Surprise Braces

I am going to try to be quick with these updates!

Last Thursday, I had a follow up with the surgeon.  He walked into the room, saw my gap a little wider than before, and yelled, "Stop!!" Haha, the gap was big enough! Well, to his standards, but it still had to be checked by the orthodontist.

*fast forward*

The wonderful orthodontist got me in on Monday. Dr.S said the gap looked good, that my upper jaw is wide enough now!  I thought that'd be it for this visit, but then Dr. S asked me if I wanted to get my braces on.

Now?  

Yes, now...

I call them my Surprise Braces!  What's nice about them is that I didn't have to get any more bands on (yet). What's not so nice is soreness, the hooks on the brackets are irritating my cheeks/gums, and even more of a lisp.

*fast forward again*

We saw the surgeon again on Wednesday. He was surprised to see the braces, but he and Dr. S have worked so closely together for so long, it was no problem. Sadly though, this means I won't need to see him or the orthodontist for about six weeks.  I've really enjoyed getting to see all the nurses and doctors as much as I have been.


That's really all I've got for now. I guess I won't need to update for a while, so I'll let you know how things have changed next time.

On a different note, I have noticed a subtle change in my face. It is very subtle, but I feel like my face has some sharper angles? I don't know, maybe I'm just seeing things... but I don't hate it!

Down & Up Again

Alrighty! Time for some updates...

I am doing pretty well right now! But I've got to say, this was not always the case in the last week. I wasn't going to write about this, but I am here to document the whole journey.

One day after my previous (Post Op 1) entry, I hit a wall. HIT. A. WALL.  Now, I had not cried about any part of this process so far. I've always been very matter of fact about getting this done, and the recovery has not been that bad. But Tuesday, exactly one week since the surgery, I lost it! I woke up feeling off, started crying that morning and couldn't stop. I did everything I could to pull myself together and stay distracted, but nothing seemed to help.  I would be fine one minute, then start bawling for no known reason the next. Nothing felt right, and nothing made me happy.  It felt like nothing was going to be okay again. This went on all of Tuesday, most of Wednesday, and some of Thursday.  My parents and I started to get really worried because this is so, so out of character for me! Friday I seemed to be better, but I still needed to ask about what happened at my second post op appointment that afternoon. 

Post Op 2

Everyone at the office was very sweet and said that I was looking great! Dr. M was extremely happy with how things were healing and moving. I had only been turning the expander twice a day for three days, but everything had moved so nicely that I should just turn it once a day until I saw Dr. S four days later. 

When I asked him about how I seemed to have lost control of my emotions the past week, he answered immediately, saying that the emotional tailspin was because of the steroids leaving my system. My first thought was "Thank God there is an explanation!!"  Which was quickly followed by "When did I have steroids??"  I wasn't taking any, so it must have been something during surgery. I guess I should know that, but now I know to ask more about what will be happening next time. 

Emotionally, I am doing a lot better! For a while, I would have small 2-second panics that it would happen again, but I'm my goofy-self again!

1st post-op Orthodontic (a week later than I originally thought)

This appointment came at a perfect time.  Everything had been great with my expander until this past Sunday. I am not sure what happened, but it stopped turning! I had the key in the hole and as I tried to turn, it would pop out, essentially stabbing myself in the process! I was getting very frustrated and had to stop because I didn't want to break anything.  Usually, I am pretty flexible and try not to sweat the small stuff, but I just want everything to go perfectly with these surgeries.  I called the orthodontist Monday morning to ask if I should just wait one more day until the appointment.  After being told not to turn it until my appointment, we decided I could wait.

At the appointment, I explained to Dr. S that I couldn't turn it.  He took a look at it, and even he was having difficulty with it. I could see how much force he was putting on the key trying to turn it.  He got it, but he had to put 10-15 pounds of pressure on it.  It should not be that hard!  He spent some time turning the expander back and forth seeing if that would loosen it up. I hope it works because I would hate to have to get a new one put in.

The Gap
My gap has grown! As it should with 13 turns of the key.  I've definitely had practice smiling with closed lips. I did more at first, but the gap is a part of me right now. It feels weird to conceal a real smile. Haha, let's see if I am still saying that if it continues to grow though!

There are a few ways I can tell my jaw is expanding.
1. The gap. Obviously...
2. I can feel a small groove in the middle of my palate. My guess is that it's where new bone has not grown yet. Gross! Cool!
3. My smile feels stretched. It feels like my upper lip is stretched more than it used to be.

The gap has been a struggle... It has given me a nice little lisp, which makes answering phones at work a little more difficult. I have to really focus when saying "s"s and "th"s.  It's all fun and games until I have to say "$333" to a patient... then it's hilarious!

**If you need a laugh, just ask me to read  "s" and "th" tongue twisters to you! I'll do it!

Post Op 1

I feel a little more human today!

Even though  my cheeks are still puffy and smile is still frozen, I feel like I turned a corner.  Thank goodness! Because I hit a little wall yesterday.  While I still haven't cried through this whole process, I came close yesterday.  It was the silliest thing that got to me though. I guess it was the straw that broke the camel's back, but, honestly, I was just tired of drinking my food. Enough with the jello and puddings and protein shakes... I wanted to actually chew my food! After a feeble attempt at trying to eat half a PBJ, I welcomed back my protein shake.

Today was my first post op appointment with the surgeon.  I was happy to have a reason to leave the house. I've lived in my pajamas this past week and getting dressed made me feel refreshed.

Pictures from today: You can tell my swelling has gone down some. 

The follow up appointment was pretty quick.  They took an x-ray and Dr. M came right in to see how things are healing. He examined my bite and gums to check the healing.  All good news! Everything is healing nicely, and the stitches in my gums should dissolve over the next couple of days.

Now that I've recovered enough, it is time to actually start turning my expander.  Dr. M did it in the office for today, and I will continue to turn it twice a day.  A lot of people ask if it hurts turning the appliance.  Thank goodness it does not! It just feels like a lot of pressure in my upper jaw. Obviously, this is what is expanding my upper jaw and will result in a growing gap between my front teeth.

We will see how Dr. S likes how things are going tomorrow at my first orthodontist appointment since the surgery.  Annnnnd then again with Dr. M on Friday.  

I was surprised at how much my appointment and a few errands wore me out!  It wasn't long after we got home that I was asleep.

Mom snuck a picture...such a baby face! 

Looking Like A Chipmunk

This should be a pretty short post, but I just wanted to update ya'll. A lot of these days have run together, but that's probably because there hasn't been much diversity in my schedule. :P

Day 2
Like Day 1, I wasn't feeling too bad.  I could tell there was a little more swelling.  My biggest complaint in the morning is the nasal congestion with the inability to blow my nose. If I tried to blow my nose too soon after surgery, the pressure would cause a lot of bleeding and mess up the stitches in my mouth. Unfortunately, the only other option trying to sniff/swallow it all. (Gross, I know. Sorry!)  That hasn't been to much of a problem since because I realized the Mucinex D can be taken every 12 hours instead of 24. My day/evening consisted of visits with family and friends, smoothies, pudding, applesauce, soup, movies, word puzzles, and sudoku.

Pictures from Day 2

(Hah! Numbness makes a very crooked smile.)       

   

Haha! My uncle kept saying he wanted to see me with a big cone around my head. 

I thought it was funny, so I obliged. 

Day 3
Very similar day to yesterday! This seems to be the worse swelling day so far. Apparently some yellow/green bruises are visible.  My mom and friend say it is there, but I haven't been able to see it yet. Made camp in my chair in the living room and watched movies, napped, ate soft foods, and had a friend visit :)

Pictures from Day 3

Looking like Francine

     

Sweet Sophie napping with me... Tess would be up here, too, if she could!

Day 4/today

Congestion has improved a lot!  But my face is still pretty swollen. Not painful, but feels heavy!  It's a strange feeling when I bend down or anything because all the blood rushes to my cheeks, and it feels like my face is weighing me down.  I'm still not in a ton of pain, but I am experiencing an intense pressure when I try to say certain sounds.  "-P"s, "-B"s, "-M"s, and a few more send almost a shooting sensation behind my front teeth. Again, it isn't excruciating but definitely concerning.  I've had to tell a few of my best friends that they can't visit today, which I hate, but think is necessary.  I seem to be having a little more difficulty talking today, so a break will probably help the healing process.  

Pictures from Day 3

I will update when something new happens! In the meantime, I am going to go try to find some sort of soft food I'm not sick of yet.

SARPE Day & Morning One

SARPE Day

Even with leaving a few minutes late and traffic, we made it to the hospital at exactly 8:00.  Once checked in, we had a seat in the waiting room for a few minutes, and the nice, funny guy we met on Wednesday came up and said "Well, you still look like a girl!"

It wasn't too, too long before a nurse came to take me to the Pre-Op room. Sharon, my nurse was very kind and made me feel comfortable.  She left me in my curtain room to change into the smock.  I laughed imaging me flashing someone during the day. I even had a "Hey, it IS mardi gras!" ready to comeback with :P  As I was waiting in the room, after Sharon had gone over my health history with me, two family friends came to say hello. That was really nice :) Mom and dad came just a few minute after that. They kept me company while we waited for Dr. M and Chippy.  Once he touched base with us, he taped this towel wrap on my head and let us know we were waiting for the OR to turn over from the last surgery. 

Here he is taping the towel. 

Dad had us all laughing because it looks like a smurf hat in this picture!

The final result

When it was time to move, a doctor came in and did some final prepping with me before I moved to the OR. A nasal spray to constrict blood vessels, some antibiotic in my IV, and some liquid pain killers in my IV that the doctor introduced as "a little margarita".  Haha, and man, I wish all margaritas worked that fast. :P

The OR was a big cold room with a bunch of huge lights over the operation table.  Once I moved to the new table there were a lot of people working on me in unison. Someone replaced the blanket I had with two heated blankets. (Heaven!) The anesthesiologist was propping my head up under some pillow to make it better for her to intubate me. Some nurses were wrapping my legs up in these velcro wraps that would alternate constricting in order to prevent clotting. The last thing I remember was Chippy rubbing my head and arm as the anesthesia took affect.  

I don't remember moving from the OR table or room to the recovery room, but I have vague memories of coming out of the anesthesia. The anesthesiologist said I was feisty coming out of it. I believe it! I remember having my hands up on my face a little frantically saying I couldn't breathe through my nose. Little did I know I wasn't supposed to at the time because of a cotton ball taped under it. 

During this time, mom and dad said that Dr.M came to let them know that everything went beautifully, and it exactly what he had hoped for!  Woohoo!! 

Real cute picture of me in the recovery room

When I finally woke up, I vaguely remember whining and moaning a lot until my nurse came over.  He asked where my pain was on a scale of 1 (lowest) to 10 (the worst).  I went with 7, so he put in some more painkillers in my IV. Thank god for that! It made me feel a lot better. Once he gave me an okay to get dressed and go to the bathroom, I stood up and was completely surprised at how tight my calf muscles were. Soon we were on the way home!

A few hours after surgery 

Yesterday consisted of a lot of sleeping! I slept on the way home from the hospital, fell asleep as soon as the TV was on, and completely slept through a family friend bringing dinner to us. (Thank you, Laurie!)

Sleeping Beauty

Sophie, protecting me with her laser eyes

Sophie snuggling

When I woke up, I tried to eat a tiny bit of the chicken and noodles in very small bites, so I didn't even have to chew. It works nicely though, since I have been using a baby spoon because it is easier to gt in my mouth right now. After I had a little of that, my dad made me a smoothie for me that I help create.  It had a ice, chocolate ensure shake, a scoop of vanilla whey protein, half a banana, and two PB oreos. It was delicious!!

Not too long after that Michelle, Sharon (who brought beautiful flowers!), Grant, and Jessie all stopped by for a brief visit. :) Seriously, I have the best friends!!

Friends! 

After what could only be a few minutes after they left, I fell back into another hard sleep until it was time to move to my bed.

Day 1

I woke up a few times this morning, but not due to pain. Luckily I got back to sleep for a while longer. When I actually got up, I could tell I was more swollen and really tender in the few places where numbness has worn off.  It is strange being partially numb still.  My lip will tingle when I slightly touch the bone right below my eye.

A little swollen

I look like the joker when I try to smile!

 The next thing I noticed was that I was hungry! Lol, I tried to make an oatmeal smoothie, and I think it was a success! It had about 1/2 of dry quick oats, a dash of vanilla, some cinnamon, about a 3rd of a banana, some vanilla whey protein, a little flax seed, some milk, and some ice.

Ever since, I've just set up camp in the living room with the essentials... laptop, blankets, pillows, soft snacks, water, all my medicine, etc.

The Living Room camp

I think that's about it for the moment. Mom and I just started a movie called Austenland, and I want to focus on that.  I will keep you updated through the recovery! 

Thank you all so, so much for the overwhelming love and support! I feel very blessed!  

Love you all! 

T-minus 12 Hours

Eek! Tomorrow is SARPE day!

We are supposed to check in at the hospital at 8:00 in the morning.  That means we need to be up a few hours before then, but I have a feeling that waiting is going to be the worst part! Down time is when the "what if"s get creative.

I've been meaning to post a video for a while, but I never got around to it. Until now!!

 Earlier today I got my Hyrax expander put in at the orthodontist office. I did not miss having appliances in my mouth. If I sound funny in the video, it is because I am not used to talking with something on the roof of my mouth yet. Talking and eating will take some getting used to!  There is a little space between the expander and my palate, and a lot of food like to hang out in that space when I'm eating.

This is a picture of my expander.  It looks a little like some sort of sci-fi drone right now though. If you look in the middle of the expander, you can see a small little hole.  I will use my "key" to turn that as my doctors instruct,, and that is what will widen my jaw over these next few months. 

Just want to brag for a second on my orthodontist office.  They are so sweet! As I was leaving today, they gave me a "surgery bag". It was a bag (lunch cooler) filled with some soft jello, pudding, applesauce, toothbrush, Sudoku book, Vaseline lip care, little scrubbies for hard to reach places, and more!  :) 

I will keep you updated over the next couple of days! Wish me luck! :)  I'll finish this post with some of the last pre-op pictures I have from this weekend. (Congrats Jacqui & Drew!) I think it is a little easier to tell that my bite is off in these pictures.