Appointment with OS about Infection

Hi all. I've been very busy lately because of a new midlife crisis purchase. Instead of a really nice Audi R8 I decided to get a Whoodle. What's a Whoodle you ask? Don't worry, I had never heard of it before either. You know how they come up with all these weird sounding dog breeds. A Whoodle is a mix between a Wheaten Terrier and a Poodle. She looks like a Labradoodle. She's super cute, friendly and soft. She's taking up a lot of my time lately. Her name is Sophie.

Ok, on to ortho stuff. Thank you guys for asking about how my appointment went. I really appreciate it. Anyway, I saw the surgeon on Wednesday and he took a look at my teeth and said we "hit a home run". I'm not sure, but I think he's complimenting himself. My lips are getting closer together too as the swelling goes down. He told me that women should have between 2 and 4mm lip incompetence. I guess that's ok then.

As for the infection, he thinks it will probably come back and if it does he would take the screws out. He said that once bacteria get in there it's hard for your body to fight it off and you just have to remove the screws and plates. He would do it in his surgical suite in his office. He would just put me to sleep with an IV and cut along the same original surgical incision. The last screw is hard to get out without putting a little hole in my cheek. Well, that doesn't sound too bad. He was going to wait and see if the infection does indeed come back. I forgot to ask how long that might take. That's all for now. Off to bed.

Infection?

Hi all. I have been a bad blogger. I haven't posted anything for weeks now. School has started for my kids and with that comes all the business of planning, driving and studying. My last post I think I mentioned that my left side was somewhat swollen. Well, within the last couple of days it has really swelled up. It is starting to hurt and look funny. I called my OS and he put me on antibiotics and wants to see me next Wednesday. I wonder if he's going to say we need to remove the screws. I guess I will find out. What's funny is that my lips close better now with the "infection". Weird. I don't think things are quite right yet.

Here are some pictures. It probably is hard to see the swelling, but it's on the left side of the picture. It is reversed, so it looks like my right side.

3 Months

It's been about 3 months and I am feeling great. The feeling in my chin is almost 100% back. I still have a tiny bit of tingling when I touch it, but not much. The feeling in my palate and gums is coming back, just slowly.

At about 2 months I went through a period where I thought I looked really funny and fake. I felt like the doctor hadn't taken enough out of my upper gum and that he hadn't pulled my upper teeth back far enough. That was the first time in my recovery where I felt depressed. I felt like I had made a big mistake by not making it clear exactly what I wanted. I thought I might have to do the surgery again to get it "perfect".

Well, I think I have turned the corner on that. I finally had to compare my old pictures with my new ones and after that I remembered there was a hugh difference. I guess I couldn't remember exactly what I looked like. Weird, huh? I like the amount of gum that shows when I smile. I like my new chin. My lips do look better than they did. My smile is wider. (See, I have to remind myself.) Also, my swelling has gone down a little bit more so my lips almost touch. It's still not perfect, but better. I still have what looks to me like chipmunk cheeks. I'm hoping the swelling goes down on that. The surgeon did notice that and said sometimes the bone grows back thicker than before and they can shave that down. I don't think so! He wouldn't make that decision until after a year out. My left side is more swollen than my right side and sometimes it hurts when I push on it. Yea, I know...don't push on it.

I hope you all are doing well at whatever stage you're in. It really is all worth it!

9 Weeks Out

Hi all. It's been awhile since I posted. It's kind of nice to not be obsessing over my teeth so much. I told my husband that I don't want to talk about my teeth unless I bring it up. haha He said, "That's weird. That was all you wanted to talk about for the past year". Yep, he's tired of this too. We have been busy though. We went on vacation to visit family and I had my 47th birthday. Forty-seven and I still have braces on. Yuck.

It's been a year since I got my braces on. I remember the first thing I did after my braces were on was to ride the COG Railroad up to the top of Pikes Peak. I have already decided that will be the last thing I do to finish off my braces journey. That will be like a round trip up and back from the Peak. Symbolic in a way.

Things have been going really well. I still have some tingling in my chin, but the feeling is continuing to improve. I am eating quite a few things. It's still hard to get my teeth and tongue working together and my mouth opening wide enough. I still have to push food between my teeth to get it into my mouth.

I will see my surgeon this Wednesday. I haven't seen him since about 3 weeks after surgery. I am planning on asking him about my lips not coming together. I think they are closer together now, but still not perfect. I did notice my top lip was very thin for awhile and it's getting fuller now. That helps.

I was feeling my head the other day and I noticed I have a big dent from where they cut my bone graft. It's probably 1" x 4". I sure hope that fills in. It doesn't hurt though. I'm only wearing 2 rubber bands at night only. My smile is now looking a little more natural. I don't find myself covering my mouth when I smile like I did before surgery. That is so awesome. I just smile real big and show my teeth braces and all without being embarrassed. That in itself makes this surgery so worth it!

I hope everyone is doing well!

One Can Dream

This could be me in 6 short months...

5 Weeks Since Surgery

Wow, the weeks are just flying by. Tomorrow marks 5 weeks since surgery. I'm still feeling great. I don't have any pain. I am, however, very tired of the surgical hooks, skeletal hooks and the rubber bands. My teeth always look dirty. Probably because of all the metal reflecting off my teeth. If one of those spring storms hit, I head inside real fast. I'm sure I'm a lightning rod.

I've lost 12lbs so far and holding. I eat a chocolate shake every night. I know that's coming to an end as soon as I get my clearance to eat real food. I better slow down now so that I don't gain too much weight. I actually would like to stay the weight I am now and not gain back the 12lbs. I don't know if that will happen.

I emailed a couple of pictures of my open lips to my OS. I heard back from the nurse who forwarded the pictures to him. He's in Thailand or something like that. I can't wait to hear back from him. I'm probably just worrying myself for no reason, but I just want to make sure. I also see my orthodontist tomorrow and maybe he can reassure me that things are ok.

The times I was most self-conscious of my jaw were at the grocery story(odd), driving, and sleeping. I would always try to posture my jaw so that it didn't look that bad. I haven't totally gotten over that yet because I still imagine my jaw being the way it used to be. So here is a picture showing why I felt that way. Oh, I hate my old profile. I really didn't want to post it. Yuck. But the good news is my new profile.

4 Weeks Since Surgery

I love the warm, lazy days of summer. I have been taking the kids to the pool and enjoying the beautiful weather. This is a picture of me and a friend of mine from elementary school. We've known each other for 40 years. Ahhhhh.

Now on to my jaw...

I can't believe it was a month ago that I had jaw surgery. I am so glad to have that behind me. Things are progressing as usual. My OS is still out of town, so I won't see him until July. I will see my orthodontist on June 10 to check my bite. I'm now only wearing 4 rubber bands. They are on my molars and I can get them in-and-out in about 30 seconds. That's way better than a week after surgery when it would take me about an hour to put 5 of them in. That was so painful with all the swelling.

I am getting daring with my food. Yep, I've tried microwavable Quiche Lorraine, Bread Bowls from Panera Bread, and anything I can put in my VitaMix. That blender is awesome. Today I did Pineapple Juice and my kids loved it. It's nice that my healing is during the summer when I can get all kinds of fresh produce.

I still can't feel my gums. It's weird to run my fingers across my gums and not feel a thing. I also can't tell if I have food stuck in my braces and as a matter of fact I can't tell where food is in my mouth when I'm eating. I push food around in my mouth until it goes one of two ways, down or out of my mouth. I still bite my lower lip on the right when I chew. I'm still numb on my chin; it feels like rubber when I touch it.

My lips still don't touch at rest. It worries me, but the nurse thinks it may be swelling and all the metal in my mouth that's stopping it. When I sleep my lips come together no problem, or so I'm told, but not when I'm awake. I don't understand that. My orthodontist did scare me a little the last time I saw him when he said, "don't worry, as you age your upper lip drops 1mm for every decade". Great, so I may have my lips touch by the time I'm 70. Well, it is definitely better than before.