DEBRACING DATE!

Had an appointment with my ortho yesterday and I finally have the coveted debracing date! November 29th. NEEDS TO COME FASTER. I am itching to have these things off of my teeth for good!
He also said my occlusion is textbook perfection: The extra month without bands is to ensure that they stay that way. I am counting down the days!

¡La historia de mi cirugía!

For Spanish class, I had to write a composition about a dramatic change in my life.  I didn't have a hard time deciding my subject! 

So I thought I'd post my surgery story en español if anyone wants to try and read it (I also translated it into English below).  It's a concise little summary of my entire experience!

Un verano mudo

            Regularmente cada verano, yo pasaba el cuatro de julio en la playa con mis amigos mientras comía la carne asada y tomaba el sol.  Sin embargo, el verano pasado no podía comer la carne asada porque no podía comer.  También no podía ir a la playa con mis amigos porque no podía hablar.  Tuve un cambio dramático: ¡mis mandíbulas estaban cerradas con un cable!

Cuando tenía doce años, los dentistas me dijeron que tenían una submordida.  Mis dientes no encajaban y necesitaba una cirugía de la mandíbula para corregirla.  Mis padres y yo tuvimos mucho miedo cuando supimos la información pero consentí hacerla en el futuro.  No me preocupaba mucho hasta el año pasado cuando la ortodontista me dio frenillos.  Entonces, la idea de cirugía se hizo real.  Antes de la cirugía, busqué las historias de otros pacientes similares por el Internet.  Encontré muchos diarios en el Internet que describían cada día de recuperación.   La información me parecía muy útil y decidí hacer un diario también para documentar mi experiencia. 

El 15 de junio de este verano pasado, tuve la cirugía.  Tenía una mezcla de sentimientos: estaba nerviosa, tenía miedo y estaba un poco emocionada.  Después de la cirugía, me desperté en el hospital con mucho dolor.  Estaba incapaz—no podía hacer nada.  Las enfermeras me ayudaron a comer con una jeringa y a ir al baño.  También no podía respirar, dormir, o abrir mi boca.  Pasé la noche en el hospital en vela y me sentía muy miserable. 

El próximo día, me sentía extremadamente cansada como resultado de la medicación.  Me miré en el espejo con shock: mi cara estaba muy hinchada y mi perfil parecía diferente.  Las próximas semanas pasaban muy difíciles.  Por un mes, mis mandíbulas quedaron cerradas por cable.  Necesitaba una jeringa para comer y no podía hablar nada.  Siempre tenía dolor.  Durante el mes, veía muchas películas, dibujaba, y escribía en mi diario por Internet.  Mis amigos me visitaban mucho pero no podíamos hacer casi nada.   No podía hacer ejercicio y no salía de mi casa mucho.  Era una época muy deprimente en mi vida.

Cuando el cirujano cortó los cables, estuve muy alegre.  Todavía llevaba un protector bucal de plástico por un otro mes, pero me sentía felíz porque podía hablar y comer comidas blandas.  Al final del verano, la cirujano me puso bajo sedación otra vez para eliminar el protector bucal.  Ahora, solo tengo frenillos.

Este verano pasado era difícil y frustrante pero aprendí mucho sobre mí misma.  También gané mucha paciencia y ayudé a otras pacientes similares por el Internet.  Estoy contenta de estar en el final de mi recuperación: mis mandíbulas son perfectas y me alegro tener la experiencia.

TRANSLATION:

A Silent Summer

Usually every summer, I spend the fourth of July at the beach with my friends while eating barbecue and tanning.  However, this summer I couldn't eat barbecue because I couldn't eat.  I also couldn't go to the beach with my friends because I couldn't talk.  I had a dramatic change: my jaws were wired shut!

When I was twelve, my dentists told me that I had an underbite.  My teeth didn't fit together and I needed jaw surgery to correct it.  My parents and I were scared when we learned this information but I consented to go through with surgery in the future.  I didn't worry much until this past year when I got braces.  Then, the idea of surgery became real.  Before surgery, I looked up the stories of similar patients on the internet.  I found many blogs that described each day of recovery.  I found the information very helpful and decided to make a blog as well to document my experience.

On June 15th this past summer, I had surgery.  I was feeling a mix of emotions: I was nervous, scared, and a little excited.  After surgery, I woke up in the hospital in a lot of pain.  I was incapable of doing anything.  The nurses helped me eat with a syringe and go to the bathroom.  I couldn't breathe, sleep, or open my mouth.  I was awake all night and felt miserable.

The next day, I felt extremely tired as a result of the medication.  I looked in the mirror with shock: my face was very swollen and my profile looked different.  The next few weeks were very difficult.  For one month, I was wired shut.  I needed the syringe to eat and I couldn't talk at all.  I was always in some pain.  During that month, I watched movies, sketched, and wrote my blog.  My friends visited me but there wasn't much we could do.  I couldn't exercise or leave my house much-- it was a very depressing time in my life.

When the surgeon cut the wires, I was so delighted.  I still had to wear a plastic splint for another month, but I was happy because I could talk and eat soft foods.  At the end of the summer, the surgeon sedated me once more in order to remove the splint.  Now, I only have braces.

This summer was difficult and frustrating but I learned a lot about myself.  I also gained patience and helped other patients through the internet.  I am so happy to be at the end of my recovery: my jaws are now perfect and I am glad to have had the experience.


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Note: my teeth were banded, not wired, but I didn't know how to say rubber bands in Spanish.  Writing about surgery was more difficult than I anticipated.  It was so uncomfortable to relive all those emotions!  My professor approached me later asking about the surgery as she had never heard of anything like it.  She responded with a ¡Qué experiencia!

Little Update!

Sorry I haven't posted in so long!  The college life has kept me busy.  I have still been keeping up with the progress of the other patients whose blogs I'm following though, several of whom are just in the early stages of recovery.  Everyone is doing so well!  It's so strange to think back on the misery of the first month after surgery-- I am not sure how I survived not talking or eating for a month but I am so relieved that that part of my life is far behind me.
I really haven't been wearing my rubber bands as much as I should.  Having braces is bad enough!  I'm hoping that this doesn't delay getting them off because I am SO ready.  My molars aren't quite touching yet but I have an appointment the week after next to evaluate my progress.  Wouldn't it be amazing if my braces came off then?  One can only dream.

Thankfully, the clear braces aren't too visible in pictures!

Smiling is so much easier!  I am slowly forgetting how the arrangement of my jaws felt before surgery-- the way they fit now feels so natural.  This is how it was always supposed to be. :)  Pre-braces Facebook photos can be found here.

COLLEGE!

Sorry I haven't posted in so long, I've been busy getting back into the swing of things at school!  It was amazing being able to see all my college friends again after my hell of a summer.  I have received such an interesting variety of responses about my surgery!  Having posted my blog on Facebook, many of my classmates already knew and asked about my situation.  I was surprised at how many people, some I had barely spoken to over the summer, had taken interest in my blog and were curious about my progress.  In most other situations however, I have learned to leave surgery out of the "hey how was your summer?" conversation.  Even so, I have found myself discussing my surgery frequently to curious classmates.  Comments I have gotten include:

Allie how are you? What's different?

You look SO different!  

You look exactly the same!

It looks so good!

You look awesome!

I saw your profile the other day and I thought you were a different person!

Your nose looks different!

You got surgery??? Why???

How the hell did you eat??

My friend/cousin/aunt/nephew's ex-girlfriend had the exact same thing!

For the most part, I don't mind answering questions about surgery, though they tend to be repetitive.  It's nice to know that people care!

My bite has almost completely closed-- my teeth occlude nearly perfectly on the left and still are a little apart on the right.  I haven't been religious in wearing the rubber bands but even so I can feel my teeth touching little by little each day!  I am itching to visit my orthodontist again to determine when I can get these braces off.  Even though I don't mind them as much anymore, I still feel like a dork being a braced college student.

2.5 Months UPDATE VIDEO!!

Made a video to procrastinate packing for college! :)

Wow cute thumbnail hahaha.

New Chains On My GRILLZ

A whole top diamond and the bottom row's gold.

To get an update on my bite's progress, I paid my orthodontist a visit today.  He said it was closing up nicely! (Although I haven't been as diligent with the rubber bands as I probably should be)  I also expressed concern about the gap in between my two front teeth, a problem which he eliminated quickly with a clear chain.  For a reason I cannot recall, he also bent the wire, causing one of my front teeth to be pulled down unevenly.  I think I'm going to call for another appointment-- I really don't think that this was his intention.  

But some GOOD NEWS: I may get the braces off in just four months instead of six!  If everything progresses as it has been, I will be fitted for a large medieval mouthguard-like retainer that I will wear at night sans braces to keep my bite in check instead.  YAY!

Also took a new passport photo today: 

Things have certainly changed in five years!

Photobooth BEFORE & AFTERS (Braces)

After 66 days of continuous posting, I think the daily portion of my blog has finally come to an end.  It's been so much fun and I've gotten so much positive feedback over these two months!  The comments from other patients who have found this blog helpful make keeping up with it so long all worthwhile.  I will still update when something interesting happens and I'm planning on making another video soon!

I did my major twenty-minute long presentation, the fruit of my internship research, to a group of important-looking men and women successfully today.  Though nerves tried to trip me up, braces didn't at all.  My boss said I was informative and engaging! :)

One of the most interesting parts of doing research before surgery was scanning blogs for "before and after" photos-- its the essential staple of any jaw surgery blog!  So I believe I am finally at the point where I can post some of mine:

 I'm still cursing myself for not taking better "before" pictures, but theres not much I can do about it now!  Hopefully these give a good enough idea of the changes.  I'm so happy to finally be at this point with the worst of surgery now just existing as an unpleasant memory. :)

Day 66: Reflection

Throughout recovery, I often questioned whether or not this surgery was a good decision.  As I battled syringes and wires and mutism and swelling and pain, I seriously doubted if this would all be worth it in the end.  At this point in my journey, I believe I can finally say that I am so happy to have done this!  I have always had this feeling of incompleteness, as if I'm never really certain of myself or who I am.  Of course I'm not at complete self-realization just yet, but this summer was a huge step in getting there.  As I have said repeatedly on this blog, this process involves so much more than teeth and jaws and wires.  I learned a lot and grew up a lot!  I feel so much more comfortable with myself now, which is a wonderful feeling.  My confidence is returning in spite of the braces, along with a newfound zest for life and anticipation for the future. ❤