Pics - 10.5 Weeks Post Op

It's hard to believe, over 10 weeks since surgery. Here are my pics from today ...

Plate Removal Scheduled

I saw my OS on Thursday. He asked me how soft chew was going, I said good ... I can just about eat anything as long as it is small enough to get between my teeth. No pain what-so-ever. That's what we were waiting for to remove the plate. Everything appears to be solid, plus I will still have the other plate that will still be in the side they remove it from, so there shouldn't be any risk of relapse. He will also cut away some of the over growth from my cheek at the same time so i am not chewing on my cheek.

I scheduled to have it removed on Thursday, December 4th. I was hoping to do it on a Friday so I had the weekend to recover, but that didn't work out so I took off on the 5th. If I don't have to take the heavy duty pain meds after (I will try to get away with just OTC if I can, but certainly will take the heavier ones if needed), I may try to go in to work the next day, we'll just play it by ear.

As far as the procedure goes, I will be sedated with a cocktail of Versed, Fentanyl, and a steroid to reduce the swelling. You are half awake, half asleep for the procedure, but 95% of people don't remember. Hopefully the fentanyl won't affect my vision again, I guess it is just temporary if it does, although I'm not sure if it was my anti-nausea patch or the fentanyl patch that blurred my vision so much after my bimax surgery . The procedure will last about 45 minutes. Pretty straight forward and MUCH less invasive than the last time.

Recovery wise, it shouldn't be too bad, I will just need to keep away from the stiches and incision site again. I am prepared for the lopsided swelling, but hope it doesn't linger too long so I am back to normal by Christmas and New Years. It should be pretty good after a week. It could limit my ROM some, we'll have to wait and see. I can get 1 finger in there now, vertically, all the way back to the back knuckle, so I still have a ways to go. I think I was able to get 3 fingers in before surgery.

I'll post if anything happens before my plate removal, but no appointments between now and then. I'll try to get some new pictures up before plate removal.

Soft Chew!!!

Sorry that I haven't posted and left you all hanging ... I am in Argentina right now and going to Brazil tomorrow ... so I haven't had much time to post. I did get the ok for soft chew on week 8 as I was hoping, and I have been really enjoying it! I was upgraded on my flight here, and they give you mixed nuts before your meal. I was shocked that I could actually eat the cashews! The biggest pain is getting them out of the braces. I actually think I can eat about anything right now if I have the patience to chew it. The most limiting factor for me is my range of motion, I can only open about a finger and a half, so it is not like I can just bite into things and start chomping. I also have to try to just chew on my right side so I don't get a ton of food stuck in the gap where my exposed plate is. I have my next appointment with my OS this Thursday, so I have a feeling we will be discussing at that time when we will take the plate out. At my last appoinment, my OS held my forhead firmly and torqued on my maxila and then on my mandible. No mobility what-so-ever, so it looks like thinks are pretty solid at this point. When I go through airports and crowded areas, though, I am still a little gun-shy, afraid that someone is going to elbow me in the jaw and knock something out of place.

I am almost at 10 weeks right now, and still have some residual swelling. On my right side along my jaw line, I can feel a lump there, I am not sure if it is just more swollen there than on the other side, or if it is scar tissue, but it definately feels different. It is also a little tender in that area when I touch it. Strange, since I would have expected that to happen more on the side where the plate is exposed.

Still no migraines ... I just can't tell you how happy I am about that. Over ten years of suffering from them ... I don't want to speak prematurely because who knows what could happen once I get my range of motion back, but if they are truley a part of my past I will be more grateful than you can ever imagine for having this surgery. I still get the occasional ear pains, but they usually go away and don't last too long.

I can't wait until I can stop using the Peridex. My teeth are now very dingy looking and I am looking forward to getting them cleaned, even if the hygienist can only get the outsides and can't get inside my mouth.

I don't think I mentioned this before, but my cheek is basically healing over my lower left bracket. It is almost completely covered now. My OS told me last week that the same thing happened to him. It is like that on the right side, too, but not nearly as bad as the left. Not too fun, unless you like chewing on your own cheek.

Well, that is about it for now, I will post more after my appointment Thursday.

8 weeks post-op ...

Well, I am just shy of 8 weeks post-op ... day 53 to be exact. And I am long over due for some photos, so finally I took some new ones today. I believe I have just a bit of residual swelling left, but pretty minimal by this point, mostly around my nose area.

I still get some shooting pains in my ear now and then, but it is manageable. What I am most pleased about is that I used to get migraines every time I would have a few cocktails, and the few times I have had drinks over the fast few weeks have not resulted in a mind boggling migraine. I haven't really had them period ... so I am hoping this lasts.

So ... here are the latest pics ... I am definately pleased with the results so far ... we have some work to do yet on my bite but actually having a side profile, plus (hopefully) reducing the migraines ... has made this whole process all worth while.

I have an appointment with my OS on Wednesday, I am hoping to get cleared for soft chew, so cross your fingers for me!!

2 more weeks of liquid/blended diet ...

I had my weekly OS appointment today, and was "hoping" I would get cleared for soft chew ... but in the back of my mind I guess I had a gut feeling that wasn't going to happen. Dr. P took a look at my plate, and said indeed it seems to continue to be closing up, although he said again that it would take a small miracle to heal over completely. Since I am healing up so nicely ... my reward is ... 2 more weeks of liquids! He fears if I move to soft chew it could rub the incision and prevent further healing. Oh well ... I've gone 6 weeks, what's another 2? (that is my attempt to be positive :) ) . Everything else looked good, yesterday I got cleared from my OD to use my Sonicare and water pic, and I guess it showed because Dr. P commented that my hygiene looked very good.

I ventured to ask about the plate removal procedure, if/when it takes place around week 10. It will be an in office procedure, using IV sedation, and I'll be in and out within an hour or so. He'll precribe me some of the heavier artillary drugs if I have excessive pain, but hopefully I will be able to get by on OTC meds. If we do the procedure on a Friday, I should be back to work the following Monday. I will only have to go back on liquids for a day or 2, and it won't have to be clear liquids, as the plate removal procedure is much less invasive than my original surgery. So that was good news.

We talked about my range of motion ... he doesn't think I'll progress too much more as long as I am in the bands still 24/7 ... although he did say that I may get some more ROM when I move to soft chew and have my bands out for 1 to 1.5 hours each time I eat. He said that it can take up to a year to get my ROM back, his ROM is less than before he had his surgery and since it has been over a year now he doesn't think he will get it back to what it was pre-op.

He will be in Canada next week, so I will not see him, but he still wants me to meet with one of the other doctors just to check on the plate, but so far everything is still looking good.

6 weeks post-op

I am back from Paris, and I can say it went pretty well for my first trip since surgery. Although I was feeling like my energy levels were pretty good and mostly back to normal (if I even know what "normal" is now), I wasn't sure if the time change and change of pace was going to kick my butt. But, adjusted very well going over, as well as coming back. I even managed to squeeze in some sight seeing since I had Saturday free. Since I've already seen the main sights of Paris, and I was staying near Versailles, I went to the Palace of Versaille which I must say was amazing. I highly recommend it if anyone has the time to explore beyond the confines of Paris while in France. The city is also very quaint and unique.

O.K., back to my mouth. On the way out at airport security, they accepted my letter very easily from my OS regarding my liquid nutritional suppliments. I had a tight schedule when arriving to Paris, so I had carried all 18 nutritional suppliments (I hoped I would find other alternatives, but you never know so I was prepared), plus my liquid tylenol and my Peridex, in my carry-on with me without checking any luggage. I knew I would have more of an issue on the way home (they can be very strict in Paris!), so I only brought the liquid tylenol, Peridex, and one Ensure on the plain with me, and the rest I checked. They held me up for about 30 minutes, because they needed about 5 levels of approvals before they would let me through! Part of the problem was that they were looking specifically for the name of the products on the letter from my OS, and he of course was very general in stating nutritional supplements. Plus, I don't think the language barrier helped. But I made it through and am back now.

Today, I had my first appointment with my OD where we were going to start moving and changing things. I was scheduled for 1 hour, but it ended up lasting about 2 hours 45 minutes! Lots of new information though.

First, I asked if the fact that Dr. P could not get all of the movements necessary in surgery because of my tight tissue would alter my outcome. Dr. L doesn't think so, he said it should be no problem to get the expansion I need in the back orthodontically. I also asked about my overjet, as it seems larger to me than it should. Dr. L agreed and said that is why he suggested the band configuration I had when I first started changing my bands. We have some work to go, my lower teeth will pretty much stay where they are, but we can push my upper teeth back some, which will reduce my overjet.

They took out my wires today and repositioned most of my brackets on my upper teeth. For about 20 minutes, I had naked teeth! It gave me a preview of what I had to look forward to on de-banding date, and I can tell you, I liked what I saw ... and that is with still having a bit of work to go! On the lowers, they put my same Sure-Smile wire back in -- minus the surgical hooks (yeah!). As for my upper teeth, I believe I won't get the Sure-Smile wires back in anymore, and Dr. L will finish things off with traditional wires.

The techs had a really hard time with my upper wire. My ROM is still pretty limited, I can get my thumb in there and maybe a tiny bit more, so they had a hard time turning in the wire in the back on both sides. On my left side, they didn't turn it in because of my exposed plate, we didn't want to mess around too much there. So, she cut the wire short so it hopefully wouldn't bother me. On the right side, they put a coil/spring in between my last two molars to open up some space, because in several months (probably 3-4 months) I will get a TAD (temporary anchorage device) put back there, and we will pull my teeth back. So, she couldn't clip that wire too short because it needs some excess for when that space opens up, and since I am still pretty swollen in there the wire was really jabbing. When she tried to turn the wire in, the tool was too big and I couldn't open enough, so it would rub against my stiches and caused some bleeding. I told her I would deal with that pain at the moment because I would rather have that than 7 weeks of a poking wire. Finally, she got it, but I felt like I really stressed the techs out today because they didn't want to hurt me. It was uncomfortable, but I am just glad she was able to get the wire turned in.

So, on my right side I am 95% Class I (Yeah!) ... so just some tweeking to do there. On my left side, I am still Class II, but with the coil and the TAD we should be able to correct that. Overjet, Dr. L will push my upper teeth back to take care of that. My mid-line is still about 2 mm to the left, so we have that to correct that as well. I got a new elastic configuration today (no more box config on the front!). The elastics are much lighter, and I have just 2 bands. I will wear them 24/7, take them out to eat, and at night I have to double up on the elastics on my right side. I believe that will help work on the mid-line.

I think that covers most of my appointment ... at the end Dr. L told me he found out about my blog and has taken a look at it. I asked him if it was from the my Dentist's office (I had sent the gals a link to my blog to follow my progress), and he said no, that he found out from someone (I assume a colleague or professional acquaintance) in Texas. Apparantly, there are not a lot of Sure-Smile patients yet that have been through this surgery. So, between my reference to that in my blog, and my references to Dr. L and Dr. P, and the fact that I am in Green Bay ... they put it all together. So, Dr. L ... if your reading ... thanks to you and Dr. P for all of your hard work to give me a functional bite and beautiful smile!

In other news ... it looks like my plate continues to heal over, although it doesn't seem like anyone is optimistic that it will heal over completely. The good news is that there is no visible bone which means that the chance of infection is much less. I have an appointment with Dr. P (OS) tomorrow so I will update more on that if necessary.

Lastly, kind of a random thought ... but it has been so strange for me to see the way I open my mouth now. I felt in the past like my jaw opened like a hinge, whereas now, with the lower jaw rotation, the top opens paralell to the bottom ... like an eel. It is just so different as your perception of normal changes ... apparantly that is how most people open their mouth!

I know ... I need to post some new photos. I will have my husband take new ones of me in the next couple days. I feel pretty swollen now from this morning's appoinment ... but tomorrow should be better. Today is my last day of working from home ... I will go into the office daily from now on. It should be much better now that I have a much more manageable band configuration.

A virus and a fever ...

The last couple of days have been a bit rough for me. On Sunday I started to feel achy all over, then came down with a sore throat on Sunday night. By the time Monday night came around, I had a fever of 102, so I called the on-call doctor and he had me start taking the antibiotics my surgeon had prescribed for Paris. The worst was the shooting pains that I started to get in my ear late Monday night … they continued and were much more than I have felt before, I would get sharp pains many times a minute, and also had some constant pain in there as well. I went to see my surgeon Tuesday, and the plate is looking good, he said it has healed over a bit since last time he saw me, although he does not think it will heal over completely. He said around week 10 we will make a decision if we should remove it (I am at 5 weeks right now). Then, I went to urgent care to see what was going on with my throat and ears. He looked in my ears, and said everything looked 100%, but often people come in complaining of ear problems when it is really their throat that is the problem. He looked at my throat and said he saw the irritation, but said that it looked viral, so it just has to run its course. If it is strep, however, the antibiotic I am taking works well on that too, so it will take care of it. So, I’ve been taking Tylenol to help with the ear pains, which has made it much better, although it seems like my worst time of day is 3-6 pm. For some reason, everything just culminates around that time and I feel like crap. It is so strange to me, that after all I’ve been through with breaking both jaws and being banded shut, that a sore throat and earache would be my worst pain of it all! Amazing, isn’t it?

Sorry for the negative post ... just haven't felt the greatest the past few days, but I think I mostly have the pain under control now. I am leaving for Paris this afternoon, so I was particularly worried about my ears because of the flights. There is nothing worse then having congestion or an ear infection and going up to 30,000 feet! It's the way down that's painful ... OUCH! Luckily, I haven't gotten congested, although the doctor I saw said this could be just the start. I hope not!

In better news, I got my toothbrush inside my mouth yesterday! I was so excited ... although just because it is in there doesn't mean you can brush like "normal". But, I got my tongue and the insides of my teeth the best I could. When I tried again last night, I couldn't repeat, but at least this means I've made a little progress on the ROM.

I will try to get up some new pictures when I get back from Paris, I feel like my swelling hasn't been going down much at all anymore. It is mostly concentrated above my upper lip, around my nose, and in my "jowls". I know ... I need to be patient. Patience, grasshoppa ... patience.

All right, I'll update more when I get back from my trip ... Au revoir mes amis!