, then it's TV time. Until next Thursday... (hopefully with a surgery date!)

My background - it's a LONG one (part 2)

2007-02-19T13:13:00.000-05:00

Oh, I forgot to mention that this surgeon, after measuring my face, also suggested that I have genioplasty done, my chin is just a little too long for the rest of my face. But he told me that he had to measure to see it, and he does this for a living. So I have decided to pass on that. It won't be covered under insurance, and I really don't want to look that much different. But that could change next time I see him.

So now that I have an ortho and a surgeon that I like, you would think it would be easy, right? WRONG...

So my surgeon sends the letter to the insurance company for my pre-approval. After MANY phone calls and almost 3 months, I FINALLY get my approval. YEAH!!!

So back to the ortho it is for me! I get my bottom braces on in April 2006, with the tops going on in May 2006. Of course I can't have the nice ceramic ones as my ortho says that the surgery is too rough on them and that they metal ones are less likely to pop off with all of the bands that I will have on them after the surgery. So back in braces it is for me.

Before the braces went on I had to have another tooth pulled. It is a lower back one that I had a root canal done on a few years back. It still bothered me on and off, and all of my dentists said that it wouldn't take well to being moved with braces. So out it came. That one was a b-tch to get out as there was a post in my bone. My dentist also did a bone graft on it so that I can get an implant when this is all said and done. However, the bone graft didn't take, and I barely have any bone there to put a new post in. Oh, and of course this is considered "cosmetic" so it wasn't paid for by my dental insurance. Gotta LOVE insurance companies!

I go every 5 weeks to get readjusted, as expected. We were hoping that my teeth would be ready for surgery in November - December time frame. But once again, my teeth seem to be stuborn and not want to move quickly. So I finally get the go ahead for the surgery in February. Almost a year after the braces went on.

Well, mid way through January, I get a lovely letter from my surgeon. It states that they no longer participate with Aetna Medical. This, however, will not effect the service that they provide me. WHAT?!?!?! I am so shocked that I almost cry. You have got to be kidding me? That's why I switched to this surgeon was because they DID accept Aetna, and now they don't? I don't really want to pay for this surgery (I don't have much of a choice now as my teeth don't meet up AT ALL and I have constant headaches). So back to calling the insurance company and the surgeons office to fight... again.

After only a few calls to the insurance comapany and my surgeon, I got it settled! They will still accept the insuracnce since I was in the middle of this process when they decided to drop my insurance. THANK GOSH!!!

So my next appointment with the surgeon is on March 22. That is when we will set a surgery date. I never thought that this day would actually come, but it looks like it will!! I can't wait for this whole thing to be over with and have the smile and pain free jaw that I have always dreamed of. And I can't wait to have some kids either!!!

I'll let you all know how my March 22 appointment goes and keep you updated!!!

My background - it's a LONG one (part 1)

2007-02-17T10:58:00.000-05:00

Well, I might as well start at the beginning...

When I was in 5th grade I got my first set of brand new shiny braces!!! Oh what fun that was! I even got to have 5 teeth pulled before they were put on (1 baby, and 4 adult!). Now to say that I was a little scaredy cat when I was a kid is putting it midly. But I was a big girl and made it through the whole ordeal.

When they origianlly put the braces on, I was told 1.5 - 2 years until they would come off. Well, that was a BIG lie! I had one tooth that was growing sideways in my gums, so that had to wait to see if it would come down on its own, and if not, do surgery to pull it down. Luckily it did eventually come down on it's own. But because of that lovely tooth, and the fact that my teeth move VERY slowly, I had braces on for 4 years, 7 months, 13 days, and 5 hours... but who's counting. I STILL remember the extra amount of time, and that was over 13 years ago that they were taken off.

I was VERY good about wearing my retainers every night. My older sister also had braces and she never wore her retainers and I could tell that her teeth were moving. I rememberd all the pain and time that I had the braces on, and I wanted to keep my teeth straight.

I was probably in 11th grade when I started having trouble again. My retainers weren't fitting as well anymore, and I wore them everynight, so it wasn't like when you forget to wear them for a few days, and they are tight for a few hours. They were just tight all the time, but mainly the bottom one. And I started to notice that my jaw would pop and crack when I would open and close my mouth. It would hurt if I chewed gum or tried to open it for a big sandwich. So I asked my ortho at the time about it. He said that the only way to fix my jaw would be to have surgery. Well, I was only in 11th grade, and that was the last thing that I wanted to have. So I just ignored the pain and stopped chewing gum (which I was additced too).

I kept on wearing my retainers everynight, and the bottom one kept getting tighter and tighter. One night in college I woke up and my retainer wasn't in my mouth. I searched everywhere, but I couldn't find it. I had to go home in a few weeks for winter break and I had an appointment to get my teeth cleaned. So I asked my general dentist if he could make me a new one (as I was no longer seeing my ortho since the braces had been off for over 5 years). He made me a new one and i started to wear that. This one too eventually got to feeling VERY tight. So after about a year, I just stopped wearing them all together.

Fast forward to 5 years ago (about 2 years after I stopped wearing my retainers). I had graduated college and moved to a new town. I was having my first cleaning with my new dentist and he was feeling my jaw when I opened and closed. He winced when he felt and heard all of the popping and cracking. That's not a good sign when your dentist winces at your jaw. He asked me if my jaw ever bothered me. I told him that it would hurt and sometimes lock open when I had my teeth cleaned and that it gave me headaches. He suggested that I wear a mouth plate at night to try to relieve the pain. So I got mouth plate #1 for my bottom teeth.

I wore this for about 6 months, until I went to see him for my next cleaning. At this cleaning he got to witness first hand my jaw locking open. He said that the mouth plate that he gave me wasn't going to be enough to stop the pain and suggest that if I wanted to stop my teeth from wearing uneven and to relieve some of the pain, that I go to a orthodontist.

So off I go to orthodontist #1. He takes measurements, molds, and x-rays. I go back in a few weeks to hear what he has to say. He was VERY agressive and almost pushy with what he wanted to do. He told me that I would have to have braces on again, have my palate surgically expanded, move my top jaw up, my lower jaw back, and shorten my chin. Now, this is A LOT to take in at one time. He expected me to make a date right then and there to get the braces on and start moving forward with this whole process. I was not ready to do that right away. So I decided to get a second opinion.

My second opinion was with Dr. Graff (Dr. G from now on). He was VERY nice and explained everything in much more detail than the first ortho. He came back with the same plan basically, but he was not forcefull AT ALL. He told me to think it over and get back to him when I had made a decision. He also wanted to try some less invasive things before we did the braces to see if that relieved any of the pain. So I decided to go with Dr. G.

Dr. G first gave me an upper bite plate to wear at night to give my muscles a little bit of a rest to help relieve some of the imediate pain. He also took some better x-rays and showed me how both of the discs in my jaws had slipped and my jaws were rubbing bone on bone. Because of this, my jaw joints are now squared off, instead of rounded.

So off to my first visit with a surgeon. This was in November of 2003. The surgeon was nice, but he wanted to do multiple surgeries. Basically, only one thing at a time. First the Surgically Assisted Rapid Palate Expansion (SARPE), then move the lower jaw back, then the upper jaw forward. Why he wanted to move both jaws at different times, I never really found out. Well, he didn't except my insurance, so my insurance company made me go and see another surgeon. Since I was told by both orthos and the surgeon that I would need SARPE, and I would have a gap in my front teeth for a while, I decided to wait. I was recently engaged and I didn't really want to have a big gap in my front teeth for the wedding. So plans got put on hold until after the wedding, August 2005.

In September of 2005 I go back to Dr. G (the ortho) to get set up for braces and find a new surgeon (one that my insurance company would pay for). It worked out that the one that my insurance company worked with is also one that Dr. G works with a lot. So I get new models from Dr. G and make an appointment with Dr. Lewis (the surgeon) for January of 2006. Yes, it took that long to be able to get in with him. But it was worth the wait. I REALLY liked him. He was great and explained EVERYTHING!!! He had a different approach to my situation then the other surgeon did, which is another reason I liked him. He said that with braces alone, we could get my upper teeth out far enough, so that meant no SARPE for me!!! And he didn't want to move my lower jaw back, but only my upper jaw forward to make my face more in line. I was REALLY liking him now!

Read part 2 for the rest of the story!!!

My Surgery is going to be PAID FOR!!!

2007-02-13T17:48:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I said that I would write some posts to update you all on my story with my teeth, but I just got some great news when I got home from work today. My surgery had currently been pre-approved over a year ago with Dr. Lewis. However, since my teeth are SLOW movers, it has taken almost a year for me to be ready for surgery (they originally thought 6 months, but I should have guessed that was wrong. I had braces as a kid for what they thought was going to be 1.5 - 2 years. 4 years, 3 months, 17 days, and 5 hours later I FINALLY get them off... but who's counting?)

Anyway, I got a letter about a month ago from Dr. Lewis saying that they no longer participate with Aetna Medical and that the surgery would have to be paid for by me. YIKES!!! Luckily, the hospital and anaesthesiologist were still covered. But this was going to cost me over $10,000, plus what I have already spent on braces.

I called Dr. L's office to see what the codes and so that I could talk to the insurance company. The insurance company told me to have Dr. L's office call them. Well, I got a call from Sherri from Dr. L's office today and it will still be covered under my insurance since I was already in treatment when the dropped Aetna! YEAH!!! What a huge weight off my shoulder.

My next appointment with Dr. L is March 22 to get a re-checkup and set a surgery date! I can't believe that this day is going to actually happen!