GOOD NEWS..I guess?

Saw. Dr. T today (the OS)... Says everything is looking so good, I can come back in a few weeks, he isn't too concerned with anything and says Im healing exceptionally.

Then, I saw Dr. W as well (the Ortho)... says he is so impressed with my healing everytime he sees me.. he also told me I can check with Dr. W and if he says its cool, we can start shifting teeth again in two weeks, I can lose the elastics AND the surgical hooks!!

A year ago I never would've thought Id get so excited about teeth!! Yippie!!

Been So long!

First off, I apologize to the three people that probably read this blog...

Secondly, ALMOST FOUR WEEKS POST-OP!!!!!

School has been killing me.. Im so deep into my thesis (that I actually don't even technically start till next year), I've been working really hard to get ahead.

Nothing too new to report.. I've been having some pain on the right side of my face that I'm almost positive is because of jaw-clenching at night. Ill talk to Dr. T about it on tuesday.

At the ortho the other day, everyone commented on how fast the swelling went down, which I definitely think is due to the Cranial Sacral Therapy Dr. W does while I'm there. The swelling in my chin doesn't wanna budge, but what can you do!

I've actually managed to get to the point where I can eat everything I could before except for things that are really crunchy and hard. A few things I thought would work out didn't and caused some serious pain (Mr. Sub meatball sub, hot dogs) and I won't try them again.

Last night, I was at a concert, and I was changing my elastics, when all of a sudden the bag broke and almost all of them went on the bathroom floor. I wasn't about to pick them up (ew), so I have NINE elastics to last me till tuesday. Eeek. Speaking of elastics..THEY SUCK.

I promise it won't be too long until the next update. probably after my next post-op on tuesday!

Food, not-so-glorious Food

Today, on my 16th day post-op, I'm wondering if I'll ever eat normally again.

The past two weeks have been a blur...the first week and a half, I swore I'd never had so much soup, broth, juice, water etc in my whole life. I started drinking Carnation Instant Breakfasts not that long ago and Im basically living off those things, even now.

Just recently (over the weekend), I started eating things I used to eat...like spaghetti (cut up), rice, mashed potatoes, and last night, Swiss Chalet fries w/sauce (you won't know it if you aren't Canadian).

It's a struggle to eat these things, and for some reason my stomach wants to reject all of it..but the weirdest thing of all, is how strange it feels to chew.

At my 2nd post-op yesterday, my OS said I was doing realllllly well and to keep doing what Im doing. Cause I was doing so well, I decided to try chew some food....Id heard horror stories on ArchWired about people trying to eat too soon.... well, it was rather uneventful. I can do it, but it feels very VERY strange to chew. I guess it's cause I havent done it in two weeks, but it feels like an alien sensation.

Day 15 post-op, Happy St. Patty's Day

Yikes I haven't posted in quite sometime. I actually had a good post written and saved it..but then forgot about it over the weekend.

Yesterday marked two weeks post-op, as well as the first day back to school for me. I managed to give two short informal presentations about some work I had done while I'd been off. I noticed, however towards the end of the day my lip felt like it was made out of iron, I could barely move my face! Also, a funny moment when I tried to eat fried rice with my elastics in.. rice. EVERYWHERE.

The food situation needs to improve..drastically. I've started to eat things..not chew, just kind of gum them to death and swallow..which is seriously screwing up my stomach.

The numbness in my lip/chin arent that noticeable to anyone but me but I can feel them and it sucks.

Here is an updated shot from the front, and a profile shot (and shot of my messy room)..im kind of leaning down in the profile shot..it isnt that sloped.

1st Post-op appointment!

Today was my first post-op appointments with both my surgeon and my orthodontist.

At my surgeons, they took an x-ray..then when I saw Dr. T, he was surprised my chin bandage was still on... what! I thought I was supposed to wait for him to take it off! Needless to say, having a bandage from ear to ear removed with week old adhesive was...VERY painful. He cleaned up the adhesive on my skin, and I found it funny I couldn't feel it whatsoever on my chin and bottom lip.

He cut the bands (relief!!!) and my mouth sprung open.. at least two fingers wide, so thats good. He had a look around and said everything looked pretty good. He and his assistant cleaned up my teeth with some listerine or something and then he showed me how to put my bands back on. More on that later.

Final measurements were a lower advancement of 6mm, and since the genio was a reduction, he just sanded it down, so I don't have a measurement for that really.

Ill see him again next week.

My Ortho's office sent me flowers last week, so I made sure to thank them when I got there.. Dr. W did something called "Cranial Sacral" Therapy.. which is where he massages certain parts of the head and face to encourage drainage and reduction of swelling. I could've fallen asleep right there! Before I left, I made sure to ask him for a tool to help putting on my elastics.

OKAY..so its the moment I've been waiting for for a week.. I made cut up spaghetti/sauce for dinner.. BOY WAS IT HARD TO EAT!!! I think I'll stick to mashed potatoes or something.

So after dinner i quickly brushed my teeth (that felt weird..) and then ATTEMPTED to put my elastics back on. Um... okay so Im not sure I did this correctly. My surgeon showed me the box configuration, but I think i may have put them on wrong, and Im paranoid..so I might have to pop by tomorrow just to double check. Or ask them to fax me a little diagram. I always feel bad bugging Dr. T though!!

Here is a pic of my X-ray.. not the greatest picture..thank you very much iPhone.. but you can see the screws. I've got about 7 in total.

Honestly..I must have NO luck at all!! (One Week Post-Op)

First off.. I have some new pictures, But I'll post em later..

This weekend was great.. my parents went out of town, and my boyfriend Mike stayed with me to keep me company and make sure I didn't pass out again (after Saturday's incident). Well two things right now are frustrating me beyond belief.

1. My tongue.

My second molar from the back on the left side of my face is kind of pointy (for some odd reason), and because of the new position of my jaws, my tongue is kind of at odds about where to sit. Well its wedged itself between my top and bottom teeth. (if that makes sense). Its almost as if I'm biting down on my tongue, but the worst part is..the more I bite my tongue, the more cut-up and swollen it gets. Well its gotten to the point where its STUCK between those teeth. I cant pull it out, because it just opens up the cut again!! SO annoying. I almost cut my bands because of this.. it drives me NUTS!!

2. Im sick. AGAIN!!

If you read this blog before, I posted about having a cold 5 days before my surgery (which could've been bad news..but it was okay in the end). Well I gave the cold to my boyfriend, and because we spent time together this weekend.. I've picked it back up in the form of a nasty chest cough!! Its annoying trying to get rid of a loose cough when your teeth are banded together. Again, I almost wanted to cut the bands because of this.

Tomorrow is my first post-op visit..with my surgeon AND my ortho.. so who knows what that will entail. The only words I want to hear tomorrow are "yes Meghan, it is okay for you to eat mashed potatoes". Im serious.

Day 5 Post-op

Today marks day 5 post-op. Some good things have happened, some bad.

Good things that have happened-swelling went down A LOT since Monday, its concentrated now on my chin and underneath my chin. Took two short walks yesterday at my house around the block, and at Mike's house around the block as well. It was nice to get some fresh air, but it kind of drained me after.

Bad things that have happened-My mom made me a berry smoothie but didn't strain it terribly well and it was seed city up in my mouth. I was rinsing for about 20 minutes trying to get them out. Then at night time, I had a lot of... for lack of a better word, goo trapped in my throat, and I had to get it out. THAT was nasty.

This morning, my parents left to go away for the weekend, and I walked downstairs to get my antibiotics and I began to feel very lightheaded and dizzy..so I sat down at the table and put my head in my hands and passed right out. For a good 5, 10 minutes. I woke up shaky as hell, and barely made it to my room. This definitely made me realize I *need* to be eating more calories in a day. And whether or not my OS lets me, next week, im doing the mashed potato thing.

Im not going to post a whole whack of pictures, but Ill post one from pre-op, and from last night. The difference in my profile made it all worth it, somehow.

Day 3 post-op

Oh my god, I've been bad cause I havent posted any pictures yet.. I promise I will soon.

Today was..decent.. I seem to have mini panic attacks when I wake up, I can't breathe, Im too warm and just generally crusty. Today I managed to take my first shower by myself and wash my hair.. felt sooooo good. I went with my mom to drive my boyfriend to work, and that felt good too..getting some fresh air. Seeing Mike was really great too...even though he has the sniffles. :(

Dinner today was extremely frustrating. I don't think I can sit with my family while they eat, it irritates me. It especially irritated me when my mom made a comment about me burping today, and then another comment about taking a shower. Im not a baby, and I didn't appreciate the 'news bulletin' style comments whatsoever. Meh.

Tonight, my jaw is extra tired..I think I've been talking too much..I really just want to relax for the rest of the night and attempt to get a good sleep. Who knows what the weekend will bring.. my parents are off to Ottawa, my sister is off to St. Catherines, so its just Mike to take care of me :)

Ugh..

Its been about..2 days since my surgery.

I've gotta say..my swelling dropped a lot between yesterday and today (I credit that with booking it out of the hospital first chance), and my mood has improved a lot as well. Obviously, Im still pretty tired.. I had about 4 naps today (between 1hr and 2.5hrs each).

Yesterday, I could only manage water, juice (which I found hard cause it was sugary and would make my throat all sticky and clogged) and chicken and beef broths. Yum.

Today, I managed to get down a peach smoothie my mom made for me, as well as a strawberry ensure (gag). The peach smoothie was good, and I knew from the ice-creamy taste it was gonna be fattening, which is what I need considering I've lost EIGHT POUNDS since monday. That doesn't seem normal...

I think so far the most frustrating thing by far is the weird pain I'm feeling along the side of my face and in my ears. It feels SUPER tight.. I might have to ask for some muscle relaxants, we'll see. Another thing that bothers me is when I sit down at the dinner table to eat my 'meal' and my whole family has chicken, mashed potatoes, etc. Definitely depressing.

So far though, I think I've managed okay. I don't know what I'd do if my parents weren't around all day, esp. my mom to take care of me. Everyone has done a great job.. from my sister making me laugh through emails..to my boyfriend always being able to cheer me up. :)

Tomorrow, I'll post updated pics from tonight, as well as whatever fun things happen between now and then!

Im out!

Im home from the hospital! I had a lower jaw advancement + chin reduction

I was told to be at the hospital at 6 yesterday and by 720 they took me into the OR..things were quite fast, which was great-less time to get nervous. I was scared of the IV cause I've never had one before, but it wasn't as bad as I thought.. and the guy thought I was serious when I said "I loooove needles!"..too funny.

When I woke up in recovery, I was really irritated, because they told me the tubes going from my nose to my lungs, and from the collection bag to my stomach would be gone..and they werent. Which means I was awake and totally not under any anesthetic when they pulled them out. THAT was worse than anything so far. My sister came into to see me, which they gave her a hard time about..and she told me that no one came upto her and my mom after to let her know how things went.. which I found odd..

The rest of the day was me sleeping on and off with lots of visitors.. I couldn't figure out how to move my mouth for the first while, so I wrote lots of notes..then I figured the more I could talk or ATTEMPT to talk, the better for my nerves..so I talked like crazy!!

I ate the soup for dinner..but I didn't understand how they wanted me to eat the Jello? I drank a lot of water, and rinsed like mad cause I wanted to make sure stuff was clean. Luckily, I didn't have a ton of pain, and I still don't. I would say its slightly worse than when I had my wisdom teeth out. Just with a ridiculously swollen face.

Sleeping at night was by far THE WORST. I couldn't get comfortable at all, and I found there was a fine line between being boiling hot..and freezing cold. My nose was super super dry, and even though I greased it up with vaseline, it didn't make a difference and I found I couldnt breathe very well...so I kept having mini panic attacks cause I was suffocating. The night nurse told me that I was supposed to have nasal spray..but who knows where the hell it was!! I made it through the night trying to slow my breathing down and breathe through my lips. Im not sure about anyone else who has had the same surgery as I, but my teeth feel like they are GLUED together. I thought the bands would be much looser. :(

This morning, I was discharged by my surgeon, who told me I was doing REALLY well, given some strange needle in my hip which I was never given an explanation for what it was (even though I asked!), had my IV taken out, and then I booked it out with my mom. I can't even begin to describe the looks I got from people in the lobby!!! But feeling the -23 degree air outside was AMAZING. I think i'll take a walk tonight.

Here are three pictures... the first is my profile BEFORE the surgery... you can see the overbite/deep bite/dinosaur profile as I call it. And my pointy chin.

The next one was taken when I got a room in the hospital, and the last one is this morning at my house.

Ugh...I hate colds

Early this week I began getting quite nervous for my pre-op stuff that was on Wednesday to the point where I felt actually nauseous.. well the pre-op came and went, and thursday morning I woke up with the sniffles. My surgery is this coming Monday.

I immediately started taking ColdFX Extra Strength. The anesthesiologist said I didn't have to stop taking anything I was taking until 12 midnight Monday morning, and since I have 3 days until my surgery, the ColdFX will be gone out of my system with the amount of water Im drinking!!

This kinda scared me a tiny bit, because I was worried Id have to cancel the surgery.. I should be okay in time, Im pretty healthy!!

Pre-op

So today I had my pre-op visit with my surgeon and the hospital. Dr. T was great, I took some moulds, took some xrays (ugh, scary dinosaur face!) and he explained the whole process. The way he does surgery is to make a plastic bite plate, and when he sets the jaws in the right spot, he wires them shut with the bite plate to make sure they are in the best spot possible. He said it'll be gone by the time I wake up... so, NO SPLINT..YAY!!!!!!!!!!!! He also told me that Im the first surgery on the books for the day, so its a bright and early morning for me, beginning at 6 am.

The hospital didn't go as smooth.. they spelt my name wrong at admissions and I had to go to a bunch of different people to get it fixed. One lady was a real you know what! The anesthesiologist was nice.. he asked me if I was on "street drugs" haha..too funny.

All in all, a fun day.. even the dreaded blood test didn't go as bad as I thought. I had said to the woman taking my blood I was more nervous for the needle than my actual surgery!

so...5 days to go.

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Surgical Hooks!

Today I went to my ortho and got my surgical hooks put on. Easy breezy, nothing too dramatic. My ortho told me that my teeth are in amazing shape going into this surgery and I should get really nice results out of it.. considering my teeth were never that crooked to begin with just a bit of crowding, I'm excited as it is my jaw thats really messed up!!

He told me that my surgeon is one of the best here in Toronto, and he even called him the Michelangelo of maxillofacial surgery! haha..

So here is a picture of my teeth with the hooks on em.

One week to go till pre-op, 11 days till surgery. Yikes!

Sorry!

I just realized I never posted that day I had my last adjustment!

My Ortho changed the wire on my bottom.. I havent been keeping up with what wires hes used, only that this one is rectangular, and HURTS! He had a rectangular one on there before but it wasn't as bad. Im not sure if this is my surgical wire or not... He also tied a few more of my teeth using that fun metal wire.. lovely!

I have a cleaning appointment tomorrow, surgical hooks on wednesday, then pre-op the following wednesday! Then the big day the monday after. It's gonna be a busy few weeks..

Here's a picture of my bite the way it is now from the front, and from the side. After seeing the side profile picture.. I really had a moment of "jeez, I hope that looks a whole lot better after the surgery". Sometimes I feel like my nose is gigantic, but Im pretty sure its just my small chin.

My OS said my case is really funny cause I have a deep bite, my lower jaw is set too far back, but I have a prominent chin. I'll probably end up having a BSSO with a chin reduction, I'd guess!

Three weeks to go!

First Post!

Hey everyone!

This is my first post on this blog.. I figured it would be a good thing to keep updating to document my process through this whole experience.

I just got my surgery date, March 2nd 2009, and this Tuesday is probably my last adjustment before the surgery. Ill begin on that date with pictures and what-not!