Too Diligently!

FOr those of you that asked, I wore my rubberbands 24/7 as instructed. The day I went in to get my braces off I was a little bit "over-corrected" and they weren't sure they were going to take the braces off. They left it up to me and I said "take them off" as loudly as I could! :)

After two days, my bite settled right where they wanted it to, and all seems to be well. Chewing is a dream, an absolute dream!!!

NO BRACES!

They almost did not take them off. I wore my rubberbands too diligently.

Healing

You know you are really starting to heal when your jaw clenching/grinding comes back. I still have tightness on the right side, but I think that will fade once I get these gross braces off and can really throw some food up in there! This is such a long process.

Pretty Please!

June 15th. That is the day that I am to be debraced. I could not be looking forward to that more. Last time I went in they seemed a little skeptical about the date that they had set. They are "torquing" a few teeth. All I gots ta say is that this metal better come OFF! I am ready to get rid of it and work on getting my ROM back where it used to be. I've been wearing rubberbands for the last two months. Rubberbands suck. I am so ready to eat pad thai without picking bean sprouts out of my teeth. I am sick of sucking food out of my brace and digging around with my tongue. Also, I am totally ready to get an aqua retainer with sparkles, which is what I want. I hope that is a choice. This process is almost over. THEN I will get my eyes decompressed (due to thyroid eye disease, totally unrelated to the jaw, but it will make my eyes MUCH less prominent and get rid of all of the associated discomfort and pain, but that's another blog), and be done with all of this "work".

Something weird...

So, my surgery was in October and my husband deployed in December.I did go to visit him in Europe for about 9 days last month, and he will be home soon, but...he is not used to the way I look now yet. In Europe he was talking about how good my chin looked and I just realized that I have had six plus months to get used to this, and he hasn't had any time at all really. I wonder if it is going to be weird for him. I think I will catch him staring a lot, just trying to acclimate. I just wonder if it will be weird. I was still swollen when he left. Barely eating and all. Hmmm...

Take it off...take it all off!

June 15th is my scheduled debracing day, provided all has moved as planned. I have those pesky rubberbands and I can't wait to get these damn things off!

I did get a new tattoo the other day to commemorate all things star trek. I'll put the picture up here. Oh, and I am planning on having an eye decompression surgery soon. If all goes well I will have all the pain and blurriness in my swollen eyes relieved. New eyes? A ew jaw? I'm starting to feel like Joan Rivers!

I know the picture is flipped, but that is just because I am lazy.

May 2

I am going to try to take front and profile pictures on May 2nd. That marks the 7 month mark for me. I hope some of you find the photos helpful. I really wrote this blog to be mostly informative on what I am going through in the first year of healing. That was all I wanted to know about prior to my surgery. I have tried to keep most of the pics on the homepage so they are easy to find. Maybe that is because I was most concerned about the physical changes for my surgery, as my other issues were so minimal. I have experienced some great side effects though. I no longer clench, I have fewer headaches, and while on a soft diet I discovered Greek yogurt with honey...my new favorite food!

Jaw Rant that Barely Pertains to Me

I still think it is wild how many blogs there are out there dedicated to jaw surgery. I am now going to rant.

The insurance companies piss me off in that they don't cover these procedures, which for most people are medically necessary. To add insult to injury, my insurance covered my surgery 100% and I had minimal medical issues relating to my massive overbite.

It seems the Canadian bloggers have to wait longer for their procedures, but don't stress about the out of pocket expense as much. Go Canada!! :) I grew up on the border and have always had a soft spot for our neighbors to the north. The American bloggers on the other hand, many of whom are in considerable pain, have to fight for their right to a surgery that cures a condition and should be classified as a birth defect, all because it changes the appearance of the patient.

If you needed knee surgery because your knee was in pain, every time you took a step, all you would need is an MRI and a referral, but to get your jaw fixed you have to be ready to go into battle. It just really pisses me off.

Another Picture

Here is another picture where you can see my jawline a little bit better. Before, I avoided cameras so much! Now, I don't really care if I see one.

Almost 7 months post-op

Ok, so I am almost 7 months out. I get my braces off June 15th. Shoulda, coulda, woulda been in May, but one of the Orthos in the practice went on maternity leave. It's all good though. I still have some noise, and I do have stiffness on the left which is limiting my mobility and hurts a bit when I chew. I should be doing the exercises to loosen it up, but really, I am not even going to worry about that until after these things are off. I have had rubberbands for the last month, and though they are not too obtrusive, I'm not a huge fan of their presence. I am planning on getting a crazy looking retainer with glitter if I have my way. Here is a picture of me taken today. It's just a picture. I feel like I look normal, or I should say, my new look is now my normal look, and I don't think about my "before" too much anymore.

As you can see, I have "bulging eyes", which is a separate issue due to thyroid eye disease. I hope to have surgery to correct that in June or July.

I feel so much more confident now, and I am so glad that I did this!

Another Surgery

So, now that I have my jaw fixed I am heading down the road to another surgery. You may have noticed that in the photos I have protruding eyes. This is caused by Graves Disease which is an autoimmune disorder. My Doctors are now doing all of the preoperative work for Orbital Decompression, a surgery that will increase the size of my eye sockets and let my eyes sit back in my head where they go. Luckily, I think the healing time for this surgery is 2 days. I'll be glad to be DONE with procedures for a while.

Three Months

So, they don't really have any adjustments left to make on my teeth, but I have to keep the braces on for 6 months post op. They should come off in April or May! I CAN"T WAIT!

I don't know how I ever wore braces so easily the first time around. Braces as an adult sucks. You get used to it because you have to, but once the count down is on the waiting just eats you alive.

Vera Wang Pajamas!!!

Because I have an eye disease I get very self conscious in pictures. As you can see, my eyes bulge out. Having a chin now helps with that feeling of "don't look at me". Anyway, I like this angle because it hides the bags under my eyes and makes my eyes look a little less protrusive.

I am constantly looking a new pictures of myself just to get used to what I look like. How should I smile now? Does my lip still look a little wonky? (I still have some lingering numbness which is not a bother at all, but can make for a funky smile.)

I don't know if anyone else thinks about these things. I know a lot of people get the surgery for medical reasons. My was to prevent some future medical issues, but also because I WANTED it. I wanted to have a chin and get rid of my huge overbite. Oh, and I am wearing my Vera Wang PJs in this pic. LOVE THEM!

It is weird to have to relearn what you look like.

Anyway, here is another picture. Getting sick of these things yet?

What I have learned...

From the front I don't look like I thought I would post-surgery, but I like it just the same.

From the side I am thrilled that I don't think about it anymore. People seeing my profile does not even cross my mind.

I can't stop touching my chin. 4 months out and I can't stop touching my chin. I just can't believe it is where it is.

Eating might never be the same. I chewed one way for 31 years and now I have to chew like a person whose molars line up. I thought it would be easier, and become second nature in no time flat. That has not happened yet. Also, I can't move my jaw forward at all so grasping things between my front teeth to open them or something is not possible.

Thankfully, scissors were invented a long time ago.

Shredded Lettuce

I love salad, and I can chew shredded lettuce, but the regular kind is a huge pain the ass! Lettuce is for chumps!

Pain

So, I noticed that when I chew I have pain on the left side. It is still a little tender there and feels like it might be muscular. It is more annoying than painful though, and only when I chew, but it is a little tender to the touch. I might mention it at my next appointment for somewhere, but I am still only a few months out so I'm kind of just dealing with it.

I can open about two and a half fingers consistently. I get a lot of noise in my jaw when I open and close and I suspect over time I will get most of my mobility back. I'll keep working on it!

I am due to get these fffing things off of my teeth in May and I can't wait to look in the mirror and be DONE! I'm looking forward to getting a sparkly retainer! I'm thinking aqua. I hope they have aqua!

If there is any swelling left...

I can't see it. 3 months out...

Functionality

So to answer some questions:

Does it feel normal yet?
Nope. Not yet. But only when I chew. I can't open my mouth as wide as I could pre surgery which I think will get better with time. It seems to be getting better with time. I have a lot of noise when I chew, but each day my range of motion gets better and better. When I am not chewing it does feel normal. I can't stand to smile with my mouth open yet. My smile is cockeyed right now but I think that will get better when the braces come off and when all the feeling returns. I have two small spots that are still a little numb. Very small...so much so that I don't really even notice them except for when I want to smile.

Would I do it again?
Hell yes! I would do it again in a heartbeat. I no longer spend all of my time thinking about my profile and that is a great feeling.

Was I scared shitless?
I was. Scared out of my mind. My heartrate was 114 until they put the drugs in me. I was fine though. The worst part was getting nauseated from the anethesia. The pain was not too bad, and the first few weeks without food were fine because I was so sore and swollen, I really didn't care. It is scary. Someone is cutting your mouth apart, but it truly was not that bad. My experience was a good one and not as bad as I thought it would be.

Been a While

So, it has been about 3 months since my surgery. Chewing is finally starting to get easier. Still a chore and my mouth does not open like it used to yet. The pain in the joint with chewing is really starting to go down and I have very little numbness and tenderness now. I am still getting use to the way I look. Trying to find a new good smile and all. Overall things are healing nicely. I don't see me biting into any carrots in the near future, but I am healing up!

Chewing is still a bit odd. There are times when I can't figure out if my chewing issues come from getting used to my new bite, or not having the range of motion in opening my jaw yet.

Best of luck to everyone else who is healing out there!