Tuesday was the big day!!!! Finally got my splint taken off!!! Originally my splint was supposed to come off on Thursday of last week (April 4), but because my orthodontist had to make my palate expander for my upper jaw, it got thrown off by 5 days, making me wait until today. That Thursday was probably the worst I've felt in quite awhile. I cried once I got in the car, cried when describing it to others, and even when I went to my boyfriend's over the weekend, his mom noticed that my mood was off.
So fast forward to the 9th! I go in for an appointment
with Daub around 3:20 (that day needed to go by so fast because earlier
in the day, time just seemed so slow). At my appointment, Amy (one of
the assistants) takes out my splint, I brush my teeth, and then Daub
looks at my bite. He installs the expander, or palatal arch device (as
seen in picture below). I get new wires put on, finally having a
continuous wire for my top teeth, and a single wire on the bottom as
well :)
Now its just a waiting game to see how long
these gaps will take to close up. I'm hoping that by the end of summer,
the braces will come off. Keep your fingers crossed
Coming out of my ortho appointment :)
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Alright, so after I visited Daub, my parents and I went out to eat for my very first meal where I could chew. Guess where we go? Olive Garden.... oh boy do I love that place. Mom decided she wanted to be the paparazzi during that trip, and took pictures of my "experience" It was a little funny, but I know that she is just so happy for me.
Hey guys, long time no update. Today marks day 43 of my double jaw surgery recovery! Woohoo! Its been 6 weeks and 1 day.
I was supposed to get my splint taken off yesterday (kind of did for about 20 minutes total), but ended up having to get it put back on and being told to wait until Tuesday. So this is what happened:
I go to my appointment with my surgeon first thing. He takes off the splint, I brush my teeth, and then he checks my bite. He asks me what the high points were (better sinuses, new profile, hoping to chew much better), and then installs the splint temporarily again until I go to see Dr. Daub.
Fast forward to Dr.Daub (orthodontist). I go to the appointment, bringing my camera with to show him and his staff my progress. He takes off my splint, I take several X-Rays of my side profile, and an impression. The wires of my top teeth are changed, and he takes some pictures of my teeth.
Then he asks Erin (his assistant) to change my bands, put back on the wires, and install the splint...... again.
All that I could think of in my head was "I THOUGHT IT WAS COMING OFF?!"
Unfortunately, I have to wait... I guess its not a big deal (just 5 more days)...
Reason why I have to have the splint on still is to maintain my arch while they make my palate expander...
Oh well.
So today is week 4, day 4 into my jaw surgery recovery, and I have some real exciting news!
On Friday, I spoke with Dr. Schmidt about how I'm recovering. So far, things are looking great, and in 2 weeks (probably Friday), I am getting my splint off!!!!
I am so frickin happy for this, and I hope that these next 2 weeks fly by fast for me.
I know, I know... I haven't been updating like I thought I would have. Last update I believe was on day 7, and today is now day 18. Allow me to recap some of the greater things from this surgery.
Day 7 - I was able to walk and get out of the house! Best part was, I was free from the house, and out in civilization! I also can breathe so much better today than I have in the past 3-4 years!
Day 9 - I went to a job fair for MPS. It was a little difficult trying to talk to people, and all I could really do was hand in my resume to different schools and say "I just had double jaw surgery, so I apologize if you aren't able to understand me" That day, I also brought a full bag full of goodies to go to my boyfriend's house, and I spent the night there :)
Swelling has gone down noticeably
This day I also ran into someone at Blockbuster who asked if I had jaw surgery, and we had a 10 minute conversation just talking about what each of our experiences was like.
Day 10 - No more Amoxicillan !
Day 14 - I can drink out of a cup! You have absolutely no idea how much I've been waiting for this day to come! I had Mac n Cheese from Noodles!!!! Best meal ever.
Day 17 - Eating has gotten pretty easy for me now.
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From this surgery, I have lost about 17 lbs, and I am not complaining at all about the Things that bug me from this: My bottom jaw likes to move when I'm trying to sleep, and the muscles push it forward so that the teeth are touching, instead of the normal bite where my teeth fit in the splint.
Today was probably the best day for me, health wise! I'm getting to the point where I am so tired of being at home, and need to find some way of using all this energy I have. So today, I was able to leave the house! It was the best feeling ever!
To show that I was feeling better, we went to Pick' n Save. Walking inside, I got a few funny looks, especially from the employees, but it was nothing that bugged me at all. If anything, I'll embrace those looks because I know that my jaw and smile is going to turn out great, so these 4 weeks left with the splint will be nothing.
Shopping there was really nice, because I was able to get things that I knew I could eat. We got some jello, soups with noodles, apple juice pouches, mini pancakes, eggs, and a few other things.
Once shopping was done, I went to my gram's to show her how I was doing. She was surprised to see what I looked like, but happy that I was feeling well. Afterwards, my parents and I went home, and spent the rest of the evening playing Ticket to Ride.
Today was the best I've felt in a really long time, and hopefully it will go up from here :)
Two of the most uneventful days ever: day 5 and 6.
These two days, I pretty much felt the same. Appetite was really great, especially on Day 6.
Day 5
- swelling went down a little compared to when i first got surgery
- ate about 600 calories today
- apple juice ( 2 glasses) - 2 chocolate boosts
- 3 jellos
- bowl of spaghettios
- 1 carnation breakfast
- bowl of cream of chicken
- pain at a 4.5
- still dealing with bloody nose when I walk around the house
- sleeping tonight was a little easier for me to do (back pains with being on the recliner)
- arms very achy when I move them
Today I spent part of the day watching Say Yes to the Dress, Face Off, The Walking Dead, and the other part napping. I'm hoping that napping won't be so frequent later on because I feel like I am wasting away the day.
Day 6
- starting to breathe a little easier out of my nose.
- pain at a 3 today (my jaw is a tiny bit achy, and don't really feel like talking much)
- made a new youtube video today talking about how I feel
- ate around 1200 calories today. Today was the day where I probably had the most energy
Dave came over to visit again today. Said I look really good so far for how the swelling is. I dunno if its the medications or just me feeling like I'm homebound, but before he left, I just started crying because I felt lonely being at home all the time. He always finds a way to make me feel better from this though, and I'm so glad he's so patient with this.
Today for the most part was a really easy-going day. Appetite wise, I didn't have much of one, and only ate about 500 calories worth of food
apple juice
chocolate boost
carnation breakfast
fruit smoothie
Moving around was a bit difficult for me because whenever I got up, I would get a little light headed, and would have to walk around as slow as possible. Most of the day, I slept and the only time I would be awake was when I took my medications, to go to the bathroom, or to eat.
Lynda, my neighbor, came over to visit and check up on me. She was really surprised to see what I looked like, and like my parents, had some difficulty understanding me.
My sister Nikki, who lives in Black River Falls, WI, sent over an order of flowers to help me feel better :)
Yay for orange flowers! She knows me too well :)
Aside from sleeping most of the day, Dave came over to visit me around 8 at night :) Its always so nice to see him, and he has been giving nothing but compliments on my progress. We watched the newest episode of The Walking Dead and he let me use him as a pillow (as always) to help me feel comfortable.
When it came to going to sleep at night, it was a little difficult for me to get comfortable in the recliner. I'm so happy to have the support from my parents through all this. My mom and I are having a bit of a slumber party to make sure that I'm feeling well and can be helped whenever needed.
Here's what today looks like with swelling.
Pain for today was at a 4. I'm feeling like this is what I'm going to expect with my pain every day. Or at least around this range.
Day 3 (Sunday), was equally a bad day and a very good day. During the middle of the night, my IV monitor must have gone off at least 10 times during the middle of the night. Sure, once or twice wouldn't be so bad, but when it takes quite some time for the night nurse to come by and fix it, it gets annoying.
So today was the day where I would be able to leave the hospital. However, there were some unfortunate things that I would have to endure before leaving. Because I could not breathe through my nose, Dr. Schmidt would have to do some extensive work in clearing out my nasal airways. First, he had to use the suction tubes that helped my mouth and nose for relief. The thin catheter-like one was pushed down my sinuses and into my throat. Once he felt that it was clear enough, he had to place the nasal trumpets down my nostrils (one in each one).
So the nasal trumpet looks like this:
The doctor had to put some type of numbing gel on each one, and push it through my nose and down my throat, all while I was conscious. It was absolutely terrifying, and I refuse to get this put down my nose ever again. All while Dr.Schmidt put it down my nose, my dad left the room because he couldn't handle seeing me in pain, and I squeezed the life out of Dave's hand.
Once the trauma was finished, the Dr. wanted me to drink at least a full cup of apple juice and some water before being released.
I took a shower to help clear my sinuses and make me not feel so disgusting, drank all the apple juice in my glass, and was able to leave by 1pm.
Bye Bye St. Agnes Hospital
By the time we got home, I didn't really have much energy to do anything really. Mom and Dave helped out so much with checking to make sure that I got enough nutrients and was comfortable. I was able to drink a little bit of water, some boost, and try a smoothie (which ended up exploding on me because of the pressure in the syringe)
OH! And I pulled out those stupid nasal trumpets that were the worst things in the whole world!
Out of all the days to recover, I feel like day 2 of recovery was the
worst for me. Drooling was nonstop, pain in my jaw was at a 7, I
couldn't breathe out of my nose at all, and it took a good amount of
time to try to open my eyes.
Pain was at the highest it had ever been for me: 7.
The
biggest problem for me related to my sinuses. The surgeon removed a
large amount of pus from my sinuses because of the amount of infection
that I had up there. However, even though they cleared a lot of mucus
and gunk, I still had swelling and I was completely plugged. Because of
how plugged up I was, I couldn't even drink anything; it felt like I
was drowning.
The doctor was notified of this, placed
an order of nasal trumpets to be placed up my nose the next day. The
goal for today was to get as much congestion out of my nose as possible.
I tried to drink as much water as I could, but it was really difficult
to even get a trickle.
So the purpose of this blog is to update on a day-to-day basis of my progress through double jaw surgery. However, with how I was feeling over the past 3 days, I had no energy to even blog on here until day 4. Here's a recap of the jaw surgery process on day 1.
Thursday night, the day before surgery, my parents, Dave (boyfriend) and I drove up to Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin (an hour away from Milwaukee), to avoid the snowfall that would be heading our way on the day of surgery. I know that in videos I kept saying that I wasn't nervous or scared, but nerves set in by the time we hit the motel, and it was a little difficult to try to fall asleep because of me freaking out. I knew that surgery would go well, but my major concern was with my sinuses and whether anything good would come for them, as well as the amount of pain that I could possibly go through. Although I did freak out a lot, I was able to fall asleep about an hour later after we arrived. It was great to have Dave there with me too because he kept saying that it'll only get better and I'll have such a great face, and my bite will be much better.
On Friday, we wake up around 5am, leave at 5:30 and head down to the surgery ward of St.Agnes hospital. The nurse takes me in around 6 to do the usual paperwork and medical questions. I get my IV (which was not as painful as I thought it would be), and then my parents and Dave come into the room to see me :)
During the waiting time, all I can remember saying is how much water I wanted, and feeling a little jealous of the coffee that Dave had.
Dr. Schmidt comes in shortly after the anesthesiologist had left to check on my teeth and to go over the surgical process once more. At this point, I just want to get the surgery done and over with, and lay in a recovery room with a lot of suction tubes and pain medication.
Dr. Schimdt leaves, I say goodbye to my parents, given some anesthetics to put me to sleep, and am shipped off to the surgery room. Between leaving the waiting room and going to the surgery room, I have absolutely no clue what went on.
Want to know what the worst feeling in the world is when waking up? Waking up only to discover that you can't open. It was so scary for me at that moment because I wanted to see what was around me and see my family to let them know I was okay, but the only thing that ended up happening was me crying.
During surgery, Dr. Schimdt cut across the top and bottom jaws. He cut the top jaw into 3 sections, moved the four front teeth down and matched them with the back teeth. Then he adjusted the back teeth to match the front. Dr. Schmidt believes that with what he did, it will improve my sinus condition. He also had to remove a lot of pus from my sinus cavities because of how much infection there was up there. I also have a splint going across my top teeth to control how I bite.
By the end of the night, I slept with a washcloth over my eyes to relieve irritation from the gunk that had formed, and to also help calm me down.
Hope you're doing well and not in a February Frump! I know that I'm pretty stoked? Why you ask? Well, I'll tell you...
I HAVE SURGERY IN 4 DAYS!
That's right, my double jaw surgery is this Friday, the 21st, and I couldn't be happier or more excited! This has been such a long time preparing, that it'll definitely be worth it in the end. The process was long, sometimes painful, but exciting at the same time.
What I've had done to prepare for surgery over these 2 years 10 cavities filled
1 root canal and crown placed
4 wisdom teeth and a decayed tooth pulled
Braces power strip
coils to give room
What is going to happen on surgery (youtube video :) )
I have my meeting with Dr. Schimdt on Thursday (14th). In the meantime, I figured I would start up with a grocery list of things that I'll need for recovery.
Personal Care
·Exfoliator
·Cleansing pads
·Mirror
·Carmex/ Liquid (soft) chapstick
·Listerine breath strips
Eating Ease
·Baby toothbrush
·Bottle with squirter (clear ketchup bottle)
·Sippy cup
·Syringe
Comfort
·Neck pillow
·Hot/cold pack (jaw bra)
·Humidifier
·Comfy pillow
·Ice packs
Hygiene
·Water pick
·Rags for drooling
·Mild mouthwash
Health
·Sudafed PE nasal (found in pink/white box)
·Children’s liquid ibuprofen or Children's Motrin
·Afrin No-Drip (found in green box)
·Iron supplements (make sure to take several
weeks prior to surgery)
Jaw surgery Descriptions for my surgery on the 22nd, this month. -----------------------
1) Mandibular Hyperplasia: Reconstruction of Mandibular Rami and/or body, sagittal split; with interna
2) Maxillary Hypoplasia: Reconstruction Midface, Lefort I; 3 or more pieces, segment movement
Hi everyone, and welcome to my blog. Like many other jaw surgery patients, I’ve
decided to start blogging my progress during the healing process. I’m
definitely excited to see what’s in store for me, and track the healing and
changes that will come along the way. Also, I will make sure to include some
recipes that I've found, transformation pictures along the way, and some
hobbies/activities that I will take up.
Here’s a little bit about how funky my bite is.
I have the following:
Cross bite
Open bite – when I chew, the only part of my
bite where I can feel my teeth touching is in the right side of my mouth from
my canine to my back molars. Also, when closing my lips, the right corner of my
lips don’t meet
Under bite
Under developed upper palate
So why jaw surgery?
When I first went to the
consultation for my braces back in May 2011, my orthodontist Dr. Daub told me
that because of how my jaws are and the way that I bite down, braces would only
help to straighten my teeth, not help solve my bite problem. Before getting the
braces put on, I traveled from Milwaukee to West Bend to see Dr. Schmidt for
another consultation to check why my bite was so goofy. We discovered the
lovely details about how unique my bite was, talked about any habits that I had
grown used to because of how my bite was, and determine exactly what was needed
to be done. Dr. Schmidt explained that I needed to have 2 jaw surgery
procedures done, one for my top jaw, and one for my bottom jaw. Instead of
going under the knife once, healing up, and then returning to get surgery
again, we decided that double jaw surgery would be best.
The jaw surgery process explained
Although it’s been a few
months since I last saw Dr. Schmidt, I do remember what he told me about the
surgery process.Upper Jaw: because my upper palate is so small, Dr. Scmidt and
his lovely team of surgeons are going to make two incisions along the front
part of my jaw to widen it, and also pull the jaw forward. Lower Jaw: Two
incisions will be made along the front part of my bottom jaw, and the jaw will
be widened a little bit.
Problems I've faced with my jaws
When it comes to eating and my open bite, I
have a very difficult time shredding anything with my front teeth because of
how open of a bite there is. Eating an apple is nearly impossible, and shredding any meats or lettuce is a pain because of the gap in my bit, so I always have to chew to the side of my mouth.. It
was never anything noticeable to other people, but for me, I was always a
little embarrassed eating in front of people.
Also, because of how small my upper palate is, breathing has been a difficult process for me. Ever since I was about 16 years old, I have developed chronic sinus problems, ranging from being plugged up and having to sound like an elephant when I blow my nose, to suffering from sinus infections and terrible headaches. I have barely any air flow through my nose, so the only way I can breathe is through my mouth. Imagine having to sound like you're snoring throughout the day, and then at night, you're a human bug catcher. Its a little embarrassing to be caught sleeping with your mouth wide open, so I've resorted to covering the lower half of my face with either a blanket or sheet.
I have also attached a youtube video from my vlog talking about the jaw surgery. I'll be juggling between the two, so stay tuned. :)
Thanks for checking out my blog! If you would like to contact me to ask any questions, my email is kerikat@sbcglobal.net, or you can reach me on aim at specialKisSPECl
