Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Good News

Last Friday I had a post-wisdom-teeth-removal-checkup appointment with my surgeon (I will call him Dr. C), and he gave me some good news!
First, my mouth was looking good. Infection free!
Second, from the impressions Dr. C took of my mouth last time, he took some measurements, sketched some possible surgery outcomes and determined that I don't need double jaw surgery, I only need lower jaw surgery! Only one of my jaws needs to be operated on! I AM SO HAPPY. I just went from two broken jaws, to one. Heck yeah.
Thirdly, Dr. C told me that my teeth were so well aligned that it might be possible that I wouldn't have to get braces! But, I would have to talk to my orthodontist first. He said he rarely tells people this, so I felt pretty special. And I had some brace-free hope for the weekend!
Then I got some of the new profile options I would have for surgery. Dr. C said I could get just lower jaw surgery, or that I could get lower jaw surgery and genioplasty. So I have kind of a big decision to make...

Far left: my present profile
Middle: profile with lower jaw surgery alone
Far right: profile lower jaw surgery and genioplasty
That was all for my post-wisdom-teeth-removal-checkup appointment. That was on Friday, and I had an orthodontist appointment on Monday.
I went in, and told my orthodontist what my surgeon had said about the possibility of not getting braces, but he said it would be best if I did get them. He said that usually there's a little bit of tweaking that goes on after surgery (which I understood from fellow jaw-bloggers), so I got braces for the third time two days ago!
This is the pic that went on instagram.

Full selfie

Close up of my teeth/bite
I think this shows my open bite quite well.
*Note: I'm pretty sure my teeth aren't that yellow in person.
I'm thinking it's the bad camera quality+weird lighting combo.

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Wisdoms

It's done! My wisdom teeth are no longer in my mouth.
I wish I had a hamster so we could be twinners.
#selfiesaturday?

My appointment was @10:00am, so I didn't have to go to school! I was pretty pumped.

Pre-op Excitement.
Jk. I wasn't quite exactly excited.

Pre-op x-ray anyone?


Everything went fine.
I believe the total surgery took about 45 minutes.
This is me right after waking up from surgery!

I won't be posting any pictures of me with my eyes open, because my eyes were just screaming "Druuuuggs...." But even though was on drugs, I didn't do anything funny/stupid/video-worthy. I'm rather disappointed.
Another right-after-operation pic

I'd just like to say, I'm very grateful for my mother! She drove me to and from surgery, and then served as my slave for the rest of the day. She gave me my meds, food, and ice packs alllll dang day.

1-ish hour post-surgery. This is my sad swollen face.

Everything was fine til about 2 hours after surgery, when I found myself in a lot of pain, and my pain meds didn't seem to be kicking in. I made it through though! I think I would've been able to handle the pain, if I hadn't been so numb at the time. My cheeks, chin, and lower gums were numb, and I just didn't want to handle it all!

34-ish hours post-surgery.

So yup. It's pretty much been me, my ice packs, and Supernatural all weekend.
I feel like this surgery was a little taste of what jaw surgery will be like. Except this time around I didn't have to eat through syringes, and only part of my face was swollen/numb, and I wasn't in a hospital, and I didn't have braces, and my mouth wasn't banded shut, and, and, and, etc. So not really, but kinda.
I have an appointment with my surgeon next Friday the 20th, and then I'm getting braces the 28th!
I'll be writing soon.

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Impressions

Look who got their impressions done!
This kid.
On Tuesday I saw my surgeon for the first time since my consultation, and got four impressions done for pre-authorization (one upper jaw, two lower, and one for my bite). Woot.
More pictures?
My mom: "You look just thrilled!"
I was.



Trust me, I'm trying to smile.
I remember impressions being a lot harder when I was 8.
But anywho, that's pretty much the most exciting thing that's happened around here concerning my teeth and jaws.
Oh yeah, and I'm getting my wisdom teeth out tomorrow! That should be pretty exciting. Everyone I've talked to sympathizes for me, except for one of my friends who said,"It's so fun! You get to be on so many drugs!"
I'm ready for the chipmunk cheeks and drugs.