Coming Out of Surgery

They took me into the surgery room after I changed into my gown. At that point, one lady started wrapping my legs up like a mummy while another guy started putting on different monitors. The IV came next, and I was quite thankful that he got the needle in the right spot the first time. I started getting really nervous at this point- I could hear my heart on the monitor...the surgeon and few assistants were just kinda standing around me with their funny hats on....my legs felt like I had tights on now....and I saw an instrument tray LOADED with scary looking utensils. The Drug God looked at me and said "It's time to go to easy street," as he pumped something into my IV. A minute or so later, he asked how I was feeling and I said "Relaxed now, thank you. I'm great." He put the oxygen on my nose and said to take two breaths...and that's all I remember of going under.

While I was under, my top jaw was sawed away from my skull and moved forward and then bracketed back to my skull with brackets and screws. My bottom jaw had a sliver of bone removed from each side and then was pushed back and bracketed/screwed into place.

Coming out was confusing and terrifying for me. I remember having a very vivid dream..and I awoke from that dream to nurses saying "she's coughing, she's coughing." Then, I opened my eyes as a bloody tube was being pulled from my nose. I tried to say something and couldn't move. Finally I figured out where I was. I had to pee really badly and I tried to tell the nurse, but she didn't understand me at all. Finally, after pointing "down there" repeatedly and muttering "eeeeeeee" she got it. I had to wait forever for the Drug God to unhook me from all of his devices, and I just kept telling the nurse "eeeeeee" and giving her the look that said "I'll do it! Don't make me pee my pants!" Two nurses and a wheelchair later I was able to use the restroom. Thank goodness. No time for modesty when you are the one peeing in a one-seater bathroom with three people in there!

I got back to the chair and laid down. I started hurting pretty badly, so the Drug God gave me another dose of happy meds and I just sat there for a while. The surgeon came back and said that everything went really well and then...finally..Chris got to come back and see me. I could see concern in his eyes, but he was great at being strong for me and telling me how great I did.

I have no idea how long I was in 'recovery,' but it seemed very short- maybe like 30 minutes? A couple of nurses helped me get dressed, then they wheeled me out and Chris loaded me up. After picking up my meds and dropping off a check at the bank, we made it home. I never got sick or anything, but I was very uncomfortable and being jolted around in the car didn't feel good at all.

Chris immediately got everything into a routine for me- he kept track of my meds, helped me take the meds (crushed pills, diluted gel meds into juice for me, etc), made sure that I kept drinking liquids (even though it hurt really badly and I didn't want to), walked me to the bathroom, set up the humidifier, etc etc. He set me up in bed so that I could sleep, which is all that I wanted to do, but my body wouldn't let me. I was still hurting too much and a little freaked out about having just gone through surgery.

Two things greatly surprised me the night after surgery- 1) My throat hurt SO bad from the tube they had down it to pump my stomach out and I could hardly swallow anything 2) I couldn't sleep at all. I assumed the drugs would knock me out, but they didn't and the pain kept me up for almost the first full 48 hours.

Below are my 'day of surgery' pics (note that I could not close my mouth and that I wasn't trying to give any "look"...I was just looking normal).

Morning of Surgery

Well, that's me...about 15 minutes before going under to have both of my jaws done. I had just finished crying and having a little panic attack with Chris- he calmed me down. The whole time leading up to surgery I was excited and nervous...but only right before the surgery did I truly get scared. So anyway, surgery was minutes away.

The below pics are just my x-ray right before surgery, as well as my profile.

Ready for Surgery

Met with the oral surgeon in early November and was told two things:

1. That my bottom teeth had moved so much that I would have to have surgery on both my lower AND upper jaws (of course doubling the cost of the procedure)

2. That my surgery would be at the beginning of December.

I've posted some pics of my teeth as of late November- you can really see my under bite now.

Got the Braces On- Step 1

Got the braces on in late January of 2008. I wasn't expecting any pain at all, and boy-o-boy was I surprised to see that I couldn't eat anything except for mush every time my wires got changed out! The first few months were tough, mainly due to cutting my cheeks with my braces and the constant pressure my lower teeth were feeling...but month after month got easier and easier...

The biggest surprise that I received when I got my braces was being told that I have a severe under bite and that in order to correct my bite I would have to have orthognathic surgery on my upper jaw. This surgery would consist of the surgeon going in under my top gums and separating my jaw from my skull so that he could pull it forward and screw it back in. This way my top teeth would be out slightly further than my bottom teeth (instead of visa versa, as I was told my teeth would be).

Below is the first day of braces- you can see how bad my teeth are.

First Post

This is my first go-around with the whole blogging thing, so you'll have to excuse me if I'm not any good at it. I had fully expected to get this blog started months ago, but time flies and I just did not get around to it. I'll have to give some history to get everyone up to date...

I knew that I needed braces by the time I was in the forth grade. That seems to be around the time that I noticed other kids in my classes having them and started realizing that my teeth were not straight at all. I talked to my parents for years about getting braces, but monetarily the time was never right.

So...after changing jobs last last year and getting a decent sign-on bonus that I wasn't expecting, I decided that I would use that bonus to get braces. Finally, right?!? I was very excited. Kids get braces all the time, no big deal...nothing to worry about...

I've included a couple of pics of my teeth before braces- enjoy. The lower crowding is what really bothered me. Most people say they never noticed it much, but that was because I hid them with the way I smiled....