Guess what....?!?!?!?!

The palate expander is GONE! Outta here! I saw my orthodontist yesterday and she was quite pleased with how well my bottom teeth looked and with how much space the expander gave her to work with. She also put on top braces (SO EXCITING!!!!) so I now have a mouth full of bling. I was so happy that I almost started happy crying in the chair. 

My jaw and teeth are pretty sore today. Along with saying goodbye to PEA 2.0 and getting the tops put in, I had to take a couple pictures where my lips were stretched back using these plastic grip things. I've used them before and they can be pretty uncomfortable. I've been on a diet of mac n cheese, mashed potatoes, scrambled eggs, oatmeal and ice cream for the past day and a half. I'll probably continue on the soft food diet for a few days until my teeth calm down. 

I haven't had time to take any photos (my bailey burrito had surgery today so I've been a nervous wreck!) but I will post them either tonight or tomorrow. My top teeth are pretty jacked now, haha! You can really tell how much smaller my lower jaw is compared to my upper jaw now. I will definitely post some pictures very soon! 

A very merry dental halloween

I had my long awaited orthodontist appointment yesterday. The tech who I worked with was a lot of fun. He kept trying to convince me to get Halloween colored bands put on my braces. And when I said no to orange and black, he spent the rest of the appointment convincing me to get brown because brown is the color of thanksgiving. Haha! I ended up getting red.

Since my orthodontist is out on maternity leave I had to see a different orthodontist (Who I can't remember the name of unfortunately). She was very nice though! She looked at my teeth and saw that one of them wasn't moving the way it should have. She had to tie wire around it to stabilize it a bit more and to direct it to move where it's supposed to.

It didn't hurt when it was happening but I always take some ibuprofen before all my appointments. I sometimes walk into an appointment not realizing that I have to have a lot of work done. Later that day, my left side (where they had worked) really started to hurt. It started to bother me in the afternoon and has persisted all day today. I haven't had much of any dental work done since the end of July so yesterday was a little bit of a wake-up call. I had almost forgotten about my braces and PEA (I said ALMOST, not completely haha!)

The nice part is that my next appointment is in another 6 weeks which is December 10th. There was something in my file about "bracket" work to be done at my next appointment which means that I might (MIGHT) be able to say goodbye to PEA. !!!!! Very exciting. I'm going to try to not get my hopes up but it's very difficult! The appointment is only 30 minutes long though so I don't know if that's a long enough appointment for bracket installation and PEA removal. I am so ready to get rid of this thing though! I just can't wait!

Worst day ever. In the history of ever.

Word of advice to anyone with a palate expander: DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT get sick.

Vomiting with a palate expander installed was probably the worst thing that's ever happened to me. It is something that I will avoid at all costs in the future. Hell, I might even sell my first unborn child if I could guarantee that it would NEVER happen ever again. I won't go into detail because even thinking about it turns my stomach. But just imagine the worst thing that could happen in this situation and that's what happened to me.

PEA 2.0, I will make you pay when this is all over!

Good News, Bad News

Well, I saw my regular dentist yesterday and he gave me good news! The pain/sensitivity that I'm experiencing is not a cavity and does not require any extra work to that area. That was the great news! He thinks that it's a braces issue. Since my teeth are moving, he thinks that one of the bands on my right side might be irritating the tooth when I chew in certain ways. Maybe the band is pinching a nerve? The bad news is that he couldn't really do anything for me so I'll have to wait until I see the orthodontist (which is a week from today). He didn't want to disrupt anything that she had done (which I completely understand). So I'll just have to wait a week until I see her next.
I did have to get 1 cavity filled (the one in the front that was hiding behind the other tooth). It wasn't a big cavity though so he actually did it without using Novocaine. Oh yea, who's a bad ass! I'm totally hardcore. Haha! It made me pretty happy though since administering the local anesthetic can cost some money and I've already maxed out my dental insurance. So anything else will have to be paid out of pocket (which totally blows, btw). Also, today is the last day turning PEA 2.0 twice a day. Now I go down to once a day until next week!
Just thought I would share, nothing else to really report. As I said, my next orthodontist appointment is a week from today. I will write again in about a week then!

Progress Update #1 with Photos!

It's been exactly a week since I got PEA 2.0 and things are becoming more normal. However, certain teeth are now seriously sensitive. I'm hoping that they are just cavities that have become revealed since my teeth have been moving a lot recently. I'm hoping and praying that I don't need a root canal because I don't see how I'll be able to afford it. I have temporarily changed my toothpaste to Sensodyne until I can talk to my dentist about it. I have a dentist appointment Tuesday morning so I will post an update after that.

Other than the sensitivity, I'm really good. I had a week off for vacation and had tons of fun with my friend from college. We went up to Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont while she was here. I had a great time and hope she did as well.

It's been awhile since I posted any pics of my progress. Here are the most recent photos that I took yesterday.

This is me with my 'normal' smile. As you can see, my teeth don't touch.

A closer view of my jaw. Again, doing a 'normal' bite down.

View of PEA 2.0 and teeth movement

Today also marks 6 weeks since my surgery! It's unbelievable how much can happen in such a short time! To most people, my teeth don't look like they've moved a lot but to me and my doctor's the progress is really good. My front tooth (the one slightly behind the other) used to be hidden much more. Now it's more visible which is exciting!

More impressions and PEA 2.0 is on it's way!

Well, on Thursday, I had my 5 week post-op check up with my orthodontist. She seemed happy about my progress with PEA and told me that I would need to graduate to a bigger palate expander. In order to get a new one, they needed to take another impression. (Which makes this impression #17 since I started this journey) This involved taking PEA out, doing the impression, then reinstalling PEA.
I'm not going to lie, it was actually pretty uncomfortable. Getting PEA taken out sucked. A lot. It's glued in place and just didn't want to come out. Apparently, the technician didn't use anything to help remove PEA, she just yanked him out. That's probably why it hurt so much! My orthodontist ended up yelling at her though (since I just had oral surgery but NBD). And when she took PEA out, she bent one of the brackets a little making it almost impossible to put back on. They finally got it on but it sits lower on my teeth than it used to so now it's been irritating my lips and getting caught on my upper lip.

Thankfully, I'll only have to deal with PEA until Wednesday. My new palate expander should be in and they'll take the old one out and replace it for me. Can't wait to deal with the pain of getting it removed again! ;_;

Sarpe Recovery - 3 Week update

Well, the last of my stitches finally fell out! It's been roughly 3 weeks since my surgery and I'm so happy that all my stitches are finally gone. The last two stitches were in the center of my incision and have been really bothering me the last couple days. I really wanted mother nature to just take its course and wait for them to either dissolve or fall out. But if they hadn't fallen out by next week, I was going to mention something to my orthodontist at my next appointment. Thankfully, they fell out on their own so I don't need to mention it to Dr. Kline.

I can now sorta use my tongue to feel the scar around my upper jaw and it sorta freaks me out a bit. I try not to do it a lot but most of the time I can't really help it. I also got some feeling back into my upper right teeth which is good. Makes me feel like I might not accidentally drool on myself as much anymore.

Still cranking PEA but now only once a day. I initially did it 4 times a day for 1 week and then 2 times a day for 1 week. Once I get fitted for PEA 2.0 then I'll probably go back to 2 times a day until I'm completely finished.

surgery weight loss

Recovery has been going really well. The bruises are all gone and almost all of my stitches have fallen out. I just have 1-2 more stitches left near the center of my top lip. I really just want to yank them out but I'm trying to be good.
Some of the stitches fell out over the holiday weekend. I was drinking a glass of juice and felt something in my mouth. Apparently, I had a huge giant clot near the top of my mouth. It fell out while drinking my juice and it even had a few stitches still in it. Totally grossed me out. I ended up throwing my juice out and brushed my teeth for a good 10 minutes after. Thankfully, I didn't vomit. Can't imagine that throwing up with PEA would be any fun.
Since my surgery,  I've lost roughly 10-12 pounds. And I've kept it off too! Its made me realize that I should try and make healthier choices. Since the weather is nice and its july, I want to try and fix up my bike. I might not be able to do much but I can ride a bike! And Don's parents have an old stationary bike that I might be able to use. That way I could use it all year long. I've been good and stayed away from bread and I think it's working. I can't say no to pasta all the time but I can say no to bread. We shall see!

SARPE Recovery - day 2

Well, it's been roughly 48 hours since my operation and things are going good (i think? haha)! I've been a little weak but that's probably because I haven't had any solid food in two days. My face is still swollen but you can tell that it's slowly going down. The right side of my face is definitely worse than the left. I've been putting ice on my face when I remember (trying to do the whole 20 mins on/20 mins off is hard!) and generally just relaxing and taking it easy. When I'm tired, I sleep. When I'm hungry, I eat. When I'm thirsty, I drink. All that good stuff.

I actually haven't been in too much pain. It's been 48 hours since my surgery and I haven't needed to take any narcotic pain meds today. I did take some tylenol but other than that, I've been pretty good. I am still very sleepy though. I've been mostly taking the nasal decongestants and nasal sprays.

Yawning is really hard. And my nose hurts a little. More than my jaw anyway. I also can't blow my nose which I'm dying to do! I can just feel all the gunk in there and it's bothering me a lot! My ears hurt a little too. Basically, everywhere on my face besides my mouth hurts, lol. Very strange.

Last night, Don helped me to turn PEA for the first time. I definitely felt the turn but it didn't hurt. I've read some blogs where the writer felt the palate expander was the worst pain ever. I feel the pressure but it's not painful. I've been turning the key 2 times, twice a day. Generally, I've been doing it in the morning when I wake up and right before going to bed. I might also have an advantage since I've had PEA before and know what to expect.

Not a whole lot to say but I'm getting there, if a little slowly.

SARPE Recovery - Day 2

The big day is here!

Today is the big day! Surgery number 2 is here! I'm currently sitting in the waiting area waiting for my name to be called. I'm already really hungry (haha no surprise there) and would really like a large coffee. Lol.
Don't know if I'll be up to writing a whole blog entry after surgery but I will try. If not, I will shoot for tomorrow.
I've already got a stash of movies to watch while I recover including the first season of game of thrones. See everyone on the other side!

Meet P.E.A.!

So, not a whole lot to say. Palate Expander still sucks. I hate typing out palate expander every single time I want to talk about it though. So, from now on, I will now refer to it as PEA (palate expander appliance)! Haha, I'm so clever! LOL.
Food is slowly getting easier to navigate. Talking is still hard. It almost sounds as if I'm deaf. It's a very strange experience. I'll have moments of clarity where my voice sounds like it used to. But then, all of a sudden, I have to say a word that I didn't anticipate being a difficult word so I sorta kinda just spit it out. It's almost like I'm tone deaf on certain words. Very odd and weird. I don't know how it sounds to other people, but to me it sounds like I was deaf at some point.
I've also learned to eat with my head tilted slightly back. Not sure how that will work once the surgery happens and I have stitches but I'm sure I'll manage somehow.

Now, I'm sure some of you are curious what PEA looks like. Luckily, I have a hubby who's willing to take some photos for me, even if they are slightly awkward.

Now, PEA is obviously the spider looking metal contraption. It is hooked onto 4 teeth and cemented in with glue (that blue stuff around those teeth is the glue). This picture really shows how much crowding I have. You can see the front 4 teeth are really crowded. Once I have surgery, I will be able to crank PEA and make my jaw wider. In order to make my jaw wider, I will need to crank PEA with a special key. My orthodontist instructed me that I can't loose it because the company only makes one per person. And I must bring it with me to surgery because they will start the cranking process while I'm under the anesthesia. If you look at the photo above, you can see a small slit in the very center. You take the key, insert it into the slit and you can watch it grow wider and wider. After awhile, my teeth will start to spread and I will actually have a space in between my front teeth! It's hard to believe since my teeth have been crowded for so long. 

This "key" is quite an expensive tool. It's 95% made of flimsy plastic with 5% curved metal. It almost looks like someone unbent a paper clip and glued it onto a piece of plastic. HAHA. I've had PEA before so I was not surprised with how flimsy the key looked. But it's a lot stronger than it looks. I guess one of her patients forgot the key at home on surgery day and she had to rush over with someone else's key. How someone in the OR couldn't just fabricate something on the fly blows my mind but whatever. I've been told that it must remain with me surgery day so I'll follow my instructions and bring it on surgery day.

I guess on surgery day, Dr. Keith will take my key and crank PEA at least 4 or 5 times to get my mouth started. Then, once I am in recovery, someone will instruct my hubby on how to crank PEA since I won't be able to. I could when I was a kid but I didn't have stitches or a broken palate haha. 

It's very strange but I just realized today that I don't have any more doctor's appointments or phone appointments. Surgery is my next appointment! O.O!! Holy cow!

New appliance installed!

Well, it's official! I've gotten my palate expander and it sucks! I'm a little sore and I'm having a hard time talking. I've been told that it takes a few days to get used to the appliance. The brackets on my two eye teeth have been bothering me the most. They stick out quite a lot and rub the inside of my lips. Thankfully, I've got lots of wax. But I am also drooling like crazy.

Eating food is so difficult now! I brush after eating ANYTHING. I even swish my mouth with mouthwash after drinking certain things (like smoothies and junk). Eating kinda sucks now which is really sad cause I love food. ;_;

Only 182 days until I can loose this appliance and eat/talk like a normal person again. (AND YES, I've started a count down!)

Another one bites the dust

Things have been very hectic! We've been going with the flow and preparing for my surgery when BAM, life kicked us where it hurts.

Last Monday night (roughly two hours after my spacer part II dilemma), my husband was playing soccer with some friends when he got hurt. He ended up tearing his achilles tendon in his right leg. We had to rush to the hospital and suddenly our lives got a whole lot more complicated. We made an appointment to see an orthopedic specialist (the next day) and he confirmed our worst fears. His achilles was torn and pretty badly. He recommended surgery and soon. They were able to fit him in for surgery the following Friday.
I've been preparing for my surgery for months, I can't imagine being told, "Yea, you need surgery. Lets do it on Friday." Unreal. My hubby is a trooper cause I would have been a hot mess.
Friday comes and we go in for surgery. Luckily, I didn't have to miss work because he came to my hospital and had his surgery. By the time he got out of the OR, my shift was over. The best part? My husband is one of those people who is VERY HILARIOUS when coming off anesthesia. Since I work there, I was able to check up on him in the PACU (which the nurses don't typically allow in PACU cause their patients can turn critical very quickly if something goes wrong). After I checked in and said hi, I left to let him fully wake up.
The next time I saw him, he was sitting up at the day surgery recovery. He saw me and his face lit up. After I sat down next to him, he started humming and then busted out some awesome rap lyrics. I knew I should have come in with my phone on record. Would have made for an awesome youtube video. Now he is recovering and being a typical pain in the ass patient, haha! He came out of surgery in a splint because of swelling. But last Thursday, they took that off, checked his stitches and put him in a hard cast.
I was amazed because the incision is much larger than I thought it would be. I figured 2 maybe 2 1/2 inches max but he's got a good 4 inches of stitches. He didn't just tear his achilles, he also shredded it as well. The shredding carried very far up his leg. The doctor said that it's the worst shredding of a tendon that he's ever seen (great, should have known that don wouldn't do anything half-assed! haha). So now, he's in the hard cast until June 12th when he'll be fitted for a walking boot. He'll be stuck in the walking boot for a minimum of 6 weeks.

Don's bright orange cast to match his bright orange hair!

Now, since it was his right foot, he hasn't been able to drive. His coworker lives nearby and has to drive by our house in order to get to work so he's been picking Don up and driving him in when his schedule works out. Unfortunately, we aren't sure when Don will be able to drive again. And he was supposed to be my "reliable person" to drive me to and from the hospital on my own surgery day. Hopefully, he'll be able to drive by June 19th but if he can't, we have a few other people who could potentially drive us into Mass General.

In other news, tomorrow is the big day where I get my appliance placed. I'm hoping that it's smaller than it was when I was a kid. I'm sure this will now increase my 15 minute brushing and flossing ritual to closer to 20 minutes now, haha. Although I do have to say that I will be very happy to be able to floss my upper teeth again. Not flossing because of the spacers makes me feel like my mouth is never fully clean.

Well, tomorrow is just another chapter in this journey. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Kinda stupid but that's how I'm trying to look at it. :D
More to come (hopefully) tomorrow. I make no promises that I won't be a giant whiny baby though!

Spacer dilemma

Well, it's finally happened! I had a slight braces malfunction yesterday. And it only took 24 hours for it to happen, haha! Not a huge big deal, but one of my spacers on my top jaw popped out last night while we were hanging out with some friends. It was on my left side and I'm pretty sure it was the very back molar. I'm just happy that I felt it and spit it out before I swallowed it!

Unfortunately, I don't really have the time to put the spacer back in until Wednesday. I have to work Monday and Tuesday from 7am-3:30pm. And Monday after work, I have a dentist appointment at 4pm. I might as well go to the orthodontist on Wednesday when I have a day off work. That way, I'm not rushing around like a crazy person trying to run to an appointment right after work.

After the spacers were placed, my jaw was ok. But later that evening my jaw started to hurt quite a bit. After the spacer popped out, my jaw felt a little better (uh...no duh!). But nothing to worry about, I've got 3 weeks-ish before the appliance goes in and that's plenty of time to get the spacer replaced and do it's thing.

Back to reality

It's been quite awhile since I last posted. But I haven't had much to post about since I haven't gone to the dentist since the beginning of April. Today, however, I went back to the orthodontist for the first time in several weeks. Today was the big day that I got the dreaded upper spacers put back in. I took ibuprofen before the appointment so I wasn't too sore. Now, almost 8 hours later, I'm starting to feel a little sore. I took another ibuprofen a few hours ago so hopefully it won't be too bad overnight.

I think I'm in for a rough night though. I returned to wearing my night guard after my spacers came out the first time. It helped me to sleep easier. But now that the spacers are back in again, I won't be able to wear the night guard since it won't fit. At least I'll get to sleep in if I do end up waking up a ton. Until I get used to these dumb spacers, I'll probably have to do the whole 600mg of ibuprofen 3-4 times a day.

In other news, I found out that my orthodontist is pregnant. I can't believe I didn't notice last time I saw her. However, she was only 4-5 months along and wearing a rather large lab coat. But today, she was definitely pregnant! Haha. The nice thing is that my timeline and her timeline match up quite perfectly. After my surgery in June, I'll need to have at least 6 months of healing before the top braces will go on. She's due to give birth in September which means that she'll be on maternity leave from September thru December. And once we hit January, she'll be back and I'll be ready to continue with my treatment. I thanked her for timing it so perfectly because this means that I won't have to post-pone my treatment or my future surgery. She laughed.

My next appointment is June 3rd and that's when I get the appliance fitted and glued. So I'll have a few weeks to get used to the expander before my surgery. Wish me luck!

Good News, Bad News, and Even Better News

The Good News: I went to the orthodontist today and was told that I will not be getting my top braces on until after my SARPE procedure. This is GREAT news because top braces can be pretty uncomfortable. My orthodontist said that my teeth won't be able to move until after the SARPE procedure so why make me uncomfortable in the meantime? I say hell yes!

The Bad News: Since my surgery is looking to be sometime in May/June, the spacers I had put in 2 weeks ago had to be taken out. It's bad for my gums to have them in for longer than a few weeks. They will have to go in two weeks before my palate expander gets installed. These spacers totally suck. To go through them twice just really blows.

The Better News: Because of the spacers and my SARPE surgery, this has pushed my time line back a little bit for everything. After the SARPE surgery, my jaw needs approx. 6 months to heal before having another procedure. So I won't be able to have my surgery until December/January at the earliest. This is GREAT news because I was worried about job security if I had to have my surgery earlier than January. That is one less thing I have to worry about. 

PS: A friend introduced me to boloco today after my ortho appointment and I can't believe I've never been before! I might have found a new food love. :D