Day 13: Christmas was hectic.....

Hey! I'm really sorry that I haven't had time to post but I had heaps to do over Christmas and I was so tired!! That is the biggest thing I am noticing right now.... How tired I am. I will be doing the simplest things and all of a sudden I just can't do any more and I have to take a nap. :( oh well, it gets better. I still don't have the tape off my chin yet which is really annoying. It looks gross. Only four more days though. On the up side, I did not have to purée my Christmas dinner and I managed to eat my whole plate in tiny mouthfuls. I was very proud of myself. It did take me about an hour, but it was most definitely worth it!!

The swelling on my face is all gone! Yay! My nose is still a little puffy but it doesn't really bother me that much. The molars on my left side don't really touch yet, but I am assuming that a little bit of orthodontic touch up will do the trick. The rubber bands I'm wearing could have something to do with it too. They are supposed to pull my top jaw forward so that, when all the tissues heal and go back to their proper places, they pull it back to where it is supposed to be.

I have been reading my posts for the past week, and I realized that they aren't too clear. Sorry about that, I was having difficulty concentrating, so I will go back and edit them to make reading them a bit easier. There are things I left out because I've only just remembered them and things that didn't really need to be there. It will all be fixed soon.

I'm attending one of my friends birthday parties on the weekend which promised to be an enjoyable experience. The tape on my chin is still manky looking, meaning that I get to enjoy the repeated question, " So what happened to you?" But the plus side is that my friend just had her wisdom teeth taken out so at least she sort of knows what I am going through. I also probably won't be able to eat anything, but that was a given anyway. :) Oh well, I am going to have fun and my friend will enjoy her party so I suppose that's all that matters. ;)

Day 7: 1 week down

Yay! I have finally reached the one week mark! It feels like it went really quickly which surprised me. I don't actually have any pain, unless I try to do something that I shouldn't, but my top jaw including my gums, teeth and roof of my mouth is still numb, which makes brushing a pain. I was able to get takeaway last night, and I ate all of it in tiny, bite sized pieces. It was soooo good! I am definitely looking forward to being able to eat a home cooked meal and chew it though.  My face doesn't look too bad, a little puffy, and the bruising is going yellow, but on the whole, it's not too bad. Ten days to go until I can take the tape off!

Day 6: Pain Meds Make You Tired

Hey.....

I really wasn't feeling up to posting for a couple of days, I have just been really tired. Nothing significant has really happened either... I wasn't very swollen to begin with, but it has gone down even more. I have been eating real food puréed, but I was able to break a piece of chicken into tiny pieces and put it into my mouth, which was delightful!! I worked out that it will be around two and a half weeks on Dec 31 st, which is the day I'm allowed to take the tape of my chin. It's also around the time that I'm supposed to be eating normally again! So I think my New Years is going to be delicious this year!

Day 5: Chipmunks aren't so cute...

I have been told that I look like a chipmunk and have come to the decision that if a chipmunk looks like this, they really aren't that cute. My swelling has increased slightly, and the bruising is starting to come out. I have a piece of tape running across my chin to hold the tissues in place, and it looks like it is pushing everything up causing my cheeks to be huge. But it also looks like it is holding back the bruising a bit. I don't feel too bad and if I keep taking my pain meds then I'm not too uncomfortable. It's definitely getting better. :)

Day 4: Rubber bands

I was discharged from hospital on day four which was relatively uneventful. I got to the car without falling over, which was great. We had to stop at the surgeons office to get the rubber bands put on, which was eventful. We sat in the waiting room for ten minutes, the full waiting room, and one of the nurses saw all the funny looks I was getting, so she put me in one of the waiting rooms down the hall. He took me into the consulting room and opened my mouth to put the bands in which was a little painful. I have to change the bands every three or four days until I go back to see him on the 10th of January and I don't have to wear a splint!! Yay! Best news I had that day. 

Day 3: There'll be a crash when you come off that morphine...

They took the drip off on day three, leaving only the thing in my hand to put antibiotics and occasionally pain meds into. Along with my supply of fluids, my morphine was taken too. This wouldn't have been a big deal, except the surgeon visited me, as he had,apparently, been doing daily, and told me to expect a bout of depression when the morphine had been dredged out of my system. I didn't really think anything of it. But it happens. Trust me. I was fine for most of the day, sleeping, watching tv, but as soon as my parents left I started to get restless. I had developed a rash along my arms that seemed like the biggest thing in the world and everything was so scary. The nurse gave me some pain meds to help me sleep, because the reason I couldn't sleep was because I was in pain. I was crying uncontrollably until they kicked in and then I had the best sleep of my entire stay in hospital, a whole eight hours. 

Day 2: Caramel milkshakes.

My swelling increased a bit on the second day, but I was still talking and doing my best to eat as much as I could through the syringe. They gave me a menu to fill out and I almost cried when I saw what I couldn't have. There were curries, chicken, salad, trifle, and all sorts of stuff that I couldn't eat. But I got through it, mostly because my beautiful parents brought me a caramel frappe from McDonald's and syringes it into my mouth.:) it was delightful. Most of this day I just laid watching tv or sleeping because I was still quite dosed up on morphine. There was a bit more pain, but nothing I couldn't cope with or didn't expect. Still better than what I had read about and was expecting. 

Day 1: can't remember much...

I had my surgery on Friday the fourteenth of December, 2012, and it was definitely not as bad as I thought it would be. My oral surgeon performs his surgery in a hospital about an hour and a half away from where I live, so we got up at about seven to be there by the required 12 midday. I was allowed to have a light breakfast before seven thirty, which surprised me, so I had toast and a cup of tea. Then we were off and I slept in the car. (It wasn't like I was king to be doing enough sleeping in the next four days anyway... Oh no.)  We got to the hospital a ten to 12 and waited while they filed my paperwork, and then the admission nurse took me into what was labelled the "interview room". Intimidating.... She put my attractive red bands on my wrist and ankle, weighed me, took my temperature and gave me an attractive backless gown to wear and a dressing gown to put over the top to preserve some modesty. She then took my parents and myself into the area where all of the surgery goers wait. I got to lay in a hospital bed in my own curtained off cubicle facing the window, while my parents sat either side of me, facing me. The anesthetist came in, listened to my heart and asked me whether I had any questions after telling me, in roughly these words, "We're going to put a little needle into your hand and then send you off to sleep with an injection." The admission nurse had come to check on me a while before and asked me whether I had everything I needed and I said yes. She asked whether I was nervous about the needle and I said yes. She took one look at the veins in my hand and arm and immediately knew why. On the best of day my veins are hard to find, put that together with my nerves and they were nonexistent. She put some numbing patches on my hands which help the  wins come up and means that you can't feel anything even if they don't. That made me feel better. But anyway, back to the anesthetist. I informed him of my vein difficulty and he nodded and took that into consideration. Then he left, telling us that my surgery was scheduled for 1.30. The time passed and then a nice man came into to take me to theatre. Mum came with me. :) Thanks mum. I was wheeled in and the nurse assisting the anesthetist put heart rate monitors on my back and one that was supposed to be under my arm on my ribs  but which ended up on my hip.... Then the anesthetist came in and put the drip in, first go I might add, while talking about the game of golf he had been playing that morning. Then it was another ten minute at for the surgeon, during which time they injected something into the drip to relax me. The surgeon walked in, right on 1:30 and said, "Looking very happy?" And then they obviously decided to get right on with it because I conked out. 

I woke up in recovery in a bit of discomfort at about 4pm. It wasn't too bad, but the only thing I remember was one of the nurses telling me she as taking the arterial drip out of my wrist which made me a bit squeamish. I am so glad they did that while I was asleep. They wheeled me back into my room and untangled me from the mess of wires, gown, and bed sheets. I dozed on and off, but was really annoyed because nobody would let me have a drink of water. :( I don't really remember much of that night but I do remember that I had to go to the toilet a lot because of the fluids in the drip, which was a pain because the nurse had to come and disentangle and disconnect me every time and then reconnect me when I went back to bed. All in all though, I did not look as bad as I thought I would. I had to keep ice packs around my face in a tube bandage that earned me the nickname 'Bunny ears' from the nurses and which I had to change every ten to fifteen minutes because they were getting hot. I also had a bit of tape stretching across my chin where they had taken the tissue out. I am allowed to take it off on Dec 31st. It's there to hold all of the soft tissue to my bottoms jaw bone where my chin is because they removed some of it to reduce the size of my chin without moving my bottom jaw. That means that there would be empty space for blood clots and infections to get into if they hadn't put the tape across to prevent it. The tape holds the leftover tissue to the bone until it is attached again. :) ewww, I know.

So the first day wasn't so bad I guess. :)

The Day We've All Been Waiting For

Hi everybody!
Tomorrow is the day! Very nervous and excited... And a little scared. Just have to get a few more things and I will be all set to go! T Minus 1 day!

Surgery hooks or rather, bits of metal in my mouth.....

Hey guys, just a quick update. I went and got my hooks on yesterday for the surgeon to put rubber bands on to hold my teeth together. They are interesting.... Not hooks, more like little pieces of metal between the first ten teeth on top and bottom. Its probably easier to just call them hooks. :). (It sounds like a lot, but it's really only eight).  My orthodontist checked three times whether it was ok with me that my surgery was so close to Christmas and I assured her that I was absolutely certain! I was also expecting to get the bands holding my brackets on changed, but I guess that wasn't as important. 😀
I was informed today that I would be missed at work while I recover and that one of my fellow workmates was very concerned about my liquid diet..... He said that he couldn't imagine not eating for so long. Inspires confidence doesn't it? Now I am thinking about how hungry I'm going to be, and I might just go eat something. 😄 Ciao for now!
6 days!

Medications and Hallucinations

As I was perusing my delightfully enthralling stack of medical paperwork last night, I came across my prescription for the painkillers I am told I will be reliant on after my surgery. After some deciphering of my doctor's handwriting (approximately ten minutes of said deciphering), I managed to decode some of the medications. Included in the list were Panadeine Forte, Penicillin, Nurofen and some others that we will leave up to the pharmacists' decoding skills. I was prescribed Panadeine Forte a couple of years ago for a broken ankle that required surgery to insert a screw into it, and the results were quite amusing to say the least. It turns out that I am intolerant to Codine, one of the major ingredients in this delightful painkiller, and after ten minutes of blissful pain relief, I am told (to the great amusement of others) that I repeatedly started yelling that someone was trying to take my leg, by tying a rope around it and trying to pull it off. Needless to say, my parents reduced my dosage of that particular one, and are quite adamant that I will not be having it this time around, I can imagine it now.... "Someone is trying to take my mouth! They're tying ropes around it and they're trying to pull it off!" That could be funny... Obviously not for me though.

On another note....
I go to my 'splint-fitting' appointment tomorrow, and will also be forced to endure the withdrawal of some of my blood-considering that its kind of vital for my survival, I think that my anxiety and indignation is valid. But anyway, it's another step in my  ever-advancing journey toward a headache and underbite free life! 1 week and 5 days left!!

Blood tests, needle phobias and technical names....

Hi there!
So after my recent visit to my surgeon's office to have moulds and pictures taken, I was informed of the need for another appointment to have a splint fitted and blood tests taken. Doesn't sound too bad, right? Wrong. I have notoriously difficult veins, and as a result of many years as a pincushion, I also have a severe needle phobia. Blood tests, IV's, you name it, it's difficult to do in my veins. So of course, it looks like I am going to have two blood tests for two separate things, meaning that my afternoon will most likely be less than enjoyable.

On a brighter note, my paperwork has been delivered to me for a bit of light reading, and I have discovered the name of my procedure. Lefort I maxillary advancement and chin debulk.  Kind of sounds like I'm making up words. It says that my procedure will take approximately one and a half hours, and I will be in hospital for 2 to 5 days. As the surgery will take place in a town other than my own, I am assuming they will let me stay until I feel up to sitting in a car for the drive home. Along with my paperwork came a list of jaw friendly recipes and dietary recommendations. Two to three liters of fluid per day, (assuming I can get that much in through the syringe) and at least 6 cups of dairy in my puréed food. It also advised me that in the event that I require a splint, it may be left in for 6-8 weeks. That could be fun..... This next appointment has been called a "splint fitting" appointment, so I am assuming that I will get to experience this happy sensation. :) I am seriously considering buying a "magic bullet" to purée my meals. :)
Anyway, that's all for now! One week and six days to go!!!

Moulds and pictures...

I go in for moulds and pictures today! The moulds are so that he can measure how much he is going to move my jaw and I suppose the pictures are so that he will be able to predict what I will look like. I am very excited because we get all our instructions for surgery day today and I really want to know what I am in for!! Very very nervous!! But I can't believe that this day has finally come!!

Afterwards.....
So I went in for the appointment and had the pictures taken, which was ok and everything was going fine.... And then he was taking the moulds. I was honestly scared that my braces would pull off in the putty when he took the bottom one, and when he took the top one, I think there might have been a bit too much putty because it went down my throat making me gag. Apparently it's supposed to be banana flavored, but I didn't see it. Taste it. You know what I mean. :)

Surgery Date....Finally!

Hey! So my surgery has been organized for the 14th of December! We got a phone call today and originally it was going to be the 11th of January but we were able to get earlier! I have to go in Monday to get pictures and moulds taken! So excited! But a bit scared too, because it is really soon and I will be syringe/purée eating over Christmas, but I will be ok and I will get to go back to school on time! Yay!

Surgeon tomorrow!

So.....I am going to the surgeon tomorrow, and I am hoping that he will give me a date!!! I am very excited!! I have also had a constant headache for the last three days, so I can't wait to get rid of that!!

Orthodontist results.....

I went to the orthodontist a couple of days ago and I have some great news! My teeth are finally ready for surgery! My orthodontist said I could ring the surgeon and make a surgery date.... But as it turns out...  They don't let you make an appointment until you have actually seen the surgeon, AND the receptionist said that it will probably have to be next year, but when I told her that he was pushing for before Christmas so that it didn't interrupt school, she said that he would negotiate with the hospital. So there is some good news and some ok news, but other than that, I am really happy!
I went and had x rays done for the orthodontist to look at and they were really scary! My teeth are so much straighter than they were before, but my teeth REALLY don't mesh together well. And my chin has moved so far forward! My bottom teeth stand up straight now, but they are in front of the top teeth-which is a problem. The orthodontist didn't take moulds, so I guess the surgeon is going to do that when I go see him in a week and a half.

Not photos yet....

So I tried to post photos, but it just didn't work for me.... So they will be up when I can figure out how to work it....

More Info!!

Hey! It's seven o'clock in the morning and I have just gotten up, so I thought I would explain why I am getting this surgery by telling you how I feel at the moment. When I wake up, I feel like I have something sitting on my head, and the pressure is pretty big. When I get up and walk around I have a headache in the sides of my jaws and in my temples, but that usually goes away after a while. It is really quite painful though, and annoying. When I bite down, I only use about two or three teeth, so it can be difficult and uncomfortable to eat. Before I started the braces, my bottom teeth were bending backwards, which caused trouble eating and some pain. So my mouth was pretty screwed up! But hopefully it will be fixed after my op-that's why I am having it anyway!

I have my next orthodontist appointment in two weeks when she will be (hopefully) taking moulds and sending them to the surgeon. I have to get an x ray as close as possible to this date, so I will probably get it the day before or something like that, to help her make the moulds. I have an appointment with the surgeon a week after that, where he will look at the moulds and say whether I am ready or not. If I am, he will brief me about the surgery again, and give me a date. My orthodontist seems confident that I will be ready by the time I go to the surgeon, so hopefully it goes well. After the surgeon appointment, I have another orthodontist appointment a couple of weeks later when she will hopefully just be tidying up and making it pretty for the surgeons to look at :). She might also put some hooks on, for the jaw to be wired up after surgery. 

Sorry about the posts close together, but I had to give you all the info for you to get a clear picture. :)

The beginning of my surgery journey....

Hey!! So I inherited a class three underbite from somebody..... Not sure who to blame, but I am going to have surgery to fix it. It has caused a bit of pain and has made my chin REALLY huge compared to the rest of my face. (Hence the title)
I started my jaw surgery journey when I had my wisdom teeth out. I had visited my dentist for pain in the sides of my jaw, and she picked up that my bottom teeth had started to bend backwards, a sign that I had a class III underbite and that my bottom jaw was moving too far forward. She referred me to an orthodontist and a maxillofacial surgeon, who would be responsible for fixing my jaw, should I choose this path. I considered both the non surgical and surgical option, and after much deliberation, my parents and I chose the surgical option, as it had a greater chance of success, and would fix the problem, not put a bandaid over it. We met with both of them, and after looking at the x rays that I had taken, the surgeon decided that I was a good candidate for surgery. It was then organized for me to have my wisdom teeth out before commencing my orthodontic treatment, as the teeth could interfere with the braces. 

After I had recovered from this, I got my braces put on, which was not too bad at first, although they started to get uncomfortable when they were tightened and when I tried to eat. I had regular appointments with my orthodontist, who would check the state of my braces and change they bands and wires. During the whole course of the treatment, I have only broken one bracket so far (touch wood) and have proceeded on schedule.

I had my most recent appointment about a week ago, and she said that I was ready to have x rays taken and to meet with my surgeon again. I have to have my x ray taken as close as possible to my next orthodontic appointment, where she will look at them, and take moulds of my teeth if she is happy with the x ray. I then have an appointment with the surgeon the next week where he will tell me about the surgery and give me a date. 

I chose to have this surgery, as my chin is quite big as a result of the movement of my bottom jaw, and people comment on it often. I also get quite bad headaches of a morning and I only bite on a few teeth at the back, which could cause them to wear down. If you are considering this surgery and experience discomfort or lack of confidence, I recommend that you go ahead with it, with the advice of a professional.  I can't wait to see what a difference the surgery will make to my face! 

However, if you decide to go ahead with the surgery, here are some tips:

Ask questions-You need to be as well prepared as possible for the surgery and the after effects. The only way you can do this is by asking questions and making sure you understand what is going to happen.

Be careful with braces!- This is important, as one bracket broken can add extra months to your treatment time. It's better to just get it over with, and you can have the chewy lollies when you are better.

Be prepared for some pain- This is both for the braces and the surgery. I can't really speak for the surgery just yet, but sometimes the braces can be pretty painful, especially when they are tightened or the teeth are moving. 

Research- Every surgery is different, but it can be helpful to look at other people's experiences to get some idea of what to expect. 

http://myunderbiteadventure.blogspot.com.au/search?updated-max=2010-05-12T20:42:00-04:00&max-results=12&reverse-paginate=true this blog was helpful, even though it wasn't the same surgery. Her experience gave me some idea of what to expect when getting jaw surgery in general.

http://doublejawfix.blogspot.com.au/2011/05/time-to-get-boost-day-5-may-13.html this was also extremely helpful, as his jaw was wired shut and this is what I expect to have done.

You tubing other people's experiences was also helpful, as people often want to record their journey, like I'm doing now, and some people do this in front of a camera. (I just can't talk to a camera. :)I will be putting pictures on, just not videos.) Looking at how other people felt and looked when having this surgery and after wards, really helped me relax about it. It looks like a relatively common surgery, so I am trying to stay calm and not think about the needles. (I am REALLY afraid of needles, and some people had to give blood in case they need a transfusion. REALLY hoping that doesn't have to happen, but I have to get a needle anyway when they knock me out for surgery, so I'd better get used to it.) :/

Anyway, I will be posting anytime their are milestones, like appointments with surgeon or orthodontists, or x rays or stuff like that. If you have any questions, just ask in the comment section. Thanks!