Quickie update

I doubt anyone checks this anymore, but I figured I'd update for my sake later on. I'm nearly 6 months post-op and two days ago, I got my braces off! WHOO HOO! It is still VERY strange to not recognize my own teeth and mouth...but life is so much easier without braces.

I did want to also add my after x-rays (with my fancy hardware!). I'll hopefully get some pictures of me without braces up soon. For now, here is me without braces in x-ray. :)I've got before pics too...

Before


After


Before


After



You can see my permanent retainer on my bottom front teeth in both of these, as well as the places and screws on top and screws on bottom. It is SO weird to think those are in my face...I honestly have no idea (numbness on top still, so that probably helps).

Life is absolutely crazy right now...applying for jobs, planning my very own course next semester, and still working on the dissertation among classwork and other things. So, this all was totally worth it and couldn't have happened at a better time. The only headaches I get are from staring at the computer too long and my jaw pain lately only arises from licking my "new" teeth (and chewing the occasional piece of gum. Yes. Me. Chewing Gum.). I'll try not to do that too often though. :)

Again, I'll try to update soon with some real photos, not random ones of me standing next to a wall.

And...we're back. :)

Hmm...some how "next week" from my last post turned into two months! I told myself I wouldn't be like other bloggers I had followed who completely ditched their blogs after about 2 months...but now I understand why they did. Once you start feeling pretty much back to normal, you want to do normal things, and constantly blogging and thinking about your surgery is the farthest thing from normal. Don't get me wrong- I still think about having the surgery every day. So the day that Dr. F refers to of when I'll forget about all this hasn't happened, yet. Of course, braces are a constant reminder to me since they are unfortunately still on.

So, since my last update, I've been on vacation, started up a new semester, including a new class, and I'm planning my own course to teach next semester while also finishing up data collection for my dissertation and searching and preparing materials for getting a job! Crazy, stressful, and oh-so-exciting times. While I haven't had any photos taken too recently, I did snap a few about a month ago that I'll post below. Gosh, so they would be about 3 months post-op. It is AMAZING that over 4 months have passed now...life went so slowly leading up to this surgery and now life is flying by.

To speak to how I feel about everything...I'm still adjusting to the new "me" that I see in the mirror. Most of the time, I look and it's me I see back. Then I have those days where I look back at old photos and think, why did I do this? Of course, that's from a purely cosmetic perspective. My bite is AMAZING and I love my new smile. Scratch that, I can't wait to see my real new smile (sans braces)! And the good news about that...at the next orthodontist appointment (in a couple of weeks), we are probably going to set the removal date....WHOOO HOOOOOOO!! I didn't think I'd care this much, but I really am ready to get on with all of this. You know, life. Once the braces come off, I'll go back to see Dr. F and get official "after" photos. Can't wait!!

Oh, back to how I'm doing/feeling. Confidence level...surprisingly much higher than I expected. It's so nice to not worry about having to push my lower jaw forward or try desperately to close my mouth when relaxing. My speech is clearer and I feel so much better about myself up in front of the classroom. Not because I think I look better or anything, but because things feel like they should. Comfortable. Everything fits and rests where it should. This surgery is not a self-esteem booster in and of itself (well, maybe if you are an extreme case), but again, I just feel more comfortable in my own skin, and that feels great.

I still have some issues with my nose, and Dr. F took a look at it a couple of weeks ago. That stupid stitch used to keep my nose from widening is just irritating my nose to the point where it's so inflamed on one side I can barely get any air in or out. I checked last night and I don't see the stitch anymore...so maybe once all the pollen levels decrease I'll get some relief. :)

I'm sure I'm leaving out all kinds of information, but I really need to get back to school work. Here are some pictures from August 5th, 2010:







I promise to update again soon with more recent photos!

9 weeks and a birthday

Whew...a busy week! Not much new with recovery, which is because things are getting more and more normal. Yesterday was my (27th) birthday, and I had a really great day thanks to my great friends and sweet boyfriend. I did manage to snap a few pictures yesterday before going out to dinner but the lighting is really bad, so I apologize for that.

As I said, not much new- I'll try to have something more to talk about next week when I update. :)

8 WEEKS!!!!

I cannot believe another month has gone by...it really does fly. This has been a really great week recovery-wise. My nose is healing well from the surgery last week (finally!), my ROM is improving slowly (but surely!), and I actually feel pretty normal. I even taught for the first time today! Now, there's still a bit of "fog" in my head, but I don't think anyone else would ever know it but me. It's literally like a lot of memory lapses where I can't think of a word or I forget what I was saying. I held it together, though. :)

Well, here are some pictures from today...not many changes in swelling, with my right side still worse than the left.

7 weeks

Hello!

Sorry it's taken me some extra days to update. Life goes on, you know. :) I had my nose fixed on Monday of this week, and as most of you know, it was only a piece of cartilage causing all of the trouble. Yesterday it looked pretty bad and I thought it might be getting infected, but today it looks much better. Huge relief. :)

I did pull a muscle in my neck yesterday, which is a recurring thing from a car accident a few years ago, and it only reminds me how badly I need to see a doctor. I'm still waiting to find out what insurance will pay for my surgery before signing up with a chiropractor though. Jeff's been seeing a really good one for the last couple of months, and he's pain-free now. I can't wait to say that. :)

So, still having some issues with range of motion...I had my surgeon check it while I was sedated on Monday to make sure there wasn't anything wrong with the joint (it was locking up and not letting me open it further). He said it was fine, and that it's probably due to the tight bands I'm having to wear. I have noticed a loud popping noise since I went in when I do my jaw stretches...but I had that before surgery and it's the joint I have arthritis in, so I guess it can't go away overnight. :( My surgeon said either wear them less or go lighter with bands...but I don't see my orthodontist again until the end of July, so I guess I'll just wear them less until I can talk to my orthodontist.

Not really much news lately...my diet is almost back to normal, with the exception of hard, crunchy things or really chewy things. Eating's still a bit of a chore, in that my jaw gets tired if I have to chew a lot. So, mostly I still eat things without chewing them enough, just like before surgery.

I start teaching on Tuesday, so that means the rest of my summer is going to fly by. I'm actually kind of looking forward to getting back to a "normal" life and schedule.

So, here are pictures from yesterday, June 30th. I think that's about day 50...

6 weeks!

Well, I've made it to the 6 week mark...where the swelling should mostly be gone. Luckily, almost all my swelling and numbness are gone, with the only parts that are swollen/numb right around my nose and upper lip. I'm very lucky in this regard!

Today was my first day back to the orthodontist after surgery, and everyone there seemed very pleased. One of his assistants kept going on and on before I left about how different and great I look...which made me feel very good because I'm still not sure how I feel about how I look. I got most of my surgical hooks off, with the exception of where I now have to wear "super heavy" bands (that's what they say on the bag...booooo) 24/7. I also asked the question of, "How much longer in braces..?" and got the answer, "Usually 6 months or less." So, since I had a sentence, I mean estimation, of 6-12 months in braces post-surgery, I'll take this news. Maybe they'll be off by Christmas? Here's hoping. :) I refuse to become Dr. Charlsie in braces next May.. :)

Well, here are photos that I snapped last night. I'll try to get some of me without surgical hooks in the next few days.






Still no changes in my nose, so it looks like I'll be getting sedated next Monday. I'll just be glad when I can breathe through that side of my nose again, regardless of what it takes to get it working again.

I've got friends coming to visit shortly, so I better run...take care everyone!

I stumped my surgeon!

So, I went to my surgeon's office today to have my nose checked out, and he's not sure what is going on in there. I sure am glad I was able to go with Zhanna to her appointment and ask him to look, since he was sure it was harmless and that he didn't need to see me. I realize that may make him sound like a subpar doctor, and he is anything but that. I just had such an amazing recovery that he figured it was harmless.

So, he did try to remove it while I was fully awake, and since he quickly realized that wasn't going to happen (his assistant told me to breathe and I told her NO...haha), he decided I'll have to be sedated to have it "removed."
So, Zhanna will be getting her splint out and I'll be having my nose carved up...in 10 days. :) Oh, goody. He did tell me there's a chance that it's some kind of bone or other "object" that doesn't belong that's trying "work its way out," and there's a chance it'll do it before my next appointment. If it's not that, it may be something wrong with one of the turbinates, but he said he didn't think that was the case because it doesn't look like that's where it is on the other side, or something to that effect. I do love that he was intrigued with how gross it is and wanted to play with it, because that's exactly how I'd act too if it weren't my own nose.

In the meantime, I get to take some antibiotics and hope for the best (not sure what that is...maybe that it will disappear over night?). Thank goodness it's not the same antibiotic that I had to take after surgery...which it would have been had I not requested something else. I think I'd rather go back and have him remove this thing with no drugs than take Cleocin again.

I will either post picture updates of myself or when this thing finds its way out in the next few days. :)

Finally, an update

It's been nearly a week since my last post...and not much new to report. Things are still going well recovery-wise, and I'm pretty much feeling back to normal most of the time. I'm actually going to go to campus on Thursday, which is a little excited and scary. Hopefully I'm ready.

So, Sunday night and yesterday morning, I noticed something was not right with my right side of my nose. Without going into too much detail here, I've called my surgeon's office to go see my doctor to be sure this isn't an infection, although I'm 99% sure it is. He was in surgery all day today, so I should hear from him tomorrow morning. Basically, I have a nasty looking scab-like thing in my nose, and all around it is bright red and very swollen. Jeff was able to get some halfway decent pictures, so if you just have to see it, let me know and I'll email them to you. :) I am unable to breathe through that side of my nose because it is so swollen. This was the side of my nose that was fixed during surgery (I had a deviated septum). I'll post when I find something out.

My gums are also still receded a bit, and I think I may be pushing against the back side of my bottom teeth with my tongue. I'm not sure if that's what's causing the problem, but it certainly isn't helping.

I've been trying to do better to do my new jaw exercises to improve how much I can open my mouth, and last night I was able to get the ends of two fingers in my mouth, so it is definitely improving! I really need to get a ruler with millimeters on it so I can track my progress. A couple of nights ago, I got to 1 inch, (just over 25mm), which puts me on track. And I've progressed since then, so yay!

I haven't been taking daily pictures anymore, since there's so little changes from day to day. I did get a haircut today, which was wonderful, but I had been lying on it all afternoon and tonight, so don't judge today. ;) Anyway, here's the pictures I've taken since last time I posted:

Day 30






Day 31






Day 34






And today, Day 36:





That's all for now- I'll try to do a quick post when I find out what's up with my nose. Wish me luck!

One month post-op

I cannot believe it's been over a month since I had surgery. I've read so many blogs about how people begin to forget the traumatic parts of the surgery at a short time after having surgery and I never thought I'd be able to do that. Sure enough, those drugs did their job, and I've begun to forget how horrible those first few days were. I'm still not to the point where I'd say that I could do it all over again, but give me another month or two and ask again. :)

It's also amazing how much these last few days I've started to feel more normal, both mentally and physically. I've been out shopping a few times and have gotten a chance to garden some, which always makes me feel better. Now to tackle the messy house... :) Also, I had lunch at a deli (half a baked potato and soup) on Sunday and went out for Mexican last night. So I am officially able to eat in public without grossing Jeff out or scaring people. :)

Anyway, not much new to report right now, but I thought I'd go ahead and load a few pictures from the last 3 days so I don't get behind.

Day 27 (Sunday, June 6)






Day 28 (Monday, June 7)

This is just to show how far I can open my mouth (just over 1 finger width...should be 2 finger widths at this point).
And here's my bite...need to get a side shot some time.





Day 29 (Tuesday, June 8)--Four weeks Post-surgery






Until next time...