So May 2015 I got my braces off. After getting them off, I noticed my jaw didn't perfectly line up and my orthodontist said verified that it had relapsed a teeny weeny bit but I tried to shrug it off... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ perfection is overrated anyway right?
Summer and fall of 2015 I started college... I didn't really think about my jaw. I was mostly trying to survive socially, academically, and mentally. It was a rough couple of semesters.
July 2016, I got a mission call! I served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (aka LDS church or Mormon church) for 18 months in Orlando, Florida!!!! It was the best year and a half of my life!!!!! But while I was serving, I noticed more TMJ pain and more relapse. I was away from my family and didn't really have the time or desire to go and visit a dentist so far from home so my mom and I decided to just wait until after my mission to go and visit with Dr. Jenkins again about my relapse
April 2018, I returned home from my mission and scheduled an appointment with my jaw doctor, Dr. Jenkins, within the following months. After our consultation everything made sense!!! Turns out, I have cheerleader's syndrome, AKA condylar absorption AKA my jaw joints are slowly disintegrating! Dr. Jenkins gave me two options: I could either have my jaw joints entire replaced, or we could do some type of construction on my top jaw and hope I wouldn't relapse again. The more favorable of the options was the TJR (total temporomandibular joint replacement lol) so we sent a case off to the insurance company hoping for approval. The insurance company did not approve the TJR, but they did approve the regular jaw surgery. I didn't want regular jaw surgery again, I wanted my faulty joints outta my body, but that was going to cost my family upwards of $40,000! So I've been trying to think of what to do ever since. The thing is, I'm fairly comfortable with my looks. I like my smile, I'm more comfortable with my side profile than I was pre-surgery. I've just been waiting for some kind of insurance miracle to happen to fix the functionality of my bite. It hurts to chew and my bite doesn't fit together really. Gracias a Dios, I think my insurance miracle might be here! My dad's company had to downsize, so they laid off 40% of the workforce, including him! So yeah, my dad's out of a job, which is sad, but he's on the hunt for a new one (and he's interviewed with plenty of people, so we're not nervous.) But when he gets a new job, we'll most likely have a new insurance company! Which means I have another chance to get my joints replaced! HALLELUJAH! But wait, there's more. My mom also got a job with the US Department of Justice, and she will start said job in the fall. Which means there's another chance for new insurance! Things might be looking up? We'll see man. Catch you on the flippity flip.
P.S. HERE ARE SOME PICS FROM THE LAST 3 YEARS OF MY LIFE THAT YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED OUT ON
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| Profile shot circa Mar. 2016. I don't really want to know what my profile looks like nowadays... although it's probably not as bad as I've dreamed it up to be:)))) |
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| My fish, Eldridge, went to the fish bowl in the sky. R.I.P. |
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| When I got my mission call to Florida! I got my call July 2016, October 2016, and returned home April 2018. |
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| As a missionary in Florida. |
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| As a missionary eating Subway in Florida. |
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| As a missionary celebrating my 20th birthday in a church in Florida. |
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| We got to help clean up the mess Hurrican Irma left |
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| More hurricane clean up |
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| My family teases me because most of the pictures I took as a missionary featured ice cream... |
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| About to return home from the Florida Orlando Mission |
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| Boarding the plane to go home to Utah:( April 2018 |
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| reunited with mis hermanos |
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| amigos (I feel like you can see my open bite fairly well in this picture?) |
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| I TOOK THIS SELFIE TODAY! I'M WEARING A MONKEY-PATTERNED SNUGGIE! May I just say, I'm definitely not unhappy with my smile. |
