Flossing just got more dangerous...

Well, I've reached a new low since starting on this jaw journey. I somehow got a paper cut by flossing. Don't really know how I did it but it happened. One second I was fine, then I felt something weird on my finger and low and behold, a paper cut from where I was holding the floss.

Because flossing doesn't already suck enough I now have to worry about getting paper cuts too. Great. Just dandy.

Seriously, how does this stuff happen to me?!

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!

Nothing to report, small life update

Well, it's been a very long time since I've posted anything. Almost 2 months to be exact!

I really don't have much to report dental-wise. Still in that weird holding pattern. I do have a check up next week on Halloween. Maybe having my braces tightened will deter me from eating a boat load of candy. My teeth are still a little sensitive but not as bad as before. And I also have another dental cleaning in November. Here's to hoping that the 'almost drowned' tag won't be used again!

These last couple of weeks have been super hectic and relaxing at the same time! We just spent the last 10+ days on vacation! We try to relax but there's so much that we want to do that we end up doing everything and then we are exhausted by the end of the week. We went to PA to celebrate a wedding with some of our friends and their families. It's probably one of the last weddings we'll have to go to in awhile before we start getting invitations for (gulp) baby showers! After the wedding, we decided to drive the extra 2 hours down to D.C. and spend the week with one of my close college friends. She put us up in her house and we roamed around DC for 4 days. After that, we drove back up to New England and went to the Berkshires to the in-laws. Lots of fun. Along the way we made another short detour to Troy, NY and ate dinner at Dinosaur BBQ. OMG, it's my favorite bbq place and it's SO good. We went there to celebrate our 2nd wedding anniversary. Nothing says romance like brisket and spicy barbecue sauce. 

After that, we came back to Boston and we were in the area for 4 days. Then we left again and flew to Tampa, Florida to spend time with my aunt and her family. My cousin got married and it allowed me to see a lot of people that I haven't seen in a long time including my two cousins. We flew back on Tuesday and now we are seriously back to reality. 

Surprisingly, I only gained 2 pounds while on vacation! I'll call that a success since I drank like a fish the whole time. :P

In other news, I have accepted a new position at the hospital. I now work full time in the main OR at my hospital. I haven't really said a whole lot about it because I've been so busy, but it's official! It'll be a great opportunity and I like the fast paced environment. I'm very excited to learn a lot more clinical-wise. My hours are now 10am-6:30pm which is really nice. This schedule allows me to actually spend time with my family and it even gives me the flexibility to go to all dental/medical appointments in the morning before my shift starts. This was more of a lateral move so unfortunately, no pay raise. But I should be getting one in January when my yearly review comes up. 

Ok, that was probably boring and pointless but whatever. :D Next week I will definitely post about my Halloween dental appointment!

Recent progress photos

I want to try and be better at posting some progress photos. So here are some recent photos. I'm in a weird holding pattern so my teeth won't change much again until December when I get top braces on. It does kinda suck because whenever I smile now, it looks like I've got silver teeth. Not really something I like but I'm pretending it doesn't exist. Enjoy!

Progress Photo - Taken Sept. 2014

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!

Dental cleaning from hell

Well, I had my quarterly dental cleaning last Thursday. I know I said I would write about the visit right after but I left the office a little angry. Nothing terrible happened to me but holy hell, I had to cool off before I wrote about anything related to that day. I had a very, VERY large glass of wine when I got home.
I went in for a routine cleaning and when I got there, I had a different hygienist than normal. Usually, it's not a big deal; I've had a different hygienist before when mine went on vacation. This time was different. I saw a girl who I've seen around the office but she was just a technician last time I was there. Apparently, this girl was working as a technician while going to school for dental hygiene. She must have graduated from her program and given a full time position as a staff hygienist while I was out recovering from my surgery.
Anyway, I went in and had the worst dental cleaning I've EVER had.
Now, I'm all for giving people a chance but this girl seriously needs more time apprenticing with another dental hygienist. I almost drowned not once, not twice but THREE times! I swear, my life flashed before my eyes. She was using the water pik thing to clean off the plaque from my teeth and didn't use the suction thing correctly. Thus, my mouth would fill with water and then I would start to choke. The third time it happened, I coughed and choked while the instruments were in my mouth. I had to wave my hands to have her stop and then raise my chair to a sitting position so I could cough out all the water that went into my poor lungs.
When I wasn't choking on dental water, I was waiting for the girl because she probably left the room about 6 times. I'm not sure if she was leaving to ask questions or something else but I sat around waiting for most of my exam. Dr. Ali even came in to check on me and was a little confused why I was still at the office. The last and final thing that totally blew my mind was that she had no idea how to floss my teeth! I had to show her how to floss teeth with braces! I couldn't believe it! I almost did one of those hysterical "I can't believe this is happening to me" laughs. And not in a good way.
An hour and a half later, I was finished. The reason it took so long is because after my last surgery I spent 3 weeks on a Chlorhexidine mouthwash. It's supposed to keep your mouth clean (in my case, the stitches after surgery) so you don't have any complications. It does horribly stain your teeth though. But a regular dental cleaning can take that all off. Before I scheduled the appointment, I told the office that I would be using the mouthwash after surgery. They thanked me for letting them know and told me that they would write a note in my chart. Chlorhexidine can be a pain to remove but it shouldn't take over an hour and a half. 45 minutes, maybe an hour tops.
After I was done, she asked me if I wanted to schedule my next cleaning and I almost dropped to the floor to praise Jesus because I had the BEST excuse! I told her that I needed to talk to the billing manager because I had to pay a balance that I owed and that I could just make an appointment with her (which was totally true by the way! I really did have to pay a bill). I can't tell you how happy I was to OWE money to someone!
When I saw the billing/office manager she asked me how my exam went. The exam was awful but I still felt kinda bad. I know all she needs is time and more experience to become a better hygienist. I just don't think I'm the right patient for her to practice on. With my braces and all my surgeries, I think I need stability and someone who knows what I'm going through. I told the billing manager that I can't spend an hour and half going through a dental exam with my jaw issues. She apologized and agreed with me that I should have the same hygienist every time. I made a future appointment and it's with my regular hygienist (THANK GOD). On a good note though, the girl did do a good job cleaning my teeth. They were sparkling and shining when I left. She just took for-freaking-ever to do it.
I really do love the office and office staff though. Everyone there is very sweet and caring. And I've been going here for almost 2 years and this is the first time I've had a bad visit.

On a side note, I never thought "almost drowned" would be a tag that I would EVER have to create in relation to this jaw journey. As per usual, I was obviously mistaken.

No more key for me and a question!

I had my orthodontist appointment this morning and I can gladly report that I am DONE with cranking PEA 2.0! Hurrah! Dr. Klein is confident that she has enough space to move all my teeth around which is wonderful! For now I just play the waiting game.
My next orthodontist appointment is Halloween and I won't be having any work done that visit. It's basically just a check up to make sure everything is going good with my bottom teeth and bottom braces. Dr. Klein will be on maternity leave during this time so it's great I'll only have to see someone different once. After that, it's another 6 weeks and Dr. Klein should hopefully be back by then. She was so super sweet and gave me her email and told me to email if I had any questions while she is gone. She's just an awesome lady.
We talked briefly about what happens when she comes back and it's looking like I'll get top braces on in December. This is exciting because when the top braces are put on, I'll be that much closer to scheduling my next and final surgery. Apparently, once the uppers are on, straightening them should be very quick. Since there's a lot of room now, she won't have to squeeze the teeth into alignment. They'll all just kinda fall into place. And I guess the upper teeth could be straight in as little as 4-6 weeks!
She also mentioned something about leaving PEA 2.0 in until January (;_;). I kinda gave her the sad face and told her that I had hoped to have PEA 2.0 removed before my birthday and Christmas. She told me that getting it removed a few weeks early shouldn't be an issue (^_^) but that she'll evaluate me in December and make the decision then. If all looks good, then I'll have it removed. If not, it'll stay in until she says so. Basically, I was told it shouldn't be a problem but to not get upset if things change. I can respect that so I'm cautiously optimistic. I'd rather deal with food getting stuck in my braces than having food stuck in the back of my throat.
A question for people out there reading this blog: does anyone have the nutri-bullet? I've been contemplating getting one for myself, especially since I know I will be using it next year after my surgery. I've read reviews online but most of them are very vague ("It works great!" just doesn't cut it for me) and  I want details! Did you buy yours in store or online through a retailer (like amazon)? I have a ninja blender but it is just a little TOO big, especially if I'm the only one using it. I really want something I can use on-the-go and with easy clean-up. Is there something else out there that you recommend instead of the nutri-bullet? I really want to use it for making smoothies and blending small quantities of fruits/veggies. Let me know here in the comments section or on facebook! I'm very curious!

Unless I have another braces malfunction, I'll probably keep the posts down to a minimum until Halloween. The hubby and I are super busy starting in September so I probably won't have time to post much anyway (weddings/vacations/more weddings/family gatherings/etc) until Halloween. I do have another dental cleaning coming up in a week or two so I will probably post again after that. Don't forget to let me know about that nutri-bullet if you know anything about it!