Almost to the finish line!

So...today is the day.  The day I have been waiting for for 2 years, 4 months and 4 days. Today is the day I get my braces off!  I'm super excited to say the least...

I wish it were as simple as plucking the things off and walking out the door with straight teeth...but of course not...this is MY mouth we're talking about and it seems like nothing in my mouth is "normal" so I'll try and explain to the best of my ability how it's going to go and why my situation will be a little different.

You may or may not know this, but one of the teeth in my mouth is not real.  There is actually a fake tooth wired on my braces.....guess which one...haha.  You see, I was born missing a tooth, so when my baby tooth SHOULD have fallen out, instead the adult just said "hey baby, I'll just come on down next to you and we can hang out together forever!" and that's what they did.  For 30 years.  So when I got the braces put on, my orthodontist thought 30 years was long enough, and it was best for me to say goodbye to the baby tooth and move that adult over where it should be....but that left me with a tooth vacancy....which leads me to the fake tooth being wired on the braces.  It has been lovely really, and I've kind of gotten used to it.  All the girls at the orthodontist's office are so understanding, and its pretty much just a joke now when they have to take out my "tooth" to change my wire.  The best is when I get a new girl, and she takes my wire out, and a tooth is attached.  I can only imagine what she is thinking.  Not to mention,  I literally look like a redneck so its real fun when you brush your teeth next to a 10 year old and smiling can make them jump.

So anyways, about a month ago I got put to sleep and got a surgical  implant installed in my jaw which a tooth will be screwed into in about another month from now, when the bone is done healing.  Now you are probably wondering.... if the braces come off TODAY, and I don't get a tooth screwed in for a month, what am I going to do in the meantime? right? were you wondering that?   Well.... I guess I'm going to find out who my real friends are and who aren't.   haha jk.  Back to the amazing world of fake teeth... who here has seen Toddlers and Tiara's?  It's a guilty pleasure.  If you have ever turned to it by accident, it's like a car crash, it will suck you in.  Anyways, the 2 years olds are forced to wear things called "flippers" which are these plastic teeth which look ridiculous.  So I will have a "flipper retainer" or basically a retainer with a tooth on it.  And NO I will not take it out for you.

So I guess that sums up what I will be doing today...braces come off, flipper goes in.  Wham bam.

Also, are some updated before and afters which will be the last photos of me with braces on.....

Other things you can take note of from the pictures:
1. in the past 2 years I have learned how to pluck my eyebrows. Yay for me.
2. I have found a great hair stylist.
3. And I have apparantly either changed skin care, or learned how to use the camera settings on my camera to make me not look like I have rosacea.

Pretty good couple years over all.

Before and After Lefort I - 5 weeks post-op

Let me just start by saying that my recovery has really made me appreciate the way God designed the human body to heal all by itself... it really is incredible the way we are designed!

It's been 5 weeks and I feel almost all back to normal! Feeling is around 80% back. There are still some pins and needles behind my nose every once in a while, but nothing major. The swelling has almost all gone down too...I know there is still some swelling under my lip, but I would say for the most part, it will not make any dramatic difference when it does all go down.

Overall, I am so happy I had the surgery and would definitely do it all over again. I haven't had ONE migraine since I had the surgery which is HUGE to me...and I am very hopeful that they are gone for good! I can NOT wait to start using my new bite too! I have my 6 week followup next Wednesday and get to find out if I can start chewing!!!! I'm VERY exicited!!!

Here are some side-by-side before & afters...pretty neat to see how much a couple millimeters can change your face.

And here is a silly picture that shows you how wide I can open my mouth now!!! A few weeks ago I couldn't even get a full sized spoon in my mouth!!

Surgery and Day One

I still can't belive its all done! It seems like I've been planning this surgery for so long, and now its finally all over!

Heres a little recap of the surgery, and how my first day home has been...

Yesterday was a long day... had to be up at 4am, at the hospital by 5am and surgery was at 7:30am. The last thing I remember is being wheeled into the operating room and the anesthesiologist saying "sweet dreams".... next thing I know I am waking up in recovery around 10:30 and was finally moved to my actual room at 12pm, when I got to see my hubby and my mom (who have been wonderful and supportive and so sweet throught it all).

The surgeon said everything went wonderfully. Here is what he ended up doing: taking a bone graft from my lower jaw and putting in my upper jaw in an area I will need an implant down the road, moving my upper jaw down 3mm and out 6mm and the day of surgery I found out he was going to widen my upper jaw a few mm's as well.

Sleep last night was in and out. I wasn't really a big fan of Morphine, it didn't seem to take the pain away, it just made me sleepy and that didn't even seem to last very long. So they switched me to Roxicet which helped with the pain, didn't give me that groggy "out of it" feeling and lasted around 3 1/2 hours...MUCH better. They were also giving me high doses of antibiotics, potassium, and steriods.

The surgeon came and saw me this morning and said that everything looked great and the I could be discharged after I got up and walked around and could keep down clear liquids. I was pretty ready to get home and to my bed, so I made myself get up and walk the whole floor and ended up getting discharded at 9am.

All of the nurses, and doctors at Northside Hospital were amazing. I can't say enought about how well they took care of me. Hopefully I'll never have to go through this again, but if I had to, it would be there.

Here are a few photos taken the evening of surgery:

And here are a few later last night. As you can see, the swelling and bruising really aren't that bad yet. The surgeon said that day 5 (sat/sun) is when the swelling and bruising will peak, and that that is also when the steroids will start leaving my system so to expect to be in a bad mood, and feel depressed... can't wait. haha

I will take more pictures today, and update you on any changes!